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rustyio committed Dec 9, 2011
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# Stay in Sync

## What is it?
## What is Sync?

Sync is an Erlang utility that helps you code faster by automatically compiling and hot-loading changed code.
Sync is a developer utility. It recompiles and reloads your Erlang
code on-the-fly. With Sync, you can code without friction.

## How can I use sync?
![Successful compilation image.](http://rusty.io.s3.amazonaws.com/sync/sync_01.png)

What does "code without friction" mean? It means that with Sync
running, you no longer need to worry about running `make`, or
`c:l(Module)` again. Just write code, save the file, and watch as
Erlang automatically detects your changes, recompiles the code, and
reloads the module.

## How can I use Sync?

The recommended approach is to put sync in your $ERL_LIBS directory.

Expand All @@ -14,30 +23,48 @@ git clone git@github.com:rustyio/sync.git
(cd sync; make)
```

Then, go in the Erlang console of an application you are developing, run `sync:go().`. You can also start sync using `application:start(sync).`

## How does it work?
Then, go in the Erlang console of an application you are developing,
run `sync:go().`. You can also start sync using
`application:start(sync).`

Upon startup, Sync gathers information about loaded modules, ebin directories, source files, compilation options, etc.
Starting up:

Sync then periodically checks the last modified date of source files. If a file has changed since the last scan, then Sync automatically recompiles the module using the previous set of compilation options. If compilation was successful, it loads the updated module. Otherwise, it prints compilation errors to the console.
```txt
(rustyio@127.0.0.1)6> sync:go().
Sync also periodically checks the last modified date of any beam files, and automatically reloads the file if it has changed.
Starting Sync (Automatic Code Compiler / Reloader)
Scanning source files...
ok
08:34:18.609 [info] Application sync started on node 'rustyio@127.0.0.1'
```

The scanning process adds 1% to 2% CPU load on a running Erlang VM. Much care has been taken to keep this low. Shouldn't have to say this, but this is for development mode only, don't run it in production.
Successfully recompiling a module:

## Using it with Nitrogen
```txt
08:34:43.255 [info] /Code/Webmachine/src/webmachine_dispatcher.erl:0: Recompiled.
08:34:43.265 [info] webmachine_dispatcher: Reloaded! (Beam changed.)
```

If you are running sync with the [Nitrogen Web Framework](http://www.nitrogenproject.com), be sure to add the following line to your etc/vm.args file:
Warnings:

```txt
-sync sync_mode nitrogen
08:35:06.660 [info] /Code/Webmachine/src/webmachine_dispatcher.erl:33: Warning: function dispatch/3 is unused
```

Errors:

```txt
08:35:16.881 [info] /Code/Webmachine/src/webmachine_dispatcher.erl:196: Error: function reconstitute/1 undefined
/Code/Webmachine/src/webmachine_dispatcher.erl:250: Error: syntax error before: reconstitute
```

## Growl Notifications

If you are running a Mac and have [Growl](http://growl.info) and the **growlnotify** utility installed, Sync will pop up Growl notifications with compilation results. This will also work on Linux if you have **notify-send** (Fedora: `libnotify` package, Ubuntu: `libnotify-bin` package):
If you are running a Mac and have [Growl](http://growl.info) and the
**growlnotify** utility installed, Sync will pop up Growl
notifications with compilation results. This will also work on Linux
if you have **notify-send** (Fedora: `libnotify` package, Ubuntu:
`libnotify-bin` package):

Successful compilation:

Expand All @@ -53,7 +80,8 @@ Errors:

### Disabling Growl Notifications

If you find the Growl/notify-send notifications annoying, you can choose to disable them with two ways:
If you find the Growl/notify-send notifications annoying, you can
choose to disable them with two ways:

#### 1. As an environment variable called from the erlang command line:

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -90,3 +118,32 @@ overwritten on disk with the new .beam file and reloaded. If the
module doesn't exist on the new node, then it is simply updated in
memory.

## How does Sync work?

Upon startup, Sync gathers information about loaded modules, ebin
directories, source files, compilation options, etc.

Sync then periodically checks the last modified date of source
files. If a file has changed since the last scan, then Sync
automatically recompiles the module using the previous set of
compilation options. If compilation was successful, it loads the
updated module. Otherwise, it prints compilation errors to the
console.

Sync also periodically checks the last modified date of any beam
files, and automatically reloads the file if it has changed.

The scanning process adds 1% to 2% CPU load on a running Erlang
VM. Much care has been taken to keep this low. Shouldn't have to say
this, but this is for development mode only, don't run it in
production.

## Using Sync with the Nitrogen Web Framework

If you are running sync with the [Nitrogen Web Framework](http://www.nitrogenproject.com), be sure to add the following line to your etc/vm.args file:

```txt
-sync sync_mode nitrogen
```


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