auto_rsync

Automatically rsync a directory watched by fswatch on OS X

Reasons you would want to use this:

• You are using a Mac.
• You want your files to magically appear on a server after you save them.
• Your project produces a copious amount of data that your computer can't handle, but it isn't practical to work on the remote server that can handle it. You also don't want to make a bunch of tiny commits that showcases your battle with dyslexia.
• The cloud confuses you.
• You are an awful person that edits files through an SFTP client and you want your colleagues to shut the hell up about it.
• You are lazy and think rsync is tedious to setup.

Installation

• Install fswatch
• Put the auto_rsync script somewhere in your $PATH.

Usage

If you want to work in ~/Development/project and you want it to be synced to the remote server example.com at /srv/project, you would run:

auto_rsync -n my_project -r "example.com:/srv/project" -w ~/Development/project

When you modify a file in your local project directory, it will be rsync'd to the remote server and a noise will be made to let you know it happened. After a few weeks of this happening you will develop a Pavlovian response to this noise. Try to make the most out of it.

Notes

• -h will show you some extra options.
• auto_rsync will generate launchd plist files and load itself as a Launch Agent. It will be stored in ~/Library/LaunchAgents. If you rename, move, or delete the auto_rsync script, the magic will disappear and all that will be left is a pile of error messages.
• auto_rsync will automatically exclude .git from being sync'd to the server. You shouldn't be making commits from the remote which will be overwritten anyways.
• The local directory being rsync'd will always have a trailing slash appended to it. If you know what this means and you don't like it, you should be a skilled enough smarty pants to tweak the script.