syrep

A generic file repository synchronization tool

syrep is a generic file repository synchronization tool. It may be used to synchronize large file hierarchies bidirectionally by exchanging patch files. Syrep is truely peer-to-peer, no central servers are involved. Synchronizations between more than two repositories are supported. The patch files may be transferred via offline media, e.g. removable hard disks or compact discs. Files are tracked by their message digests, currently MD5. The following file operations are tracked in the snapshot files: creation, deletion, modification, creation of new hard or symbolic links, renaming. (The latter is nothing more than a new hard link and removal of the old file). syrep doesn't distinguish between soft and hard links. In fact even copies of files are treated as the same. Currently, syrep doesn't synchronize file attributes like access modes or modification times. Syrep was written to facilitate the synchronization of two large digital music repositories without direct network connection. Patch files of several gigabytes are common in this situation. Syrep is able to cope with 64 bit file sizes. (LFS) Syrep is optimized for speed. It may make use of a message digest cache to accelerate the calculation of digests of a whole directory hierarchy