Unison File Synchronizer

Unison is a cross-platform and robust file synchronisation tool. Version 2.13.16 of Unison is installed on both fileservers russel.inf.unibz.it and actarus.inf.unibz.it.

• Unison user manual
• Unison Wiki
• Unison File Synchronizer: Liberation through Data Replication is an excellent introduction to Unison

• Install Unison using MacPorts (former DarwinPorts). See http://www.macgeekery.com/gspot/2006-07/complete_bi_directional_home_sync_and_backup_with_unison for a short tutorial on installing unison.
• Unison wiki has a specific section on unison and OSX

• You should use ssh to connect to the server, by specifying one of the roots as ssh://stessaris@russel.inf.unibz.it/home folder. To discover the exact path of your home folder you can connect to the server via ssh and type pwd on the command line. E.g. my unison configuration file contains the line

root = ssh://stessaris@russel.inf.unibz.it//home/professors/stessaris

• Under some circumstances Excel modifies its files without changing the timestamps. Obviously, this confuses file synchronization tools. If you get an error on an excel file you can fix if by updating the timestamp of the file with the command line touch filename and running unison again.

Install Unison on Windows to syncronize data between Windows and Linux using SSH

Software Packages:

1. gtk-runtime-2.12.1-rev-b.exe
2. ssh.exe
3. Unison-2.27.57-Gtk.zip
4. Unison-ssh.zip

Download Software Packages from Internet or from our local Repository!

1. Run gtk-runtime-2.12.1-rev-b.exe by default installed in C:\Program Files\Common Files\GTK\2.0
2. Copy ssh.exe in C:\WINDOWS\
3. Create folder Unison in C:\Program Files\ and extract Unison-2.27.57 Gtk+.exe, if you want to use the graphical interface to the newly created folder
4. Extract from unison-ssh.zip the file plink.exe and place it in C:\WINDOWS\

1. Select My Computer → Properties → Advanced
2. Environment Variables → System Variables: Click on Path and press Edit
3. Go to the end of the line and insert :C:\Program Files\Common Files\GTK\2.0\bin
4. Press 3 x OK

Test if Unison works by double clicking Unison-2.27.57 Gtk+.exe in C:\Program Files\Unison

Unison configuration files are stored in C:\Documents and Settings\username\.unison. Initially there should be a configuration file default.prf there. Prepare/Modify a configuration file to fit your needs.

If the Unison version on your Server is different you can use the -addversionno. For this create a batch file e.g. sync.bat in the C:\Program Files\Unison directory:

snyc.bat

"C:\Program Files\Unison\Unison-2.27.57 Gtk+.exe" -addversionno

Next create from the batch file a shortcut to the Desktop if you wish.