On Jun 22, 2011, at 5:20 PM, Jack Coats wrote:
> Sparkleshare is an opensource version of Dropbox. They say currently
> implemented for Linux and Mac.
>
> Has anyone tried it out yet?
I've recently given it a go hoping to be able to provide a dropbox-like
experience for some users at work that expressed a need for sharable project
folders accessible from anywhere. They are looking into paying for Dropbox
because it "just works" (can't argue there), and I'm hoping to lure them back
to using our network storage in a new way.
That said, I've had a few issues with Sparkleshare:
* Decision to use ~/SparkleShare as a base directory
- this directory isn't synced, it's just a "home" for synced dirs. this is
confusing for end-users.
* Reliance on git (currently... unison support is apparently coming)
- slow and expensive commits for binaries (might be able to use
git-bigfiles?)
- duplicate bits stored in local git repo means nearly doubling your local
storage req's
* Basically no error notifications
* DIY server still rough around the edges
- still relies on using SparkleShare's XMPP server for notifications
- initial setup of the client is weird; if you don't have the server in
your ~/.ssh/known_hosts file, it fails.
When it's working, it does work pretty well even with these limitations. I've
synced about 5GB to a local server and have done lots of
edits/additions/deletions to stress test it. There have been times where it
appears to be working forever, and I have to quit and restart the app.
Ultimately, it's not ready for deployment and I'd caution that it's really only
ready for someone that is prepared to babysit it a bit.
~irl
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