2 Way Syncing

[Bennett Todd]

2003-02-25T09:48:12 Bennett Todd:
> 2003-02-25T08:52:38 va_public <yahoogroups at vikas.mailshell.com>:
> > Why not just use rsync as mentioned in the FAQ for this?
> > 
> > rsync --update source target
> > rsync --update target source
> 
> The difference is there's a problem unison solves, that rsync
> cannot.
> 
> Suppose a file is updated on both sides, between syncs?

Vikas pointed out to me in off-list email that my followup was
ambiguous.

When I wrote "between syncs", I didn't mean "between the two
above-mentioned invocations of rsync"; rather, I meant two
completely separate syncing events, widely separated in time. E.g.
let's illustrate with a fantasy. In the below timeline, let's
imagine an hour between each event.

	Time 1: We perform a bidirectional sync. The trees /a and /b
		are now identical.

	Time 2: An hour later, we edit /a/foo

	Time 3: Another hour (two hours after Time 1), we edit
		/b/foo

	Time 4: At this point, rsync overwrites /a/foo with /b/foo,
		obliterating the edits done at Time 2, whereas
		Unison reports the conflict.

Sometimes rsync's behavior is desired; sometimes Unison's is nicer.
Depends on the problem being solved. I'm glad we have both tools.

Sorry about helping to spread confusion with the previous post,

-Bennett
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