Amazing piece of software, have been using it for about 5-6 years between 4 computers and an Android phone. Never had a single problem with it, it respects your privacy, does only what it advertises, and gets out of your way.
> The following platforms unfortunately no longer get prebuilt binaries for
download at syncthing.net and on GitHub, due to complexities related to
cross compilation with SQLite:
dragonfly/amd64
illumos/amd64 and solaris/amd64
linux/ppc64
netbsd/*
openbsd/386 and openbsd/arm
windows/arm
I'm surprised they're dropping windows/arm considering that seems to be the direction things are moving in.
I don't understand why they chose to use github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 instead of modernc.org/sqlite
Windows GUI for Syncthing named SyncTrayzor is also actively developed.
https://github.com/GermanCoding/SyncTrayzor
After SyncTtrayzor stopped being developed in 2021, it just worked along the updating SyncThing as backend. Now that Syncthing v2 came out, old one is not compatible anymore, but new one picked up the mantle.
I love this software. I am using it to sync files across different computers and different people for years now.
Rolling hash detection of shifted data is no longer supported as this
effectively never helped. Instead, scanning and syncing is faster and more efficient without it.
Do you have to upgrade across all your syncthing instances at once, or will 1.x be able to talk to 2.x for a while without breaking? It seems like a pretty big update and I'm not sure what I need to think about if I'm upgrading
“Syncthing version 1.x will soon be replaced by Syncthing version 2.x.
Version 2 brings a new database format and various cleanups, but remains
protocol compatible with Syncthing 1.”
Different use case. Syncthing just keeps folders "in sync" between two machines even if they are not on the same network. Great tool to always have a backup of pictures taken from your phone to a small raspberry pi running at home for instance.
It'll let me keep a folder in sync, automatically, across multiple machines. There's no faffing with accounts, it has a GUI simple enough for me to talk entirely non technical people through setting it up and it doesn't matter if one of more of the endpoints is behind NAT.
Once running, it's just a case of copying or editing files in a folder and they're everywhere else. No manual intervention, no trying to remember which computer has the latest copy, it doesn't get upset if I throw terabytes of media at it, it doesn't get upset if I `git init` inside multiple folders and suddenly I have my coding projects ready to go on whatever laptop I pick up.
It also does some nice additional bits, like making it possible to have machines that store a copy of the data but never have decryption keys, so I can use a cheap VPS without worrying about it having a plain-text copy of my data. There's also the ability to store multiple revisions of changed files, should you want it. It's also, at the end of the day, actual plain files on your filesystem which can save a lot of headaches.
It also does a pretty good job of finding the best path to a different box. It shares IPs (that you run the service on), so same lan, different vlan, via a VPN, via a double nat'd someone else's wifi; it doesn't care and usually does the right thing (and is configurable if you wish/need).
The comparison isn't rsync. SyncThing is a host-your-own dropbox/onedrive/other alternative without a requirement for a provider, accounts, fees or your data belonging to someone else, and stunningly low barriers to entry/usage by non technical people.
You can thing of Syncthing as a p2p dropbox. It can also double as a "live-backup" program, similar e.g. to Time Machine, if you enable file versioning in one of the peer nodes.
Rsync is great as there is a clear master copy. But if changes may happen at any copy of the data, it can become a chore.
