.SyncIgnore in Subdirectories?

[yottabit]

I was trying to keep my Outlook .PST file from synchronizing, since until btsync has true delta transfer capability for variable-length changes it just tries to transfer my files continually and never finishes (when Outlook is open). This .PST file is > 9 GB.

To that end, I put a .SyncIgnore file in the subdirectory containing my .PST file, and added "*.pst" to the end of the file. It didn't seem to have any effect. btsync kept transferring the file, even after exiting and restarting the application.

Then I put "*.pst" in the .SyncIgnore file at the root of the sync tree, where btsync had created the file on its own, and it worked.

I interpret the language in the file as saying the .SyncIgnore file must be in the same subdirectory as the file I wish to ignore; however I know that isn't true because I've read some forums posts here about people ignoring nested subdirectories.

From the file itself:

# Note that .SyncIgnore is applied only to the folder where it is contained ...

So either the language in the file needs updated to make it clear that .SyncIgnore needs to be at the root of the sync tree (shared folder) only, or maybe btsync needs updated to honor the file in subdirectories, too? (This would be similar behavior to how .htaccess works in Apache.)

Maybe change the language to something like:

# Note that .SyncIgnore is only used from the top-level shared folder (root of the sync tree) ...

Thanks! Excellent product!

[GreatMarko]

You're right, the wording within .SyncIgnore files could be a little clearer!

As you've worked out it's the rules in .SyncIgnore file that's generated in the root of the directory tree you're syncing that is applied to that entire tree. .SyncIgnore files are not generated for each individual sub folder within the tree... but I agree, the wording in the .SyncIgnore file is a little confusing and could certainly be improved!

[GreatMarko]

...in addition, upon further investigation, there also appears to be some corruption in the "blurb" at the top of generated .SyncIgnore files:

It supports ‘?’ and ‘*‘ wildcard symbols

...which should instead read:

It supports "?" and "*" wildcard symbols

...and it would perhaps be useful also if the differences between these two wildcards was made clear. Most users I'm sure will know how a "*" wildcard symbol works, but probably less will know what a "?" symbol is for!

In case anyone is wondering, whereas "*" will match multiple instances of characters, "?" will only match individual instance of characters.

So, for example:

*.dat would match any .dat file - i.e. "myfile.dat"

?.dat would only match .dat files with a single wildcard character in place of the "?" - i.e. "1.dat", or "a.dat", etc but not "myfile.dat"

??.dat would only match .dat files with a two wildcard characters - i.e. "12.dat", or "ab.dat", etc - but again, not "myfile.dat"

[johnmarshall4]

There is a pretty thorough explanation of how the syntax works at the bottom of this thread:

http://forum.bittorrent.com/topic/14260-syncignore-is-great-but/

[GreatMarko]

There is a pretty thorough explanation of how the syntax works at the bottom of this thread:

http://forum.bittorr...e-is-great-but/

That hadn't been posted when I wrote my previous reply!

...plus, the post you link to is pretty misleading, and certainly not "thorough" - for instance, it makes no reference/provides no examples for the use of the "?" wildcard, and also contains erroneous lines like:

abc.ext # Ignores ALL files of type .ext

...which is incorrect as this will only ignore files named "abc.ext" and NOT "ALL files of type .ext" (which would be *.ext)

[yottabit]

Yep, saw the corruption, too ... figured if BT opened the file to read the language to which I was referring they would see the corruption and maybe fix that, too. :-)

As for explanation of the wildcards, I don't know. I realize I'm an IT veteran, having started on computer with an Atari 65XE and then into MS-DOS 3.21 shortly thereafter, but rather than making that file huge with all of these explanations and examples, perhaps a link to a FAQ at BT would better, for those that really need more detailed instruction.

[jonnojohnson]

Is there a plan to address the delta transfer capability or is it just the way BitTorrent works?

I would love to use btsync as my main backup utility but I have quite a few Outlook .pst files, each a few GB and it seems like btsync has to re-download all of them after I've opened Outlook - even the ones I don't think I changed.

[GreatMarko]

Is there a plan to address the delta transfer capability or is it just the way BitTorrent works?

There's been a discussion on previously on delta sync here, with some responses from the BitTorrent Sync team, which may be of interest

[rdebath]

They won't see any corruption on that file, I don't. Even the minor typo isn't obvious.

# .SyncIgnore is a UTF-8 encoded .txt file that helps you specify single files, paths and rules
# for ignoring during the synchronization job. It supports ‘?’ and ‘*‘ wildcard symbols.
#

The first phrase of the first line explains your problem.

# Note that .SyncIgnore is applied only to the folder where it is contained and
# will not work with the files that have already been synced.

Though I agree, this comment is just wrong. I suppose they don't mean ‘folder’ they mean ‘share’.