Sneakersync

Synchronize files through the sneakernet, i.e. using a removable drive.

Requirements:

• rsync. The version must support extended attributes (-X flag).
• A removable drive with a filesystem matching the source and target computers.
• Feet or a compatible mean of transportation of the removable drive between computers.

Installation

Simply run pip install sneakersync.

Configuration

The configuration is a YAML-formatted file that contains modules (directories to be synchronized) and filters (rules that exclude or include files or directories). Each module must contain a root entry (the top-level path to be synchronized) and may contain filters; if no filter is specified, all files and directories below the root of the module are included. Filters are defined by a list of include or exclude directives.

A minimal example which synchronizes the home folder of a user would look like:

modules:
  - root: /home/john.doe

To exclude a directory (and its content) and files with a given extension from a module, add a filters directive:

modules:
  - root: /home/john.doe
    filters:
      - exclude: /home/john.doe/.firefox/caches
      - exclude: *.pyc

To filter entries from all modules, use the top-level filters directive:

modules:
  - root: /home/john.doe
  - root: /home/jane.blogs
filters:
  - exclude: .firefox/caches

Filters defined at the top-level will have priority over module-level filters.

Each module can have a host-specific root, e.g. if your username differs between computers, with the following syntax:

modules:
  - root: 
      first.host: /home/john.doe
      second.host: /home/john

If host-specific roots are used, sending or receiving using an undeclared host will cause an error.

Usage

1. Create a filesystem on a removable drive that matches the source and target computers.
2. Optional, but highly recommended: encrypt your removable drive.
3. Store the configuration in a file named sneakersync.cfg on the root of the drive.
4. To send data, run sneakersync send <PATH_TO_YOUR_DRIVE>.
5. Move your drive to the other computer and plug it in.
6. To receive data, run sneakersync receive <PATH_TO_YOUR_DRIVE>.

Known limitations:

• The last access time (atime) is not preserved: rsync needs to access files in order to transfer them.
• The creation / meta-data change time (ctime) is not preserved: this attribute is not user-modifiable.