Problems with rsync

sidebrnz · #1 17th August 2010, 09:25 PM

I'm trying to use rsync to keep two programs (Gnucash and Pan) in sync between my desktop and my laptop. The last time I was away from home, I tried to do this with these two commands from a terminal on my laptop:

rsync -av joe@mydomain.us:~/Gnucash ~/Gnucash
rsync -av joe@mydomain.us:~/.pan2 ~/.pan2

After giving my password, both times, the program appeared to do its stuff. However, Gnucash didn't have any entries more recent than the last time I'd used it on the laptop until I used gFTP to bring everything across, overwriting the local files. Pan didn't "know" what articles I'd read at home until I manually brought the newsrc file across. Checking on the pan user's email list, nobody knew why rsync hadn't worked. In fact, that list is where I learned how to use it in the first place! Does anybody have an idea what's going on?

oxala · #2 18th August 2010, 01:59 AM

Hello sidebrnz,

A few observations:

I don't think tilde expansion will work with rsync. Either way, it is not needed. Please try rsync -av joe@mydomain.us:Gnucash Gnucash

The "joe@mydomain.us:" will point to your home directory.

Also, the syntax is "rsync -av <SOURCE> <DESTINATION>", so if "joe@mydomain" is your desktop and you are pushing changes from your laptop ... you would want "rsync -av Gnucash joe@mydomain.us:Gnucash".

Finally, I am not familiar with what actually resides under .pan2 or Gnucash, but I would recommend "rsync -av --delete Gnucash joe@mydomian.us:Gnucash" so as to remove any unnecessary files.

Good luck!

oxala

sidebrnz · #3 18th August 2010, 02:55 AM

You may be right; I'd thought the man page used it, but I was wrong. As far as Pan goes, it seems to get everything *except* the newsrc file, and the people on the mailing list say that it should work.

What I was doing was getting changes from the desktop to the laptop, which is why I did them in that direction. After I got home, I did things from the laptop in the other direction, with the same result.

oxala · #4 18th August 2010, 04:29 AM

Hello again,

I'm happy to read that you are at least a little closer. I wish I could help with pan, but I have not used it in so long, my advice might just get you in trouble

.

You may want to take a look at the application "grsync" (see bottom of post). It's just a graphical front end to rsync. Since each rsync option has a checkbox with an explanation ... it's like having the app and man page all in one. And it can save your syncs ... in .grsync files.

As for your other issues, you may want to verify that all the data you need is actually saved under .pan2 and Gnucash. Other favourite hiding places for apps are under .config, .local, and .gconf.

Don't forget to have fun!

oxala
------------------------------------
Name : grsync
Arch : i686
Version : 1.1.1
Release : 1.fc13
Size : 368 k
Repo : installed
From repo : updates
Summary : A Gtk+ GUI for rsync
URL : http://www.opbyte.it/grsync/
License : GPLv2
Description : Grsync is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for rsync, the
: commandline directory synchronization tool. It makes use of the
: GTK libraries and is released under the GPL license, so it is
: opensource. It is in beta stage and doesn't support all of rsync
: features, but can be effectively used to synchronize local
: directories. For example some people use grsync to synchronize
: their music collection with removable devices or to backup
: personal files to a networked drive.

sidebrnz · #5 18th August 2010, 04:42 AM

Thanx; I'll take a look at it. As far as Pan goes, I was pointed to rsync by the mailing list, and they don't understand what's wrong. Everything is in ~/.pan2, and everything other than the newsrc gets properly synced.

As far as Gnucash goes, if I use rsync, data goes back and forth, but they aren't synced; if I use gFTP and move everything, they are, so there must be something in ~/Gnucash that's not getting copied.

oxala · #6 18th August 2010, 04:55 AM

Hello again,

Just to make sure I have not missed a silly mistake ... is the file "newsrc" under the .pan2 directory. Is it just an ascii file? Might it be a softlink into another directory?

Try:

Quote:

find $HOME -name newsrc -ls

and

Quote:

file -k $(find $HOME -name newsrc)

to obtain the information.

Gnucash, another app I have not used for many years, MAY still be a GTK1 app ... not sure ... anyway ... please make sure the app is NOT running on either box during the sync.

CHEERS!

oxala

sidebrnz · #7 18th August 2010, 05:08 AM

The specific filemane is newsrc-1; if I had more than one news server, each would have their own, in numeric order. They are all ASCII files; I know, I've had to edit them once or twice when they've gotten munged. All of Pan's files are in ~/.pan2 and none of them are links. Af far as Gnucash goes, I never have it running when I'm trying to sync it because that would be stupid.

oxala · #8 18th August 2010, 05:55 AM

Quote:

I never have it running when I'm trying to sync it because that would be stupid.

... I figure there MUST be some small little obvious something that we are both missing! Unless I've gone kookoo-for-coco-puffs (certainly not impossible), the issue really is as simple as copying files from location A to location B.

I'm really out ideas at the moment ... but if something pops into my head ... I'll certainly post it.

Best of luck!

oxala

php1ic · #9 18th August 2010, 10:17 AM

It may be to do with the trailing "/", or lack of. I almost always forget what it does, and even after reading the manual, wouldn't like to try and explain it to someone.

This is the command I have aliased to sync a program I have written which lives in ~/Program on both my laptop and network space. I run it from my laptop to update that directory. I'm pretty sure it's equivalent to the one you use, but...

Code:

rsync -av --delete --progress php1ic@server.uk:~/Program /home/php1ic/

You could try adding the --progress option to you original commands to see what files are actually being copied or altered.

sidebrnz · #10 18th August 2010, 10:28 AM

I could almost believe that with Gnucash, but with Pan, it seems to get everything EXCEPT newsrc-1. How would the presence or absence of the / affect it that way? As far as --progress goes, -v gives you a list of files; I'm not sure what more --progress would give.

php1ic · #11 18th August 2010, 10:59 AM

I don't know how a / would affect it, but there have been a few times that I think two versions of a command are the same, only to get different results. Probably a lack of knowledge on my part, but it was just a suggestion.

The --progress option outputs how many files are being considered for transfer. If that number isn't correct, the problem may not be with rsync.

oxala · #12 19th August 2010, 07:54 PM

Hello,

This thread is almost comical ... "how to copy a file" .... oh well ....

As for the "/", I always use it because at some point in time I got confused for not using it.

rsync -av A B/ == cp -r "A" "B/"
rsync -av A/ B/ == cp -r A/* B/
rsync -av A/ B == cp -r A/* B
......
......

Sorry, but I just don't know how to say that in English!

:P

oxala