3 ms·

I was hoping this was going to be something where the files themselves were distributed so that they didn't take up space on everyone's machines, a la MogileFS[

by robmil 13y ago

I was hoping this was going to be something where the files themselves were distributed so that they didn't take up space on everyone's machines, a la MogileFS[1], but alas. This is always a point of pain for us: in our studios we work from a central file server, so our shiny iMacs with their 1TB drives all have about 90% capacity on them — but we don't have any easy way to pool all that extra capacity and use it even as overflow for our central fileserver. The search continues... [1]: https://code.google.com/p/mogilefs/ https://code.google.com/p/mogilefs/

icebraining 13y ago
That's what git-annex is for. Everyone has a list of all the files, and then if you want to access one, you can just do "git annex get [file]" and it'll get it from any of the machines that happen to have that file. If you want to delete it, "git annex drop [file]" will ensure at least N machines keep a copy of the file before deleting it. I use it to manage files between my VPS, desktop, laptop and NAS, with each machine having a different subset of the whole pool, and it works great.
- robmil 13y ago
  Is there any way to get around the fact that adding a new machine involves adding N*2 remotes? (That is, one remote on each of the current machines to represent the new one; and then on the new machine, one remote for each existing machine). This seems like it would be the sticking point with Git annex.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    That's what the new Assistant (now part of git-annex) is for! Tons of pairing work, which culminated today in pairing fully working for the very first time. And it works great! Type something like "my hovercraft is full of eels" into two git annex webapps on the same LAN and the two will find each other, automatically set up ssh keys, and sync up, like magic. Magic based on math. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistant-like-dropbox-but-with-your-own/ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistan... http://git-annex.branchable.com/assistant/local_pairing_walkthrough/ http://git-annex.branchable.com/assistant/local_pairing_walk...

by robmil 13y ago

icebraining 13y ago

That's what git-annex is for. Everyone has a list of all the files, and then if you want to access one, you can just do "git annex get [file]" and it'll get it from any of the machines that happen to have that file. If you want to delete it, "git annex drop [file]" will ensure at least N machines keep a copy of the file before deleting it. I use it to manage files between my VPS, desktop, laptop and NAS, with each machine having a different subset of the whole pool, and it works great.

robmil 13y ago
Is there any way to get around the fact that adding a new machine involves adding N*2 remotes? (That is, one remote on each of the current machines to represent the new one; and then on the new machine, one remote for each existing machine). This seems like it would be the sticking point with Git annex.
- icebraining 13y ago
  That's what the new Assistant (now part of git-annex) is for! Tons of pairing work, which culminated today in pairing fully working for the very first time. And it works great! Type something like "my hovercraft is full of eels" into two git annex webapps on the same LAN and the two will find each other, automatically set up ssh keys, and sync up, like magic. Magic based on math. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistant-like-dropbox-but-with-your-own/ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistan... http://git-annex.branchable.com/assistant/local_pairing_walkthrough/ http://git-annex.branchable.com/assistant/local_pairing_walk...