The functionality to synchronize files and directories with digests is provided by the docking window named Sync. For the default configuration of the Digester software, the button for this docking window is located on the right edge of the main window. Here you can see four tabs Entries, Formats, Sync, and Options.
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Please note that the synchronize functionality is not available in the Basic Edition and Standard Edition. |
The requirements for the use of digests and signatures may be very different: for FTP servers often SHA and signature files are used, while the Digester XML format is appropriate for archiving backups. In order to support arbitrary environments appropriately, mappings may be defined. You can create a new mapping using the button with plus symbol on top of the sync window. You will be prompted to specify a unique mapping name. The current settings of the sync window are used to create the new mapping. You may adjust the settings at any time: please select the desired mapping and adjust settings as desired. The mappings are automatically saved if the program gets terminated and restored when restarted. Mappings can be deleted with the red X button after user commit and be renamed with the button showing the pen symbol. The mappings can be displayed in alphabetical order or in the order the items were created.
When files/directories and possibly subdirectories are being synchronized files are transferred from a source to one or multiple targets. If the source entries must be transferred at all (new or modified) may be evaluated based on existing digests and signatures. Like the refresh functionality provided by the generate window also this function analyzes the candidate directories for existing digests/signatures. Some files may be recognized as being unmodified and will not be tranferred under certain coniditions which may be configured with the sync window. This saves time and bandwidth without the need to take care for each single file's state.
On top of the tab you can configure the sources. The easiest way here is to use the drag & drop functions of the file system window and network file system window. Please select the desired files/directories and drag the selection into the sources area or into the expanded targets area at the bottom. With the two buttons showing the plus symbols files, directories, or URLs may be specified with a dialog to be used as sources or targets. With the red X button list entries may be deleted. The two buttons with the folder/network icons the selected list entry may be displayed by either the file system window or the network file system window.
The other buttons on top of the lists provide functions to set the columns widths automatically as well as to sort the list entries. Below the lists for sources and targets a Generate template can be specified (optional). Often it makes sense to update at least the source digests before the synchronization is started. The specified template of the generate window is then called before the sync. Set the Refresh flag here in order to optimize the digest/signature calculations.
For each source exactly one target entry of the same type must be specified for the synchronization to take place. The list entries must contain either files or directories. However, each source file must be mapped to a target file and each source directory must be mapped to a target directory. You may specify multiple target sets here in order to synchronize multiple FTP server directories with a local directory in one single step for example. The origin of the sources and targets is not limited here, the sources may be provided by a server, the targets may be local directories and so on. New target sets can be created using the plus symbol on top of the Targets area where you are prompted for a name. The target sets may be sorted manually. A Generate template can be selected for each target set (optional) to be executed before the sync. Target sets may be deleted using the red X button or from the context menu (right mouse button), the set sets can be renamed with the pen symbol button. One single target set may be expanded, this set becomes the active target set here. However, all configured target sets are being synchronized, also if the sets are not currently expanded.
Synchronization normally is done from source to target, which means that the entries on top are transferred to the targets at the bottom (the button with the green down arrow is selected). In some cases it may be necessary to transfer the entries in the opposite direction from targets to sources. Please click on the button with the red up arrow then. Here, the currently expanded (active) target set is transferred exclusively. The collapsed target sets are ignored for the reverse mode. If sources and targets should be flipped permanently please use the context menu (right mouse button) of the target sets. The entries are then moved from top to bottom and vice versa.
As for the generate functionality you can choose which file formats to use for the synchronization with digests/signatures:
OpenPGP signature files are limited to the per-target creation, storing signatures for whole directories are not possible here. In addition to the formats the analzed algorithms may be specified on this tab. All options should be in harmony with the options of the used generate template since checking XML files would be useless if the template only creates GNU files for example.
The synchronization process may be controlled in detail with the options found on the Sync and Options tabs. One of the most important sync features is the optimization where only the required sources should be transferred (new or modified).
If you want to make sure that sources and targets are equal then please choose the Transfer all sources option. In order to transfer only the relevant files/directories please choose the Optimize: Skip transfer if option. The next seven associated flags configure the criteria to decide whether a source should be transferred or not. If existing digest/signature files are analyzed at all may be controlled with the Digests for source/target match and OpenPGP signatures for source/target match options. In order to evaluate intermediate digests (XML only) select the Intermediates for source/target match option. This setting is recommended for Digester XML files, since deviations of source and target files may be detected possibly already after reading the first few blocks of data which allows for a faster comparison.
The XML entry file sizes match source/target and XML entry timestamps match source/target options are also only applicable for existing Digester XML files. The XML files especially contain information about the original files at the time the XML files were created (sizes, timestamps) which may be evaluated here to decide whether a source should be transferred or not.
In addition to the digests/signatures also simple characteristics of the sources/targets may be checked. Files of different sizes are never equal and should be transferred. Also the timestamps of sources and targets can be compared although this seems to be an unsafe way at least in the case that the computer with the sources has a different time base than the computer with the targets. If the Timestamps of source/target match option is selected also the Apply source file timestamps to target files should be activated in order to be able to compare timestamps at all.
By setting the Overwrite existing files option, the software is instructed to overwrite existing files. This option applies to the target files as well as to the files with digest/signatures on the respective target system. Such files are also transferred to be able to use the contained information for the next synchronization.
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Overwritten digest/signature files cannot be restored programmatically, so please backup your data first. A dialog is displayed if this option is selected. |
In the Trust Options area of this tab you' ll find the options to define the conditions when existing digests and signatures are trusted most and if they should be used to compare sources and digests. The main goal of these options is to identify the best digests/signatures for the comparison. If both GNU and XML files are available then the data contained in the XML files should be preferred. An existing digest/signature is used (regarded as being the best value) if most defined conditions can be met. A digest can be trusted most if all XML criteria can be fulfilled (file timestamps, XML file sizes, and XML timestamps). The first three timestamp options are only applicable for those files which have been created on a per-target basis. Files for whole directories are not unfluenced by these options.
In order to analyze only certain files you may enter a regular expression in the Include input field. If the field is empty then all recognized files will be processed by default. If certain files shall not be processed then you can specify a regular expression with the Ignore input field. These options are particularly useful, if directories or entire directory trees including subdirectories are synchronized. You can activate recursive scanning of subdirectories by selecting the Include subdirectories option. In order to get detailed messages on the generation process please select the Verbose messages option. If the sync results shall not be displayed after completion the Show results option should be disabled.
Once all the settings within the sync window are as desired, the calculation can be started by clicking on the Synchronize button at the bottom of the window. If the settings make sense and appropriate files and/or directories have been specified as sources and targets, this button is enabled. The sync process is monitored by a special dialog where the current state is shown. Upon completion of the synchronization this progress dialog shows some statistics for the operation and the sync results. Besides the time consumption of the synchronization (top left corner) the dialog shows the remaining time (ETA = Estimated Time Access).
If the synchronization has been completed and the progress dialog was closed, the results are displayed by the results window which is automatically opened. For each of the processed target sets a separate tab showing the target set name is displayed. The tabs show the sources and targets including file sizes and comments.
In order to make synchronizing from the command-line with digestercli as easy as possible the necessary arguments may be assembled by the Digester software. Please configure the sync options with the sync window as if the process would be started directly from here. By clicking the button with the console symbol a dialog is displayed showing the corresponding digestercli call. This code can be easily copied into the clipboard to be used for shell or batch scripts. As you can see programming is not required here.
Like the command-line arguments also XML fragments for Ant build scripts may be generated using the button with the ant symbol. This code can be used for own shell or batch scripts. Please configure the sync options with the sync window as if the process would be started directly from here. By clicking the button a dialog is displayed showing the corresponding XML code. This code can be easily copied into the clipboard to be inserted into a text editor for example. As you can see programming is not required here.