Wishlist (Archive)

[zatricky]

Option to treat a peer as a "preferred metadata intermediary" or to automatically negotiate this in some way. Though it isn't a crazy amount of total data, as you add each device to the network, the "idle" network chatter increases dramatically, causing a concern for Internet users with slow (dialup, diginet, shared), shaped, and/or capped accounts.

 

For example, two locations:

Location a:

A number of desktops/servers connected to each other via decent Local network but connected to the Internet via an uncapped-but-heavily-shaped 384k Internet service

 

Location b:
As above but with high-speed unshaped Internet service (40Mb-plus)

 

Location a devices would swarm with each other and, except for one of them, could be configured to not automatically connect to the peers in location b when transferring metadata except if their "preferred intermediary" indicates there is an issue connecting to the peers in location b.

Location b devices would swarm with each other and behave the same as with location a.

 

I can imagine two ways to do this, in order of ease of implementation:
1) Configure the intermediary manually in a similar fashion to the "predefined host" feature (requires some mechanism to fail over to skip the intermediary if there is some issue)

2) For automatic intermediary, have a simple checkbox to enable:
 - automatically detect which peers are in the same LAN/WAN

 - allow these locations to be named and/or manually assigned to the devices/peers (more UI)

 - automatically negotiate which local device will act as an intermediary

Edited December 23, 2013 by zatricky

[Teiji]

Please make file syncs immediately when it is (re)saved even if the file is still open. For example, I have an excel open and when I save, it isn't syncing at all unless I close the file. That is so annoying. Dropbox doesn't do this and syncs immediately when the file is resaved and still open.

 

 

[Moe]

Please make file syncs immediately when it is (re)saved even if the file is still open. For example, I have an excel open and when I save, it isn't syncing at all unless I close the file. That is so annoying. Dropbox doesn't do this and syncs immediately when the file is resaved and still open.

You don't understand how BTS works. BTS is not a service where you can edit a file with muliple users like Google Docs or so..

BTS locks the file while you edit it on all devices you try to access it from. I don't think this is possible.

[Teiji]

You don't understand how BTS works. BTS is not a service where you can edit a file with muliple users like Google Docs or so..

BTS locks the file while you edit it on all devices you try to access it from. I don't think this is possible.

I am not editing a file with multiple users. I only have the file open in one place, but I need it to sync immediately after it is saved (while the file is still open for further editting...for mostly likely a whole day).

 

Example:

1. I open an excel on a work PC and add stuff in, then save. (Excel file is still open, so BTS can't sync).

2. Several minutes later, I add new stuff in and save. (Excel file is still open, so BTS can't sync).

3. An hour pass, I add new stuff in and save. (Excel file is still open, so BTS can't sync).

4. Power outage and the work PC shutdown, so BTS can't sync.

 

Result: The excel on my laptop doesnt have the new data from the work PC excel because BTS can't sync it while it is still open (in steps 1-3 above). Thus I cannot continue my work on the excel.

[Moe]

I am not editing a file with multiple users. I only have the file open in one place, but I need it to sync immediately after it is saved (while the file is still open for further editting...for mostly likely a whole day).

 

Example:

1. I open an excel on a work PC and add stuff in, then save. (Excel file is still open, so BTS can't sync).

2. Several minutes later, I add new stuff in and save. (Excel file is still open, so BTS can't sync).

3. An hour pass, I add new stuff in and save. (Excel file is still open, so BTS can't sync).

4. Power outage and the work PC shutdown, so BTS can't sync.

 

Result: The excel on my laptop doesnt have the new data from the work PC excel because BTS can't sync it while it is still open (in steps 1-3 above). Thus I cannot continue my work on the excel.

So you want a proper versioning solution with BTS? I definitely can see your benefit of it but I don't see it coming since even Dropbox doesn't support something like this. They have to deal with file-locks also and I guess the easiest way to do this is just close the file and wait till sync is done and then reopen it..

And try to think from the side of BTS: the client has to check EVERY second or even less if any bit of the hashed files has changed and that consumes a lot of compute power and if you work on a mobile client without the power cord plugged in.. well that's a short business day. At the moment the cycle is at 10min default if I'm not wrong and that's just the time where the files are being checked. But every 5 seconds your client makes a connection to r.usyncapp.com (yeah obviously relay servers), t.usyncapp.com (which are some amazon cloud servers where they are buying cumpute time I guess) and usyncapp.com (update server?! it's port 80 so I guess thats just for the update request for a new BTS version) and checks for your any other information there so that's battery consuming as well

and I think it's not that smart to have an always-on connection to your shares.

It's diffrent if you do that in a browser where you can end the connection right away when you're done editing..

[Teiji]

So you want a proper versioning solution with BTS? I definitely can see your benefit of it but I don't see it coming since even Dropbox doesn't support something like this. They have to deal with file-locks also and I guess the easiest way to do this is just close the file and wait till sync is done and then reopen it..

And try to think from the side of BTS: the client has to check EVERY second or even less if any bit of the hashed files has changed and that consumes a lot of compute power and if you work on a mobile client without the power cord plugged in.. well that's a short business day. At the moment the cycle is at 10min default if I'm not wrong and that's just the time where the files are being checked. But every 5 seconds your client makes a connection to r.usyncapp.com (yeah obviously relay servers), t.usyncapp.com (which are some amazon cloud servers where they are buying cumpute time I guess) and usyncapp.com (update server?! it's port 80 so I guess thats just for the update request for a new BTS version) and checks for your any other information there so that's battery consuming as well

and I think it's not that smart to have an always-on connection to your shares.

It's diffrent if you do that in a browser where you can end the connection right away when you're done editing..

I'm not sure of the proper term for this. Actually, Dropbox does this. Everytime I save my excel and even if the file is still open, Dropbox syncs immediately. Well, I've moved back to Dropbox until this feature is supported in BTS (hopefully).

[lolcat]

I stumbled upon this piece of software while looking for some good form of backup software, I realize that backup is not its purpose, but for parts of my backup needs this is perfect (I use it to sync my laptop to a fileserver that backups to the cloud).

 

The encrypted backup function seems brilliant, the only problem is my inability to create the secret for encryption since this is only enabled through the API.

The ability to share sub-folders with their own secrets is the most important feature, especially when encryption gets enabled. Then I can save a backup of folders that doesn't change much (pictures for instance) and store it encrypted at friends and family. If I could share subfolders they would allready have the files, and would then be able to instantly access whatever folder I want to send them.

I would like the option of more intelligent syncing. Lets say I have three fileservers with good redundancy and another one with great bandwith but limited storage. If the client could make sure the fileservers has two copies (instead of three), and that the most popular blocks is on the high bandwith box I would be able to serve more files more efficiently. I could ofcourse manually create a folder of what I think is the most popular part, but that won't be as streamlined and efficient.

I would like a much better GUI, and the ability to download only parts of a shared folder. If I am limited to my 60GB SSD and my friend wishes to share 3TB of movies that won't work too well, and I would want to be able to choose what files I need, and preferably their priority.

It would be nice to be able to at the client side define how much redundancy a folder needs. My Ubuntu ISOs doesn't have to be replicated as heavily as my personal photos. If you could define roles to the different clients (ie server or client) then it could make sure there were always a copy on two different servers (a computer that has little downtime).

Ability to share individual files would also be interessting, if I have allready synced 200GB of movies to my servers and my family, it seems rather tedious to make a new folder, and resync it everywhere just to share one movie. And it would be a terrible waste of badnwith.

A way to split a shared folder into pieces could also be usefull, especially with encrypted folders. Lets say I have 100GB availeble on 5 computers, if I could then make a 500GB folder sync one piece to each, I would be able to utilize storage better and share more. Parity would also be brilliant, if I could make it split into 3 pieces, and use two for parity (so that any three can recreate my files).

 

Prioritating different folders would also be a good feature. I am more interested in getting my girlfriends photos, than the latest drunken movie from my friend. I should download those first, and leave the rest for later.

Limiting size of syncs would be usefull for swapping backup space, or when one of the recipients have low amounts of storage.

Being able to define several sources for files and using all the folders as sources. If I have a file shared with mother, and sister shares it with me, the client should notice and not redownload it.

 

I'd also like to be able to add web seeds for files or folders like you can in µTorrent.

 

[lolcat]

The ability to append one share to another would be usefull. Lets say I have the following setup:

Share [All files goes to my servers] with the sub-shares: Jane, Nick and Juliett and a Picture folder with sub-folders for different events.

Then I go to Vegas with Jane and Nick, and have a folder with pictures. If I could append it to Jane and Nicks shares, they would be able to download/upload between eachother. Then I won't have to add it to both the folders.

[lolcat]

Also having a fourth key that only allows someone to encrypt files and upload them, but not view the other files. Then you could setup an inbox running on several servers with the encrypted key, and then check the inbox whenever. That probably won't work if it is symetrical encryption tho...

[lolcat]

[2013-12-28 00:37:24.633] New torrent created for file 2005\12\Resaves\DSCF1405.jpg mt:1388211256 57A94DFEEB2230B957A34FCCDA3499A1674E2A1E

 

Does this indicate that every file is its own torrent? If that is the case, then nested shares, and shares refering files elsewhere would be just a simple matter of programming. If each file is its own torrent, then it should be extremly easy to implement nested-shares and shares refering to other files. It would only require tiny changes, and the ability to retrive the secrets for each file and folder inside a share.

[knservis]

This is a great app. I have installed it on my laptops and raspberry pi and I think it is pretty awesome. 

 

The only thing that is missing for me to actually switch over, is some good way of controlling device membership to the share.

 

Maybe one idea would be to be able to use a private tracker with user/password auth? You guys could be providing this as a service..

[lolcat]

This is a great app. I have installed it on my laptops and raspberry pi and I think it is pretty awesome. 

 

The only thing that is missing for me to actually switch over, is some good way of controlling device membership to the share.

 

Maybe one idea would be to be able to use a private tracker with user/password auth? You guys could be providing this as a service..

 

Nested shares could also accomplish this, in a far more secure way. Protecting the tracker would solve nothing, the other person could still just type in your IP:Port and download your files. To continue to encrypt files with a compromised key is also a bad idea. The files that are already shared with that person is rather irrelevant as they will already be downloaded. But the new files you would want to be encrypted with new keys.

This would require encrypting files with their own unique key, and enable lots of fun possibilities. You could then share individual files, build a share using any file/folder from your share, and enable cross-seeding. If you then attached your "virtual" share to a different share for each person, all you would have to do is to detach the share from the share the person you don't wish to share with, and they would lose access to all new files. You could probably do this without restricting their ability to seed/download the files they already have.

[sbq]

Thank you for Bit Torrent Sync.

 

In the Unofficial FAQ, under Common Error Messages there are multiple possible reasons for an error, look at "Can't open the destination folder" where you list 3 possible things to check. Can't you identify in your code which of the reasons is causing the error and add some kind of additional text to the common error message?  For example:

 

Can't open the destination folder (no folder to sync)

Can't open the destination folder (.syncID is damaged/corrupt)

Can't open the destination folder (network share, use drive letter)

 

 

[lolcat]

 

Thank you for Bit Torrent Sync.

 

In the Unofficial FAQ, under Common Error Messages there are multiple possible reasons for an error, look at "Can't open the destination folder" where you list 3 possible things to check. Can't you identify in your code which of the reasons is causing the error and add some kind of additional text

to the common error message?  For example:

 

Can't open the destination folder (no folder to sync)

Can't open the destination folder (.syncID is damaged/corrupt)

Can't open the destination folder (network share, use drive letter)

 

 

 

Which one of those isn't self explanatory? First one it can't find the folder at all, second one the contents of .syncID isn't what it should be, third one it is on a network share and you should configure it using the drive letter (D:, E:, F:).

[Troy]

Thank you for BitTorrent Sync, thusfar I'm impressed with what it can do and I like it. As for my personal wishlist:

1.
Although the probability of guessing secrets has been discussed in length in

http://forum.bittorrent.com/topic/19222-can-someone-just-guess-shared-secrets/

and a 2-step authentication has been proposed in the same topic, I would still like to see a form of 2-step authentication.What I'd love to see is very simple: currently, every shared folder has a secret, and i'd like to see a whitelist added for connecting devices (names) on a per secret basis. Note that spoofing the device name is very easy and does not add any security by itself, however it does turn the game of secret 'guessing' (again, the probability of a hit is very low) from attacking every user simultaneously to attacking a single user directly. Effectively, everything is already available in BitTorrent Sync, with exception of a filter for unknown device names, which then simply would accept/refuse the connection and appear online/offline, respectively.

2.
In the same filter trend as 1., I'd like to be able to pause the synchronization of a single folder (appear offline function, which may occasionally desirable), whilst the other folders continue to synchronize. Again, a simple blocking filter ought to be sufficient?

Edited May 23, 2014 by GreatMarko
Struck-through items are suggestions which now have their own dedicated threads in the Feature Requests forum

[graphicsmagick]

Feature request: New type of secret "Deposit"

Hello BitTorrent Sync Developement Team,

I think it would be very useful to implement a new kind of secret that allow a BitTorrent Sync user to accept upload of files from 3rd parties, without divulging the existing files in a share, and without the tedious management of multiple independent shares. Some may call this "one-way sync".

Here's how I think it can work:

1. Alice wants to upload some files to Bob

2. Bob already has a BTSync share called "Bob's Documents", and Bob decides that he doesn't want to create & manage yet another new share

3. Bob launches BTSync program on his computer, and go to "Bob's Documents" > "Show folder preferences". From there he obtains the "Deposit" secret. Bob advises Alice of the secret

4. Alice adds the secret to her BTSync app, pointing to a new empty folder called "Upload to Bob" on her computer
    !! Instead of seeing Bob's files, "Upload to Bob" folder remains empty

5. Alice copy files into "Upload to Bob"

6. On Bob's computer, a new subfolder called "From Alice's Work Laptop" (i.e. "From Device Name") is automatically created under "Bob's Documents". Alice's files are uploaded under this folder without affecting any existing files in "Bob's Documents"

7. A while later, Alice gets a notification from the BTSync program that all files have been transferred to "Bob's Computer"
    !! Alice can now safely move / delete all files in "Upload to Bob", without affecting any files on Bob's computer

8. Alice's files are also uploaded to all devices that share the full access / read-only secrets of "Bob's Documents" automatically

 

9. After Bob has finished working with Alice's files, he can delete / move the files, or leave them in the share. Alice would not know about the fate of those files


In other words, this is a "one-way" sync from Alice to Bob. In fact it's a very simple concept to grasp. It works almost exactly the same as the internet email system (Geez I think we are re-inventing emails!):

1. The "Deposit" secret is like your email address

2. Any one who know your "email address" can send you "mails" (upload files)

3. However, knowing the "email address" does not allow one to look into the contents of your "inbox" (Obviously)

4. There may be multiple people who know your "email address", but these people cannot know who has sent what "mails" to you. Users with the "Deposit" secret are isolated. Although the "Deposit" secret is the same, these users do not communicate / sync with each other.

5. Once the "mails" are delivered to your "inbox" they cannot be recalled / un-delivered. This is a true One-Way sync.

 

6. Once the "mails" are delivered the 2 copies of mails (files) are independent. It works the same way as email inbox and "Sent Mails" mailboxes in email programs. "Sent Mails" mailbox can be emptied frequently without affecting the delivered emails.

 

I hope you find my description of this "Deposit" secret useful

 

One last thing, I think this "Deposit" secret can also be used to solve the "sync camera rolls on mobile devices" problem. Mobile devices can be linked to a share on computer using the "Deposit" secret. The "Deposit" secret can free the user from having to keep identical copies of photos in-sync on both the mobile devices and her computer. If either the mobile device or computer is about to run out of space, the photos can be deleted from mobile storage / move to a different hard disk without hassles.

[scegg]

Fix the bug that cannot run on AMD GEODE processors.

 

http://forum.bittorrent.com/topic/24686-error-btsync-does-not-run-on-x86-compatible-geode-processors-illegal-instruction/

[sbq]

Remote Status

 

I'm syncing between a folder on my local disk and a folder on a remote machine.  I would like to be able to get the status of the sync at the remote machine:

 

- For each item at the top level, how many bytes exist (i.e., have been transferred) on the remote machine?

-- for a subdirectory at the top level, I'd like to know how many bytes the directory tree rooted at the subdirectory occupies.

- I'd like to be able to browse in my local bt-sync GUI the sync of my folder and subfolders on the remote machine so I can find out how far along the syncing has progressed.

 

At the moment, I have no way to know how far along the sync is on the remote machine.  By looking at the transfers tab I can see what transfers are going on right now, but that's about it.

Which one of those isn't self explanatory? First one it can't find the folder at all, second one the contents of .syncID isn't what it should be, third one it is on a network share and you should configure it using the drive letter (D:, E:, F:).

The way I showed the messages, each of them is self explanatory.  I do not know the correct format of the .syncid file.  Now I have to decide if the .syncid is incorrect or it's a network share issue?

[lolcat]

and a 2-step authentication has been proposed in the same topic, I would still like to see a form of 2-step authentication.What I'd love to see is very simple: currently, every shared folder has a secret, and i'd like to see a whitelist added for connecting devices (names) on a per secret basis. Note that spoofing the device name is very easy and does not add any security by itself, however it does turn the game of secret 'guessing' (again, the probability of a hit is very low) from attacking every user simultaneously to attacking a single user directly. Effectively, everything is already available in BitTorrent Sync, with exception of a filter for unknown device names, which then simply would accept/refuse the connection and appear online/offline, respectively.

 

I agree that every file should be encrypted with its own key, mainly because that makes nested shares possible, and makes adding features simple.

The two factor authentication is just dumb. If you belive the secrets can be guessed, how can you trust AES? Guessing the secret is not an issue, someone deriving the secret through something the client leaks, or through some error in the software is an issue. Adding a password would do nothing for security, but make it harder to use. It makes no sense.

The ability to whitelist hosts seems sensible, that way you can seed only to those you care about, especially usefull if nested shares is implemented and someone shares part of your share with the world.

[simonegle]

I use two Drobo 5N. Is it possible to sync one Drobo with another? I want to use it as an offsite backup (one-on-one). An App for Drobo would be great!

[lolcat]

I use two Drobo 5N. Is it possible to sync one Drobo with another? I want to use it as an offsite backup (one-on-one). An App for Drobo would be great!

 

This is the wishlist thread, not a support thread.

Also, drobo is linux, so if you have ssh access you can do that.

[simonegle]

soory

[simonegle]

This is the wishlist thread, not a support thread.

Also, drobo is linux, so if you have ssh access you can do that.

My wish: Bittorrentsync as a Drobo App 2.0 SDK for Drobo 5N

[lolcat]

My wish: Bittorrentsync as a Drobo App 2.0 SDK for Drobo 5N

 

Making a drobo app for bittorrent sync should be minimal amounts of work. And installing it manually on drobo should take no more than a few minutes.

[BkHustlaKidd]

im not sure if anyone asked but will there be a feature to turn on or off auto sync so we can view files and choose which one i want sync to a device?

Edited January 13, 2014 by BkHustlaKidd