Sync directory as subdirectory of another synced folder

[Cheer1]

I have a syncthing folder DCIM and Pictures. I want to sync them between devices.

Peer A - android

Peer B - debian

I need to sync the contents of ~/DCIM on A to ~/Pictures/ on peer B.

E.g if ~/DCIM has Camera, then on peer B it should be in ~/Pictures/Camera/

At the same time, I want to sync the contents of ~/Pictures between A and B.

The problem is, since ~/DCIM folders live inside of it, I need to exclude them from syncing from ~/Pictures/ e.g Camera. I could not figure out a way to do it and it causes me trouble when new device was added.

[calmh (Jakob Borg)]

I can’t tell what the problem is that you need help with. Perhaps you can clarify?

[Cheer1]

I edited the original post, I hope it’s clear now?

[calmh (Jakob Borg)]

Sounds like you can do what you propose and add Camera to the ignore patterns on B

[mopani]

@calmh

add Camera to the ignore patterns on B

This is basically what I do on a couple of my peers. Works fine.

[Cheer1]

I still do not get the result I want. I tried many things… let me outline my setup in detail.

Device A - redfin

Device B - debian

When saying folder I mean the syncthing folder, when saying directory I mean the filesystem directory.

DCIM folder on A at ~/DCIM syncs to B at ~/Pictures.

Pictures folder at ~/Pictures on A syncs to Pictures folder at ~/Pictures on B.

As I said before, I want the contents of ~/Pictures directory and its subdirectories not sync to ~/DCIM.

Let me outline the directory hierarchy:

DCIM/

    Camera

Pictures/

     Albums – private life
     Screenshots
     Support material

I do not want any subdirectory of Pictures to sync to DCIM. Based on the following from Ignoring Files — Syncthing v1.29.6 documentation

Please note that directory patterns ending with a slash some/directory/ matches the content of the directory, but not the directory itself. If you want the pattern to match the directory and its content, make sure it does not have a / at the end of the pattern.

I tried including the ignore patterns Pictures or Pictures/ or DCIM and DCIM/ matching with or without case sensitivity in all the locations – one at a time and all at once.

The result is still the same. Pictures subdirectories go to DCIM, and if I delete them inside DCIM, they get deleted in Pictures as well!

Please help. I hope it’s clear.

[Cheer1]

I still need help with this.

[calmh (Jakob Borg)]

Show your actual configs and screenshots please, I’m not following how what you show here aligns with what you wanted in post #1.

[Cheer1]

I think what is posted in #1 can be safely omitted as previous post was meant to be comprehensive. I didn’t want to create a new topic to flood the forum.

Device A: redfin

Device B: debian

DCIM

.stignore

(?d)*.DS_Store
.trashed*
.gs*
.thumbnails
// Ignore DCIM and its contents
DCIM
.localized

Pictures

(?d)*.DS_Store
.trashed*
.gs*
.thumbnails
// Ignore DCIM and its contents
DCIM
.localized

I know the ignore patterns are in both locations and not only on more, e.g DCIM. I tried with one only too. Let me know if you have questions.

[martinleben]

Ouch… I think you are really making it hard/impossible for yourself. This is definitely a non-standard (and maybe unsupported) scenario.

IIUC, on device A you are sharing “~/DCIM”, which contains “Camera”. That is the only content in “~/DCIM” you are interested in, I think.

I recommend that you do NOT share “~/DCIM”, but instead share “~/DCIM/Camera”. And on device B you use directory “~/Pictures/Camera” for this folder. I think this will spare you a lot of hazzle. Good luck!