Unison

References

• Homepage
• Manual
  • Sample Profiles
• Unison: Backup & synchronize files

Basic usage

• Synchronize two directories

unison <dir-a> <dir-b>

• Selecting files to synchronize
  • Synchronize home directory, using Ignore facility to skip some files.
  • Create a subdirectory called shared, and synchronize that directory only.
  • (Linux only) Create a subdirectory called shared, with symbolic links to other local directories, and synchronize that directory only using follow (making symlink transparent).
  • Synchronize home directory as root, using -path switch on the command line:

    unison /home/username ssh://remotehost//home/username -path shared
    

    The -path option can be used as many times as needed, to synchronize several files or subdirectories:

    unison /home/username ssh://remotehost//home/username \
        -path shared \
        -path pub \
        -path .netscape/bookmarks.html
    

    These -path arguments can also be put in your preference file.

Configuration tips

• On Samba / CIFS file system, ignore permissions:

perms = 0

Basic Profile

Here we assume that all profiles will include the default one. If not, a more complex solution is to create a file .unison/common-prefs, that would be included by all profiles, including the default one.

Here a basic setup to backup pen usb stick on Cygwin:

~/.unison/common-prefs (<file name="common-prefs" tag="source">download</file>)

{{{content}}}

~/.unison/default.prf (<file name="default.prf" tag="source">download</file>)

{{{content}}}

~/.unison/usb-pen-backup.prf (<file name="usb-pen-backup.prf" tag="source">download</file>)

{{{content}}}