[unison-users] unison-fsmonitor question (Windows)

[[e-mail] [unison-users]]

Just recently upgraded to v 2.50 from 2.40, and loving the "repeat = watch" functionality.


I have ditched my 40TB RAID 6 server, and now employ a simple mirror and backup system using unison (which I have been using for years for syncing all my machines to that RAID server).


I have always launched Unison from a directory embedded within the sync roots, ignoring the archive files themselves, but syncing those *.prf 's.


If I run my prf with the "repeat=watch," it does a great job, but the command line keeps seeing something change, and scrolls, and I see it hitting the hard drive (polling about once per second).


If I pull my unison stuff OUT of the sync root and execute, then that polling does not occur, and the command line window waits nicely for a change with no polling.


I ran "FolderChangeView.exe" utility to see what was being touched.


It looks like two the fp* archive files are being modified when this polling occurs, at same rate as my command window is scrolling.


It looks like fsmonitor is creating a pair of lk* archive files and tm* archive files, but those are not changing during this polling process.


Any thoughts for workaround in this?


Thx in advance.


Dave

[Alan Schmitt [e-mail] [unison-users]]

Post by ***@usa.net [unison-users]
I have always launched Unison from a directory embedded within the sync roots, ignoring the archive files themselves, but syncing those *.prf 's.
If I run my prf with the "repeat=watch," it does a great job, but the command line keeps seeing something change, and scrolls, and I see it hitting the hard drive (polling about once per second).
If I pull my unison stuff OUT of the sync root and execute, then that polling does not occur, and the command line window waits nicely for a change with no polling.
I ran "FolderChangeView.exe" utility to see what was being touched.
It looks like two the fp* archive files are being modified when this polling occurs, at same rate as my command window is scrolling.
It looks like fsmonitor is creating a pair of lk* archive files and tm* archive files, but those are not changing during this polling process.
Any thoughts for workaround in this?

The files that are changing are ones used by unison as it's running, so
it's normal to be notified if they live in a directory that is
synchronised.

If you want to synchronize the .prf files but not include the other
files used by unison, you could put the unison stuff out of the sync
root, and add symbolic links to the prf files along with a follow
directive in your profile
(https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/download/releases/stable/unison-manual.html#symlinks).

Best,

Alan