I am completely new to Syncthing, and have configured it to sync my main personal documents folder on my Windows workstation to a drive on my Ubuntu file server (send & receive). I have selected the staggered file versioning option, with a maximum age of 365 days. I have just made changed to a large Excel workbook (about 35MB) on the Windows desktop. The changes were synced immediately to the Ubuntu folder, but no previous version was retained. It did create a “sync-conflict” file, but there is no previous version in the .stversions folder. I was expecting the previous version of the file to have been accessible in the .stversions folder - have I misunderstood something?
Please see https://docs.syncthing.net/users/syncing.html#conflicting-changes to understand what conflicted copies are and why they’re created. When it comes to file versioning, it gets triggered only on file modifications or deletions, not conflicts.
On a side note, as you sync between Windows and Linux devices, you likely want to enable “Ignore Permissions” for the folder on both sides.
Hmmm…that’s very odd, as the file was only being modified on one machine at the time, so I don’t understand how the conflict could have arisen. Is there an audit trail/log which might provide more insight?
EDIT: I’ve just made another minor change to the same document, then saved/closed it. The new version was synced immediately to the Ubuntu machine but, once again, nothing was written to the .setversions folder. This time a conflicts version of the file was NOT created.
The log simply says:
2025-01-28 16:41:15 Ready to synchronize "Mydocs" (7aahp-xawyf) (sendreceive)
2025-01-28 16:41:15 Restarted folder "Mydocs" (7aahp-xawyf) (sendreceive)
2025-01-28 16:41:25 Ready to synchronize "_NewMusic" (5mfgw-a7xwv) (sendonly)
2025-01-28 16:41:25 Restarted folder "_NewMusic" (5mfgw-a7xwv) (sendonly)
2025-01-28 16:41:27 Completed initial scan of sendonly folder "_NewMusic" (5mfgw-a7xwv)
2025-01-28 16:44:03 Completed initial scan of sendreceive folder "Mydocs" (7aahp-xawyf)
???
I’ve just noticed on the web console of the Ubuntu server that syncing seems to be stuck at 99% complete, with 16 items out of sync. The console on the Windows desktop shows “Up to Date” for the Ubuntu server. This could explain why my file is not being versioned, but the newer version has nonetheless been synced. Any idea how I can get the sync to complete?
Have you enabled “Ignore Permissions” (as suggested above) in the folder’s advanced settings? Trying to sync permissions (and other advanced options like ownership, extended attributes, etc.) between Windows and Linux isn’t going to work, and it can lead to files being “stuck in sync” like that.
As for versioning, once the files do get synced, please make sure that you’re checking the versioning folder on the server side, not the one on Windows.
Yes I enabled “Ignore permissions” on BOTH machines.
There is actually no .stversions folder on the Ubuntu machine (only on the Windows machine)
In the Syncthing’s Web GUI on the server side, I would try to pause the folder, then enable fs
debug logging (in Actions → Logs → Debugging), then resume it and see what is going on in the log. You may also share the whole log here too.
You did this on the Ubuntu server right? You’re modifying the file on the windows machine and syncing to Ubuntu?
And you checked the stversions folder in Ubuntu?
Syncthing doesn’t handle versioning of LOCAL files.
I decided to reboot the Ubuntu server, but things seem to have got worse… I got error messages telling me that the folder path was missing for both of my shared folders. Both paths are fine, and accessible. The shared folders were also marked as “Stopped”, although the first folder now says “Scanning”.
I enabled fs debugging, then triggered a manual rescan of the _NewMusic folder. I also modified an Excel file on the Windows machine, saved/closed it, and did a manual rescan on the Mydocs folder. The Excel file was synced to the Ubuntu server, but once again the previous version was not saved anywhere, and there is still no .stversions folder on the server. The remote device (Windows machine) still shows “Syncing 99%”.
When I opened the log is was completely empty.
Both folders now show as “Up to Date”, but Syncing is still 99%. Pausing/resuming doesn’t seem to change anything.
Please post a screenshot with the full folder information visible from the server side. This is to verify that versioning is indeed enabled. Also, what happens if you try to view versions in the GUI (via the Versions button under the folder)?
Here are the details. In the meantime I actually removed and re-created both folders from both machines. I updated a file called “Utilities Consumption.xlsx” on the Windows machine. It synced to the Ubuntu server, but the previous version was not saved (and there’s nothing shown if I click on the Versions button) - although I do now see a .stversions folder on the server.