File	Date	Author	Commit
MANIFEST.in	2012-11-10	necase	[0f7da8] Initial release
README	2015-03-11	necase	[b14b60] Fix -m, -n, and -c options and add notes to REA...
setup-posix.cfg	2012-11-10	necase	[0f7da8] Initial release
setup-win.cfg	2012-11-10	necase	[0f7da8] Initial release
setup.cfg	2012-11-10	necase	[0f7da8] Initial release
setup.py	2012-11-25	necase	[87c69f] snsync version 0.02
snsync	2012-11-10	necase	[0f7da8] Initial release
snsync-test	2015-05-18	necase	[8d6462] Make snsync-test less verbose if the tests pass
snsync.ico	2012-11-10	necase	[0f7da8] Initial release
snsync.py	2015-06-24	necase	[061baf] Ensure files copied to the transfer directory a...
snsync.svg	2012-11-10	necase	[0f7da8] Initial release
snsync_tkui.py	2015-06-25	necase	[2eaa8a] Enable super to work with HidingScrollbar on Py...

Read Me

This is snsync, a program that enables you to synchronize files between two computers that are not connected to the same network.
You must have Python version 2.5 or greater installed on the devices to run snsync.


INSTALLATION


To install snsync, run the command

python setup.py install

from the command line as a privileged user to install snsync to a directory on your path.
You may instead opt to install snsync to a directory of your choice by modifying the above command as shown below:

python setup.py install --prefix=/some/directory (on Mac OS X, Linux, or posix)
OR
python setup.py install --prefix="C:\Users\Example\snsync" (on Windows)

You may choose any directory, and as long as the user can write to that directory, the installation will succeed.

The installation method above installs the main executable file, called snsync, to the directory you specified; if you did not specify a directory above, the snsync file is probably in /usr/bin (Mac/Linux/Posix) or C:\Program Files\snsync (on Windows).
You may create a shortcut to that file to run the program.


Using snsync: the initial sync


If you accept that all the data in the directory will be copied to the portable storage device for the initial sync, you may use the graphical interface to snsync.
To synchronize your data, first ensure all of it is in a single directory on your device, and plug in your portable storage device.
Run snsync and choose the aforementioned single directory as the "Local directory", and choose a newly-created directory on your portable storage device as the "Transfer Directory".
Then, click the "Show Sync Info" button.
Depending on the number and sizes of files in the local directory, this step may take a minute the first time it is run.
The program is scanning the local directory you chose for files to copy (in later usage, it would be determining how to update the local directory).
When the program has finished, a color-coded list appears displaying how the program will update your files.
You may scroll through this list with your mouse to verify the program will update the files properly.
Then, click the Sync button to update the local and transfer directories.


If you have two directory structures that are already similar and do not have a portable storage device large enough to copy the whole directory, you must use snsync from the command line.
This procedure may also be used to resynchronize the directories if the transfer directory is inaccessible.
The commonds are as follows.
On the first device:
snsync -n first_device_directory transfer_directory
# Information about the first device is stored in the transfer directory

On the second device:
snsync -m second_device_directory transfer_directory
# Information about the second device and any files to be copied to the first device are stored in the transfer directory

On the first device:
snsync -c first_device_directory transfer_directory
# The first device is synchronized with the second device

On the second device:
snsync second_device_directory transfer_directory
# The second device is synchronized with the first device
# From this point, use snsync to periodically synchronize the two devices as described below

Using snsync: keeping the directories in sync


Now when you log in to the other computer and attach your portable storage device, run the snsync program and select the same transfer directory as you did above, and also select the appropriate local directory.
Follow the same steps as above to synchronize your directories.
Continue to modify your files, and when you are done, run snsync again to copy the modified files to the portable storage device.
To copy those changes back to the original computer, run snsync on the original computer using the same transfer and local directories as before.

As long as you continue to use the same transfer and local directories, you will be able to keep your directories in sync!