I’ve been wondering if Google’s new Linux Terminal on Android could help solve Syncthing’s performance issues with large numbers of small files.
One suspected bottleneck is Android’s Storage Access Framework (SAF), which adds overhead when accessing files. Folders within the Linux VM can now be mounted on the host with the latest quarterly Android release. These are not subjected to SAF for apps within the VM while still being accessible for normal Android apps.
Since Linux applications running inside Google’s Linux VM don’t use SAF to access their own Linux filesystem, could running the native Linux version of Syncthing inside it bypass this bottleneck?
It might be worth experimenting with and benchmarking. Has anyone tried this?