Client-Server vs. Peer to peer

These instructions show client server interaction, with the virtual PC session acting as a long-running server. You could use two PCs or a Windows and a UNIX box.

When unison is run ssh nothing needs to be pre-running on a server side; the initiator runs the server process and the two act as peers.

The instructions I show are for the GUI version, but there is a command line batch version too

I am not clear whether Unison has to have a SSH server for peer-to-peer windows to windows synchronization.

Of particular concern is the issue of naming. I connect our PCs at home in many different ways: WiFi, Bluetooth, infrared. The IP addresses continually change. And will be different over each transport.

Networking with Virtual PC

You could use two PCs or a Windows and a UNIX box. I used a virtual host on my laptop.

Host:

• Loopback adapter IP address:
• Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

  Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
  IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.131.1
  Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
  Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Virtual PC:

• 1 Ethernet adapter :

  IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.131.66
  Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
  Default Gateway . . . . . . : 192.168.131.254

Ensuring that I really am hitting the host

From the virtual PC I can hit ...

• http://192.168.131.1/twiki/bin/view/Sandbox/WebHome

... and I get the server running on the host

From the host I can hit : http://192.168.131.66/twiki/bin/configure

The virtual host log apache file responds: • 192.168.131.1 - - [23/Jul/2005:22:26:26 +0000] "GET /twiki/bin/configure HTTP/1.1" 200 83561 • 192.168.131.1 - - [23/Jul/2005:22:27:00 +0000] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 282

Furthermore, killing the server on the virtual PC and then hitting it from the host renders:

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Initiating from the Host to Virtual PC

Create a profile C:\> Unison

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This writes a config file in C:\Documents And Settings\Martin Cleaver\.unison

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Start the server on the virtual host:

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Connect to the virtual PC session

C:> unison.exe virtualhost

As this is the first time we have used the profile it shows a message.

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Initial Sync after having made one change

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Making a conflict

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Unison refuses to merge when it does not have a means for this file.

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Either TWiki’s merge method or diff3 is probably perfect for conflict resolution

Debugging using Unison

Regular log files

See C:\Documents And Settings\User Name\.unison.log. e.g.:

UNISON started propagating changes at 14:32:21 on 24 Jul 2005
[CONFLICT] Skipping ConflictedTopic.txt
[CONFLICT] Skipping ConflictedTopic.txt,v
[CONFLICT] Skipping changes
[BGN] Copying TestTopic2.txt
  from C:/moreprgs/indigoperl/apache/TWiki/data/Sandbox
  to //Martin Cleaver/c:/indigotwiki/twiki/data/Sandbox
[BGN] Copying TestTopic2.txt,v
  from C:/moreprgs/indigoperl/apache/TWiki/data/Sandbox
  to //Martin Cleaver/c:/indigotwiki/twiki/data/Sandbox
[BGN] Updating file TestTopicXXXXXXXXXX.lease
  from C:/moreprgs/indigoperl/apache/TWiki/data/Sandbox
  to //Martin Cleaver/c:/indigotwiki/twiki/data/Sandbox
[END] Copying TestTopic2.txt
[END] Copying TestTopic2.txt,v
[END] Updating file TestTopicXXXXXXXXXX.lease
UNISON finished propagating changes at 14:32:44 on 24 Jul 2005

Debug modes

1. Debug = all

Client side:
 unison.exe virtualhost -debug all 

Server side:
Unison –server 52888 –debug all

Both sides will spill tons of information about connecting, comparing, etc.

1. Debug = verbose

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