Synchronize directories between computers using rsync (and SSH)

https://twitter.com/climagic/status/363326283922419712

I found this command line magic gem some time ago and was using it ever since.

I started using it for synchronizing directories between computers on the same network. But it felt kind of clunky and cumbersome to get the slashes right so that it wouldn’t nest those directories and copy everything. Since both source and destination machine had the same basic directory layout, I thought ‘why not make it easier?’ … e.g. like this:

sync-to other-pc ~/Documents
sync-to other-pc ~/Music --exclude '*.wav'
sync-from other-pc ~/Music --dry-run --delete

It uses rsync for the heavy lifting but does the tedious source and destination mangling for you. 😀

You can find the code in this Gist.

#!/usr/bin/env python3
#
# Author: Riyad Preukschas <riyad@informatik.uni-bremen.de>
# License: Mozilla Public License 2.0
#
# Synchronize directories between computers using rsync (and SSH).
#
# INSTALLATION:
# Save this script as something like `sync-to` somewhere in $PATH.
# Link it to `sync-from` in the same location. (i.e. `ln sync-to sync-from`)
import os
import re
import shlex
import subprocess
import sys
PROGRAM_NAME = os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])
RSYNC = 'rsync'
RSYNC_BASIC_OPTIONS = [
'--rsh="ssh"', '--partial', '--progress', '--archive', '--human-readable']
RSYNC_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS = ['.DS_Store', '.localized']
#
# helpers
#
def print_usage_and_die():
print(re.sub(r'^[ ]{8}', '',
f"""
Synchronize directories between computers using rsync (and SSH).
Usage: {PROGRAM_NAME} HOST DIR [options]
HOST any host you'd use with SSH
DIR must be available on both the local and the remote machine
Options:
You can pass any options rsync accepts.
-v, --verbose will also print the command that'll be used to sync
Examples:
sync-to other-pc ~/Documents
sync-to other-pc ~/Music --exclude '*.wav'
sync-from other-pc ~/Music --dry-run --delete
""".strip(),
flags=re.MULTILINE
))
exit(1)
def is_verbose():
return any(
re.search(r'^--verbose|-\w*v\w*$', arg) is not None
for arg
in sys.argv
)
#
# main
#
def main():
#
# parse options
#
if len(sys.argv) < 3:
print_usage_and_die()
host = sys.argv[1]
dir = sys.argv[2]
rsync_excludes = [f"--exclude='{pattern}'" for pattern in RSYNC_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS]
rsync_user_options = sys.argv[3:]
if re.search(r'from$', PROGRAM_NAME):
rsync_src_dest = [f"{host}:{dir}/", dir]
elif re.search(r'to$', PROGRAM_NAME):
rsync_src_dest = [f"{dir}/", f"{host}:{dir}"]
else:
print('Error: unknown command')
print_usage_and_die()
#
# copy
#
exec_args = RSYNC_BASIC_OPTIONS + rsync_excludes + rsync_user_options + rsync_src_dest
if is_verbose():
print(f"{RSYNC} {' '.join(RSYNC_BASIC_OPTIONS + rsync_excludes)} {shlex.join(rsync_user_options + rsync_src_dest)}")
os.execvp(RSYNC, exec_args)
#subprocess.run([RSYNC] + exec_args)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
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