Package: yarsync
Yet Another Rsync is a file synchronization and backup tool.
It can be used to synchronize data between different hosts
or locally (for example, to a backup drive).
It provides a familiargitcommand interface while working with files.YARsync is a Free Software project covered by the GNU General Public License version 3.Installationyarsyncis packaged for Debian/Ubuntu.For Arch Linux, install theyarsyncpackagefrom AUR.
Packages for other distributions are welcome.For an installationfrom PyPI, runpip3 install yarsyncSince there is no general way to install a manual page for a Python package,
one has to do it manually. For example, run as a superuser:wget https://github.com/ynikitenko/yarsync/raw/master/docs/yarsync.1
gzip yarsync.1
mv yarsync.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/
mandbMake sure that the manual path for your system is correct.
The commandmandbupdates the index caches of manual pages.One can also install the most recent program versionfrom GitHub.
It incorporates latest improvements,
but at the same time is less stable (new features can be changed or removed).git clone https://github.com/ynikitenko/yarsync.git
pip3 install -e yarsyncThis installs theyarsyncexecutable to~/.local/bin,
and does not require modifications ofPYTHONPATH.
After that, one can pull the repository updates without reinstallation.Touninstall, runpip3 uninstall yarsyncand remove the cloned repository.Design and featuresyarsynccan be used to manage hierarchies of unchanging files,
such as music, books, articles, photographs, etc.
Its final goal is to have the same state of files across
different computers.
It also allows to store backup copies of data and easily copy, update or recover that.yarsyncisdistributedThere is no central host or repository foryarsync.
If different replicas diverge,
the program assists the user to merge the repositories manually.efficientThe program is run only on user demand,
and does not consume system resources constantly.
Already transferred files will never be transmitted again.
This allows the user to rename or move files
or whole directories without any costs,
driving constant improvements on the repository.non-intrusiveyarsyncdoes nothing to user data.
It has no complicated packing or unpacking.
All user data and program configuration are stored as usual files in the file system.
If one decides to stop usingyarsync,
they can simply remove the configuration directory at any time.simpleyarsyncdoes not implement complicated file transfer algorithms,
but uses an existing, widely accepted and tested tool for that.
User configuration is stored in simple text files,
and repository snapshots are usual directories, which can be modified, copied
or browsed from a file manager.
All standard command line tools can be used in the repository,
to assist its recovery or to allow any non-standard operations
(for the users who understand what they do).
Read theyarsyncdocumentation to understand its (simple) design.safeyarsyncdoes its best to preserve user data.
It always allows one to see what will be done before any actual modifications
(–dry-run). It is its advantage compared to continous synchronization tools,
that may be dangerous if local repository gets corrupt (e.g. encrypted by a trojan).
Removed files are stored in older commits
(until the user explicitly removes those).Commandscheckout
clone
commit
diff
init
log
pull
push
remote
show
statusSeeyarsync--helpfor full command descriptions and options.Requirements and limitationsyarsyncis a Python wrapper (available forPython>=3.6) aroundrsyncand requires a file system withhard links.
Since these are very common tools,
this means that it can easily run on any UNIX-like system.
Moreover,yarsyncis not required to be installed on the remote host:
it is sufficient forrsyncto be installed there.In particular,rsynccan be found:installed on most GNU/Linux distributions,installed onMac OS,can be installed onWindows.yarsyncruns successfully on Linux.
Please report to us if you have problems (or success) running it on your system.Safetyyarsynchas been used by the author for several years without problems and is tested.
However, any data synchronization may lead to data loss,
and it is recommended to have several data copies
and always do a–dry-run(-n) first before the actual transfer.DocumentationFor the complete documentation, read the installed
or onlinemanual.For more in-depth topics or alternatives, seedetails.On the repository github,release notescan be found.
On github pages there is the manual foryarsync 0.1.An article in Russian that deals more withyarsyncinternals was posted
onHabr.ThanksA good number of people have contributed to the improvement of this software.
I’d like to thank
Nilson Silva for packagingyarsyncfor Debian,
Mikhail Zelenyy from MIPT NPM for the explanation of
Pythonentry points,
Jason Ryan and Matthew T Hoare for the inspiration to create a package for Arch,
Scimmia for a comprehensive review and suggestions for my PKGBUILD,
Open Data Russia chat for discussions about backup safety,
Habr users and editors, and, finally,
to the creators and developers ofgitandrsync.