[gentoo-user] Looking for advice on shared file system.

[gentoo-user] Looking for advice on shared file system.

[Peter Lewis]

Hi,

I've been looking around for a while now for some sort of "shared file system" 
which might meet my needs a little better than that which I am currently 
using.

I regularly use two different computers (desktop and laptop) for the same work 
and have always had a network (samba) drive mounted from a server box in 
order to be able to have one "documents repository" for all three machines. 
This works fine, so long as I am connected to the network (or at a push, the 
internet via ssh and fuse), but it leaves me at a loss whilst I am working 
from the laptop and not able to be connected. There is also the added 
negative point that when I am not on a fast connection, working on a network 
drive can slow things down quite a bit.

For a while, I have been getting around this by using rsync on a seperate 
directory, which I keep mirrored between all three machines. I have a simple 
shell script which will "check out" the files from the server to the local 
machine and another which will "check them back in" when I have finished 
working with them. The basic idea is to use something like

rsync -rvzu --delete <rest of command>

This does work, though I have to remember to check them back in before I 
finish. Once, I forgot and the script deleted all the changes. Also, it is 
quite inflexible and I just know that I am going to trip up by having various 
versions of the files on different computers.

So... what I am looking for is some kind of file system a bit like IMAP is for 
mail, which will keep the files synchronised with each other (preferably 
automatically, or via a cron job or something) but also maintain a local copy 
of the files so that I can unplug from the network, carry on working and plug 
back in later - all seamlessly.

Does anyone know of anything like this, or can make a recommendation?

Alternatively, is it possible to mount a filesystem over a disconnected IMAP 
connection (perhaps using fuse) in a similar way to with mail? Is this a daft 
idea?

Many thanks,

Pete.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Looking for advice on shared file system.

[Michal 'vorner' Vaner]

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Hello,

On Mon, Feb 26, 2007 at 04:54:31PM +0000, Peter Lewis wrote:
> I've been looking around for a while now for some sort of "shared file system" 
> which might meet my needs a little better than that which I am currently 
> using.

Maybe coda? Thought I only heard of it, not used.

Have a nice day

-- 
Work with computer has 2 phases. First, computer waits for the user to tell it what 
to do, then the user waits for the computer to do it. Therefore, computer work 
consists mostly of waiting.

Michal "vorner" Vaner

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Re: [gentoo-user] Looking for advice on shared file system.

[Alan McKinnon]

On Monday 26 February 2007, Michal 'vorner' Vaner wrote:
> Hello,
>
> On Mon, Feb 26, 2007 at 04:54:31PM +0000, Peter Lewis wrote:
> > I've been looking around for a while now for some sort of "shared
> > file system" which might meet my needs a little better than that
> > which I am currently using.
>
> Maybe coda? Thought I only heard of it, not used.
>
> Have a nice day

Yeah, that was my first thought as well. Code is marketed as being able 
to work in a disconnected state. Whatever that means, I'm sure it is 
good.

Other than that, the easiest way will be to work on one machine at a 
time (that doesn't seem unrealistic from the OP's original mail). Think 
of the project as if it were a piece of paper, there is only one master 
copy and only one place changes can be made. I would not use samba for 
this, I would use nfs as the connection medium. Why? Personal 
preference really, plus nfs is seamlessly part of the filesystem so 
writing scripts to sync one set offiles with another is trivial as long 
as the nfs mount is intact. With one big big proviso:

Make sure than your user account has the same uid on all three machines. 
The write some scripts to rsync data to and from between the current 
machine and the server.

hth

alan



-- 
Optimists say the glass is half full,
Pessimists say the glass is half empty,
Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be?

Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five
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Re: [gentoo-user] Looking for advice on shared file system.

[Peter Lewis]

On Monday 26 February 2007 19:14, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> On Monday 26 February 2007, Michal 'vorner' Vaner wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > On Mon, Feb 26, 2007 at 04:54:31PM +0000, Peter Lewis wrote:
> > > I've been looking around for a while now for some sort of "shared
> > > file system" which might meet my needs a little better than that
> > > which I am currently using.
> >
> > Maybe coda? Thought I only heard of it, not used.
> >
> > Have a nice day
>
> Yeah, that was my first thought as well. Code is marketed as being able
> to work in a disconnected state. Whatever that means, I'm sure it is
> good.

Thanks guys - I'd not heard of Coda. It looks like it might well do the trick.

Cheers,

Pete.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Looking for advice on shared file system.

[Thomas Rösner]

Peter Lewis schrieb:
> Hi,
>
> I've been looking around for a while now for some sort of "shared file system" 
> which might meet my needs a little better than that which I am currently 
> using

SVN would allow you to transparently check in modifications if mounted 
correctly, or work offline with a normal checkout. Plus: you get a full 
history of your work. Minus: you get a full history of your work (space 
on server) and if it grows to large have to create a new repo/fiddle 
with svnadmin.

Regards,
    Thomas
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