Sync two ~/Mail directories on Windows?

Sync two ~/Mail directories on Windows?

[Kai Großjohann]

(Potential off-topic alert.)

Suppose you have two computers, both running Windows (98SE, say) and
you want to use Gnus to read mail on them.  Most of the time, you use
the desktop machine, but a few times a week you want to use the laptop
instead.  The laptop has sufficient disk space, so you want a full
copy of ~/Mail (and other files such as ~/.newsrc.eld and so on).

It is not practical to just transfer the whole ~/Mail directory every
time, it being 600MB or so and the transfer takes quite a while even
on fast ethernet...

On a Unixish system, life is simple: use rsync in one direction before
traveling and in the other direction after traveling.  Problem solved.

But on a Windows system?

Does the `briefcase' feature do the trick?  Or is it possible to get
rsync to work on Windows (both client and server side!)?  Or maybe
even dump/restore, with incremental dumps?

It seems that GNU tar has a feature to ignore old files -- that could
be used, perhaps.

(The mail backend is nnml, so I guess it is not necessary to be able
to transfer file diffs; just transferring the new files ought to be
sufficient.)

kai
-- 
I like BOTH kinds of music.

Re: Sync two ~/Mail directories on Windows?

[Stainless Steel Rat]

* Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann)  on Thu, 22 Jun 2000
| But on a Windows system?

Cygwin toolkit + rsync, of course.
-- 
Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net>    \ Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types
Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ of skin.
PGP Key: at a key server near you!  \ 

Re: Sync two ~/Mail directories on Windows?

[Harry Putnam]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> (Potential off-topic alert.)
> 
> Suppose you have two computers, both running Windows (98SE, say) and
> you want to use Gnus to read mail on them.  Most of the time, you use
> the desktop machine, but a few times a week you want to use the laptop
> instead.  The laptop has sufficient disk space, so you want a full
> copy of ~/Mail (and other files such as ~/.newsrc.eld and so on).
> 
> It is not practical to just transfer the whole ~/Mail directory every
> time, it being 600MB or so and the transfer takes quite a while even
> on fast ethernet...
> 
> On a Unixish system, life is simple: use rsync in one direction before
> traveling and in the other direction after traveling.  Problem solved.
> 
> But on a Windows system?
> 
> Does the `briefcase' feature do the trick?  Or is it possible to get
> rsync to work on Windows (both client and server side!)?  Or maybe
> even dump/restore, with incremental dumps?
> 
> It seems that GNU tar has a feature to ignore old files -- that could
> be used, perhaps.
> 
> (The mail backend is nnml, so I guess it is not necessary to be able
> to transfer file diffs; just transferring the new files ought to be
> sufficient.)

In addition to cygwin you may want to check out Uwin.  A package
developed by David Korn or ksh fame.   Have a look at:
http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/uwin/

and below for handy list of the utils and tools included.

http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/uwin/utilities.html

FAQ here: 
http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/uwin/faq.html

Re: Sync two ~/Mail directories on Windows?

[Kai Großjohann]

Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net> writes:

> * Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann)  on Thu, 22 Jun 2000
> | But on a Windows system?
> 
> Cygwin toolkit + rsync, of course.

Thanks a lot.  What's the best way to access the remote directory?
Using rshd or sshd on Windows?  Or is it better/easier to just mount
the other directory via SMB or NFS and then call rsync with two local
directory names?

kai
-- 
I like BOTH kinds of music.

Re: Sync two ~/Mail directories on Windows?

[Stainless Steel Rat]

* Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann)  on Fri, 23 Jun 2000
| Thanks a lot.  What's the best way to access the remote directory?
| Using rshd or sshd on Windows?  Or is it better/easier to just mount
| the other directory via SMB or NFS and then call rsync with two local
| directory names?

That's one I can't answer, as I've never done it.
-- 
Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net>    \ Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core,
Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ which, if exposed due to rupture, should
PGP Key: at a key server near you!  \ not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.

Re: Sync two ~/Mail directories on Windows?

[Florian Weimer]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> Thanks a lot.  What's the best way to access the remote directory?
> Using rshd or sshd on Windows?  Or is it better/easier to just mount
> the other directory via SMB or NFS and then call rsync with two local
> directory names?

If you do the actual transfer inside your LAN, I would use a SMB
mount. rshd and sshd aren't worth the trouble in this case.  Neither
the bandwidth-conserving aspect of the rsync protocol (when compared
to SMB) nor the added security by the use of SSH are important.

Re: Sync two ~/Mail directories on Windows?

[Dave Love]

>>>>> "HP" == Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:

 HP> In addition to cygwin you may want to check out Uwin.

Unlike Cygwin, it's not free software.