Package: seersync
seersyncSeersync is an application which can list the changes that a particular run of rsync would make.
The application can work in GUI mode or in batch mode via the command line. Seersync itself does
not make any changes. It uses the dry-run mode of rsync and then lets the user preview the collected
information. Generally, arbitrary rsync command lines are supported with the exception of
command lines which contain the quiet flag,-q. The rsync output is fully suppressed when the
quiet flag is used and seersync cannot operate correctly in such situations.Note that the information in seersync represents only a snapshot. If the file system gets modified
after running seersync, the list shown may no longer represent correctly what would happen when rsync
gets executed.Seersync is only tested on a Linux system. However, the application is written in Python 3 and may
be able to function correctly on other systems where Python 3 and rsync are available.InstallationTo install and use seersync, you need to have Python3 on your system. Then from the command line you
can run:pip install seersyncNote: On some systems you may need to callpip3instead ofpip.LaunchingTo launch seersync, from the command line run:seersyncorpython -m seersyncNote: On some systems you may need to callpython3instead ofpython.Thepyqt5package is needed to launch the seersync GUI. If this package is not available on your
system, you can still use seersync in batch mode.Using the GUIFollow these steps:Launch seersync.Enter the desired rsync command line in the "Command line" text field.Click the "Check" button.Explore the list of changes that rsync would make in the bottom half of the screen.Passing the rsync command lineLet us assume that we want to check what changes the commandrsync -a src_folder dst_folderwould
make. As an alternative to entering the command manually in the GUI, it is possible to pass the
desired rsync command line when launching seersync in one of two ways.Pass the rsync command line as arguments to seersyncThe full rsync command line can be specified directly as arguments to seersync.seersync rsync -a src_folder dst_folderRead the rsync command line from a fileThe desired rsync command can be also saved in a file. For example, we can create a file calledrsync.txtwith the following content:# An example input file for seersync
rsync -a src_folder dst_folderThen, we can call seersync and specify this file as input.seersync -i rsync.txtSeersync interprests lines that start with the#character as comments. The first line which is not
a comment is assumed to contain the rsync command line.Batch modeIn addition to the GUI, seersync offers batch mode which is useful for integration with other tools
when creating scripts. To run seersync in batch mode, pass the-boption. Make sure that the batch
option appers before the start of the rsync command line arguments.seersync -b rsync -a src_folder dst_folderThe output of seersync will be a plain list inspired by the short format of the Git status command.
Each line will start with a letter indicating the type of change, followed by the path.The letter will be one ofA,MandD.Aindicates that the path is a new file or folder created at the destination.Mindicates that the file or folder at the destination exists but will be updated.Dindicates that the file or folder at the destination will be removed.If the path contains a slash at the end, it indicates that this is a folder.The following is an example output when seersync is run in batch mode.M ./
M modified dir/
M modified dir/nested modified file
A modified dir/nested new file
D modified dir/nested surplus file
M modified file
M modified link
A new dir/
A new file
A new link
D surplus dir/
D surplus file
D surplus linkIn batch mode, seersync checks automatically for the presence of the quiet flag,-q, in the rsync
command line and will exit with an error if it detects the flag. If this behavior is undesirable,
for example, if the detection algorithm results in a false positive, one can pass the--skip-detect-quietto seersync.seersync -b --skip-detect-quiet rsync ...Command line options-hor--helpprint command line help and exit-i INPUT_FILEread the rsync command line from INPUT_FILE-brun in batch mode, without opening GUI--progressdisplay the progress of operation (batch mode only)--versionprint version and exit--skip-detect-quietdo not check if the rsync command line contains the quiet flag -q (batch mode only)LicenseSeersync is licensed under the 3-clause BSD license.