Using BitTorrent Sync as file sharing solution in private community?

[kassan]

Hi,

congratulations on your new project. I'm wondering if I can use BTS as kind of decentralized file storage for an online community:

Can I choose what directories are synchronized on a particular PC?

Are incomplete parts of a file keep spreading when a 'master' PC holding this file is offline?

Can BTS synchronize folders from many sources at once?

Does BTS use incompletely synchronized folders for replication? (I have a folder, but removed some files: Can a new PC use this folder to synchronize files I have?)

[GreatMarko]

Can I choose what directories are synchronized on a particular PC?

Yes! - You can also use the .SyncIgnore file to exclude files/folders from the sync, but you'll need to ensure the .SyncIgnore file contents matches on all of your devices to prevent files being deleted.

Are incomplete parts of a file keep spreading when a 'master' PC holding this file is offline?

Yes, as long as the file sync's to more than one device

Can BTS synchronize folders from many sources at once?

Yes!

Does BTS use incompletely synchronized folders for replication? (I have a folder, but removed some files: Can a new PC use this folder to synchronize files I have?)

You'll need to clarify this - I'm not sure exactly what you mean?

[perennate]

> Can I choose what directories are synchronized on a particular PC?

Yes, the directories are configurable.

> Are incomplete parts of a file keep spreading when a 'master' PC holding this file is offline?

There's is no master computer, so yes. The protocol is exclusively distributed, where the file with the latest timestamp "wins".

> Can BTS synchronize folders from many sources at once?

It doesn't support version control; if two sources edit the same file, then the later timestamp overwrites the first (although the first can go to a trash folder). But if they are editing different files or at different times, then yes, by default all nodes have read+write access (read-only access is also possible).

> Does BTS use incompletely synchronized folders for replication? (I have a folder, but removed some files: Can a new PC use this folder to synchronize files I have?)

Not sure exactly what you mean. If you are synchronizing two different folders on two machines, then the folders will be merged; files with the same name (if I understand correctly) will conflict, and the one with later timestamp overwrites the first.

[kassan]

Thanks for your quick responses,

lets imagine I have a community website where members are allowed to post videos of their pets and I want to use BTS to synchronize and distribute this clips to everyone. Basically I want to use BTS as modern, decentralized and serverless way to share (not exactly sync) files in community.

>Can I choose what directories are synchronized on a particular PC?

Yes! - You can also use the .SyncIgnore file to exclude files/folders from the sync, but you'll need to ensure the .SyncIgnore file contents matches on all of your devices to prevent files being deleted.

What happens when each member has different .SyncIgnore file (generated through website) with folders he wants to keep? I hope this devices provide folders they have synced to others, but just ignore excluded folders?

> Does BTS use incompletely synchronized folders for replication? (I have a folder, but removed some files: Can a new PC use this folder to synchronize files I have?)

Not sure exactly what you mean. If you are synchronizing two different folders on two machines, then the folders will be merged; files with the same name (if I understand correctly) will conflict, and the one with later timestamp overwrites the first.

What I mean is using .SyncIgnore to exclude files I deleted on a particular device. As far as I see, there is no way to choose what files are stored where? I think of BTS as a way to distribute files across community, not as a sync tool.

I think it could be a great way for webmasters to save bandwidth and storage using p2p to distribute content and sync capabilities to ensure everyone have the most recent set of multimedia from a particular website.

[GreatMarko]

What happens when each member has different .SyncIgnore file (generated through website) with folders he wants to keep? I hope this devices provide folders they have synced to others, but just ignore excluded folders?

Assuming you already have a file on two devices, if you add that file to .SyncIgnore on one device, but not to the corresponding .SyncIgnore on another device, the file will end up being deleted on the second device.

I think what I gather from your question is that you want to share certain sub-folders of a parent directory with some users, and other sub-folders with other users?

This isn't very easy at present - you would need to setup up separate syncs of each sub-folder (and not on the parent), and then share the appropriate "secrets" accordingly

[johnmarshall4]

@kassan, I'd like to hear a bit more about this potential use case. Ignoring the topic of .SyncIgnore for a minute.... For 'distribution' I think the use of a read-only secret might be handy - at least for one way push out to the users. This implies a 'master' source somewhere though. In only bring it up because you mention you don't want to use BTS as a 'sync tool' and RO secret is pretty much the only way to avoid 'sync' currently.

Are you also thinking of using BTSync for the users to to contribute files or some other means?

[Mas73]

Hello,

I have an issue with the way I thought computers were going to contribute to the swarm. I have one folder containing about 350 gigs on my server that I am sharing for more than 40 days read-only with 7 peers located all over the world, it's a big video community project and several video editors are working on it. The first of them having joined the swarm already have several gigs on their sides. I thought as the swarm would build up, all the computers would contribute to the overall upload-download and system resiliency. Two days ago the server was shut down for maintenance, I thought "no problem, all the peers keep contributing between them and the latest arrived will keep seeing files downloading, this should be transparent for them". Turns out they contacted me to tell me my server is offline they aren't downloading anymore (they need the files to do their work). Did I miss something with the way the system is working? I gave all of them the same read-only secret requesting approval and sent by email directly from BT sync, so I didn't fiddle with the secret to change its properties. They were all approved from the server and everything was working fine with the server online.

Thanks,
Mas73.