Having trouble adding new computer to existing sync relationship; what is the correct procedure?

General
1

I have 2 folders I want to sync to all of my computers, one is scripts, and one is linux dotfiles. This has been working for a while with about 10 devices.

Now, when I add a new device, I ususally end up screwing up the whole routine leading to some broken sync relationship. I currently have my sync partnership in a broken state I can’t fix (I’ve read some posts on this, mostly around broken .stfolder stuff):

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One of my devices is an introducer, and each of my other devices is set up to auto accept and acknowledge that as an introducer. When I create a new device, I create the 2 folders and pre-populate them over SFTP or something (though not transferring .stfolder). Usually this is where syncing goes weird, things show broken, and I start iterating. I’ll tick sharing permissions on/off, I’ll tick ignore permissions on/off, I’ll try to recreate the .stfolder…it ends up a mess, and I get frustrated and fussy.

What is the correct “for dummies” procedure for adding a new device to an existing sync relationship, especially if I would like things such as permissions copied? All of my devices sync users via LDAP auth if that helps.

2

I think you may be dealing with a bug here. We had similar issues in the past in the same situation, i.e. many devices with an introducer which meant that all of them began sharing the newly added folder with each other almost immediately. This very often ended up with non-existent out-of-sync files stuck like in your screenshots.

Unfortunately, I never managed to find the culprit or reproduce the problem in a clean environment. In the end, we stopped using the introducer feature and simply shared the folders manually.

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