RPi4 (hub) with several encrypted folders shared with three non-encrypted laptops (spokes) running Ubuntu 25.04. All devices are updated regularly and all have ST 2.0.10.
Changing file on laptop A results in similar local/global state for that folder on the RPI4.
Connecting laptop B to the hub updates those changes but leaves earlier version unchanged or undeleted, even though both RPi4 and laptop B show the folder up-to-date, global and local states are mismatched.
How about the states on other devices? Are they the same, or are they all different as well? There is the issue https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing/issues/8735 that can cause such inconsistent states, but the actual directory and file numbers on the disk should still match, and synchronisation itself will also continue to work fine.
My theory is that changed/added files are being propagated to other spoke devices but deletions are not, leading to increasing numbers of files (local and global) while displaying up-to-date on all devices. This is pretty weird: totally not how Syncthing is designed.
Anyone with a similar layout or encrypted cloud server is likely to have a similar experience.
If a solution is not forthcoming, I’ll change from receive encrypted to normal send/receive on the hub. Although that is not my preference, leaving data on the hub in plain text while spoke devices (laptops) are protected having encrypted partitions. Maybe I should encrypt the data partition on the RPi4.
Experiment: Deleted receive encrypted folder (Documents) on the hub device RPi4, then recreated the folder as send/receive. Then deleted each spoke device folder Documents and reinstalled from from RPi4. Using one of the spoke devices, I deleted and moved several sub-folders and checked that each action was accurately made on other devices. Every move was accurate and completed almost immediately, as expected.
Conclusion: The effective difference was the change to send/receive on the RPi4, eliminating the encryption for that folder on the hub device.
Would anyone care to try and validate this conclusion?
OK, no help forthcoming on this so I have LUKS encrypted the Data partition on my RPi4’s SSD and changed all the encrypted folders to send & receive. Now, there is no discrepancy as a result between all devices – local and global match across all devices (three laptops and Android phone). Booting the PRi4 is slightly now complex over SSH, but no big deal, it works with the partition unlocked and mounted.
I’ll report this experience on the bug tracker and move on. Syncthing is a great project, I’ve been using it for years with great success, thanks to the devs.
