I am currently using Windows desktop (W) to run Syncthing (SW) to sync my Android phone (A) contents to a target (T) folder in the desktop computer. A is set to SEND ONLY and T is set to RECEIVE ONLY. There is no two way sync.
I also dual boot a Linux (L) installation on the same desktop which I have been using more often these days. I plan to install Synthing (SL) in here too.
My idea is to have the sync run from A to T no matter which OS is currently running. If running Windows data should flow A > SW > T and if running Linux it should go A > SL > T.
I am expecting each time I reboot to a different OS, Synthing will find its database to be old, check for any changes and then sync those.
Can I just copy the Synthing settings/database from Windows to Linux and make it run?
I suppose in theory that should be fine since the XML config file and database aren’t OS-specific.
Because you’re dual-booting, you won’t end up with two Syncthing devices using the same device ID since either only Windows or Linux will be running at any given time.
A caveat is that you have to either keep Syncthing on Windows and Linux on the same version, or at least close enough so that the configuration file is compatible. This is especially important if you decided to share the config.xml and database between Windows and Linux (i.e. not just copy them).
If you maintain separate configs and databases for Syncthing on Windows and Linux so that they behave like two independent devices, sharing a common target folder that’s set to receive-only should be okay even though Windows or Linux will see newer files that it didn’t see since the last time Syncthing was running – as long as those newer files are the same or older than their counterparts on your Android phone. Otherwise you might get a error about local additions/changes.
Time…
I’m assuming that your target folder is on a NTFS or other suitable volume that’s compatible with Windows. Time resolution may or may not be an issue depending on a number of factors and configuration in Linux plus Syncthing on Windows and Linux. If you see file conflicts in Syncthing, keep this in mind.
Permissions…
When Linux or another OS is writing new files to a NTFS volume, the file ownership might not match the user on the Windows side and/or the read/write permissions might not be what’s required (the SIDs that Windows tags nearly everything with doesn’t exist in Linux). There are potentially quite a few variables to consider that’s dependent on the particular setup.
I planned to copy it only initially in order avoid re-creating the whole database again. But plan is to keep the copies independently and not share between SW and SL.
About permissions, hope shifting the whole T folder to a FAT32 filesystem solve it.