(swing+rmi; developed with Blackdown jdk1.1.7a) Xfiles synchronizes and cross-validates two file directory trees across a network. A client/server program (GUI on the client) traverses an indicated file tree and reports any files that are missing on the server machine, missing on the client machine, or different. For each such file, the file size/sizes and modification date(s) are shown, and a comparison (using Unix diff) can be obtained. For files that are missing from one tree, similarly named files in that tree are reported. Inconsistent files can then be copied in either direction or deleted on either machine. The file trees do not need to be accessible via nfs. Files checksums are compared, so largely similar trees can be compared over a slow network link. The client and server processes can also be run on the same machine. (The program is also usable as an alternative backup strategy: Portions of a disk may go bad at any time, with no simple indication of which files were affected. You may not examine all of the thousands of files on a disk in the time interval before a backup tape goes bad. Don't stop making backups, but cross-validate against a second disk to make sure you aren't backing up bad data.) GPL'd source & binary at: www.idiom.com/~zilla/xfiles.html
