I’m attempting to switch over from Resilio Sync. However there’s a huge difference in the way that selective syncing works in Syncthing. In Syncthing I must specify the things I do and do not want using the .stignore file. I’m a developer and well aware of .gitignore so I understand all that, but it does not solve an important problem for me.
The .stignore system assumes that I already know a list of all the files at the other end (either in my head or by some other means) so that I can choose which to include and exclude using a pattern.
With Resilio Sync’s selective sync, I can see a list of what’s at the other and and choose what to sync using the user interface.
I can cope with manually editing the .stignore, even though that is inconvenient, but when I have literally 100000 files at the other end in a scattered set of directories, then the only option I have is to use a remote file browser or SSH to go there and then devise patterns to get what I want. That is very tricky when I’m in a railway station with only an Android phone in my hands.
Is there any way to get Syncthing to show me what’s at the other end without syncing it, so that I can “select” by editing .stignore?
I’m wondering if other users have come up with ways to do what I want.
There isn’t. There are other implementations that do something like it, although I’m not sure how mainstream or complete they are. In the end I think Syncthing isn’t at all well suited to syncing a random subset of 100000 files in a scattered set of directories. To use Syncthing successfully you’ll want to make the distinction between files you want and files you don’t want much clearer, as top level directories or different folders, or simple file patterns (all text files but not jpegs, or what have you).
Thank you for the reply. In my case I am interested in using a sync tool on files where I do not control the layout, or where organising the layout specifically for syncing will make it a lot less convenient for everything else.
I did some experiments where I listed all the 100000 files in a shared .stfiles, included from .stignore, so that the list could be edited at the remote end to bring across stuff. (I used vi under Termux on Android.) That didn’t seem to work very well, though, with the “server” end not picking up changes. In any case, it was very clunky and inconvenient to do. I just thought I’d note it down in case anyone else comes by and reads the thread. Also, because .stignore has syntax it didn’t like the format of many of the file names (I have names in all sorts of languages).
So I’m back to Resilio Sync for now but I’ll check in on Syncthing again in future. This isn’t my first time around!