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Syncany

Please note: We have not had any release yet, so the code is still alpha-code!

Syncany is an open-source cloud storage and filesharing application. It allows users to backup and share certain folders of their workstations using any kind of storage, e.g. FTP, Amazon S3 or Google Storage.

While the basic idea is similar to Dropbox and JungleDisk, Syncany is open-source and additionally provides data encryption and more flexibility in terms of storage type and provider:

  • Data encryption: Syncany encrypts the files locally, so that any online storage can be used even for sensitive data.
  • Arbitrary storage: Syncany uses a plug-in based storage system. It can be used with any type of remote storage.

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Documentation, diagrams and screencasts

There is quite a bit of reading material on Syncany already. Check out the following links:

Posts and papers

Screencasts

Diagrams

JavaDoc

We have a quite exhaustive JavaDoc (or at least we're trying to build it up). If you're a developer, be sure to check that out. A few starting points:

Build and installation

Requirements: Syncany is based on Java 7, so you need that installed. We use Ivy for dependency management, and Ant as a build tool. If you have those things, it should be pretty easy.

1. Install requirements, checkout code and build

    apt-get install git ivy ant
    git clone http://github.com/binwiederhier/syncany
    cd syncany
    ant

2. Install on your system, as 'root' (Linux) or 'Administrator' (Windows)

    ant install

If you do not want to permanently install Syncany on your system, but just try it out, you can use ant fakeinstall to only link to the current folder.

3. Run it!

    syncany --help

On Windows, it is necessary to open a new terminal window to be able to call the syncany command. Linux additionally allows you to use sy instead of syncany as an abbreviation.

Sample usage

Usage is pretty similar to a version control system. If you have used Git or SVN, it should feel a lot alike.

1. Initialize a local directory

    $ syncany init 
    
    Choose a storage plugin. Available plugins are: ftp, local, s3
    Plugin: ftp
    
    Connection details for FTP connection:
    - hostname: myhost.example.com
    - username: myuser1
    - password: somepassword1
    - port (optional):

    The password is used to encrypt data on the remote storage.
    Please choose it wisely.

    Password: (secret password)
    Confirm: (repeat it)

This sets up a new repository on the given remote storage and initializes the local folder. You can now use syncany connect to connect to this repository from other clients.

2. Add files and synchronize

To let Syncany do everything automatically, simple use the syncany watch command. This command will synchronize your local files in a given interval.

    $ syncany watch --interval=20

You can also manually trigger the upload of your local files or the download of remote changes:

    $ syncany up
    $ syncany down

For a detailed demo, please refer to a screencast.

Setup Eclipse IDE for development

  1. Be sure to install Git, Ivy and Ant on your system. On Debian-based systems, for instance:

     apt-get install git ivy ant

  2. Open Eclipse and create a new workplace, e.g. at "/home/user/workplace"

  3. Checkout Syncany on the command line:

     cd /home/user/workplace
 git clone http://github.com/binwiederhier/syncany
 mv syncany SyncanyCore                        <<< Important!

  4. In Eclipse, go to Help -> Install New Software -> Add ... Location: http://www.apache.org/dist/ant/ivyde/updatesite

  5. Install plugin "Apache Ivy library" and "Apache IvyDE"

  6. In Eclipse, go to File -> Import ... -> Existing Projects Into Workplace -> Select Root Directory -> Select "/home/user/workplace/SyncanyCore"

  7. Add ivy.xml to Ivy Library: Right-click on ivy.xml -> Add Ivy Library...

  8. Add ivysettings.xml to Ivy settings path: Windows -> Preferences -> Ivy -> Settings ... Chose "Workspace..." below "Ivy settings path:" and add the ivysettings.xml within the workspace

  9. Run the build.xml as Ant Build

How can I help?

Check out the TODO list for starting points. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Licensing, website and contact

Syncany is licensed under the GPLv2 open source license. It is mainly developed by Philipp C. Heckel and Steffen Dangmann. We are always looking for people to join or help out. Feel free to contact us: