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Thursday, October 29, 2015

BitTorrent Sync 1.4 Gets Simplified Folder Sharing, Redesigned UI

BitTorrent Sync 1.4 was released recently and it features a revamped sharing workflow which makes it easier to share folders with others, along with a redesigned user interface.

In case you're not familiar with BitTorrent Sync (BTSync), this is a tool that can be used to synchronize files between computers using the BitTorrent protocol, available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, NAS and mobile devices.

Because it synchronizes the files directly between computers (so without using cloud servers) and the connection is encrypted with AES-128 in counter mode, using a unique session key, BTSync is advertised as a highly secure way of synchronizing your data. However, because the application is not open source, many will argue with this statement.

More about BTSync.

With BitTorrent Sync 1.4, sharing got a lot easier: you no longer have to use Keys (formerly called Secrets) to give others access to folders, though that option is still available. Now you simply send a link to the person you want to share the folder with, he/she clicks it and BTSync walks them through the remaining steps (if any).

For each folder you share, you can select if you want to give the other(s) full read / write access or read only, you can set the link to expire after a period of time, set the link to only be used a number of times and finally, you can choose to share a folder only after you approve the peers:

One note though: in my test under Ubuntu, using the share link directly doesn't work (the browser doesn't recognize the btsync protocol) but there is a simple work-around: in the BTSync web interface click the link icon on the right and paste the link there.

Besides the major change in the way sharing works in BTSync, the latest 1.4 release also comes with a completely redesigned interface, which you can see throughout the screenshots in this article.

Download BitTorrent Sync

The BitTorrent Sync (with GUI) unofficial Ubuntu PPA and Debian repository have not been updated to the latest version at the time I'm writing this article. If you don't want to wait, grab BTSync by using the download link below.

Download BitTorrent Sync (for Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, Mac OS X, Android, iOS, Windows Phone and NAS) | AUR (Arch Linux)

To use BitTorrent Sync on Linux, extract the downloaded archive and double click the "btsync" executable - nothing visible happens when double clicking it because BTSync runs in the background and on Linux, it's controlled through its web interface. Then, open a web browser and enter the following address: http://localhost:8888 - the BTSync user interface will show up, asking you to create an username and (optional) password and then you can start using it:

For an open source alternative to BitTorrent Sync, check out Syncthing.

seen @ lffl.org

Syncthing GTK: GTK3 & Python GUI For Syncthing [Ubuntu PPA]

Syncthing is a cross-platform peer-to-peer file synchronization client/server application written in Go, similar to BitTorrent Sync. It can be used to synchronize files between computers however, unlike BitTorrent Sync, Syncthing is open source.

For more information about Syncthing, see our previous article: Syncthing: Open Source BitTorrent Sync Alternative (P2P Sync Tool).

Syncthing GTK under GNOME Shell

Syncthing GTK is a GTK3 & Python GUI for Syncthing (which comes with a web GUI only by default). The tool supports basically all Syncthing features:

Everything what the Syncthing WebUI can display;
Adding / editing / deleting nodes;
Adding / editing / deleting repositories;
Restart / shutdown server;
Editing daemon settings

There are also some extra features provided by Syncthing GTK, such as running the Syncthing daemon in the background, option to display Node ID and QR code not only for local, but for remote nodes as well, or half-automatic setup for new nodes and repositories, which should work as a work-around for the "remote node shares repo with local node, but local node doesn't share it back" error.

Update October 8, 2014: Syncthing GTK now supports filesystem watching and instant synchronization using inotify.

Update October 13, 2014: Syncthing GTK now ships with yet another new feature: desktop notifications for file updates and Syncthing errors.

Update December 2, 2014: quite a few new features were added: an option to update the Syncthing daemon automatically, first run wizard, stop/resume sync, speed throttling and HTTPS support on Linux.

Update February 3, 2015: Syncthing GTK now ships with file manager integration for Nautilus, Nemo and Caja.

Also, Syncthing GTK features a tray icon / Ubuntu AppIndicator:

Install Syncthing GTK in Ubuntu 14.04, 14.10 or 15.04 / Linux Mint 17 or 17.1 via PPA

Because it wasn't available in any PPA, I uploaded Syncthing GTK in the mail failsdownloads PPA. Add the PPA and install Syncthing GTK in Ubuntu 15.04 / 14.10 / 14.04 or Linux Mint 17 / 17.1 by using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/failsdownloads
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install syncthing-gtk

Or, if you don't want to add the PPA, grab the Syncthing GTK deb from HERE.

Arch Linux users can install Syncthing GTK via AUR.

For other Linux distributions, grab the Syncthing GTK source from HERE.

Syncthing GTK Gets HTTPS Support, Syncthing Daemon Auto-Updater And More

Syncthing GTK was updated recently with quite a few improvements, such as HTTPS support on Linux, an auto-updater for the Syncthing binary and much more.

Syncthing GTK is a GTK3 & Python GUI for Syncthing, which includes a tray icon / Ubuntu AppIndicator. In case you're not familiar with Syncthing, this is a cross-platform peer-to-peer file synchronization client/server application written in Go, similar to BitTorrent Sync. It can be used to synchronize files between computers however, unlike BitTorrent Sync, Syncthing is open source.

For more information, see our article on Syncthing.

Syncthing GTK is under constant development and 3 new versions were released in the past two weeks, which include some important new features / improvements:

auto-updater for daemon binary (not enabled by default on Linux - to enable it, from the Syncthing GTK UI Settings > Advanced, enable "Keep Syncthing binary up-to-date");
first run wizard;
stop / resume Syncthing items in notification icon menu;
speed throttling options in notification icon menu;
option to automatically start Syncthing GTK with desktop session;
option to set path to daemon binary;
HTTPS support (Linux only);
updated icons to new Syncthing icon theme;
GTK 3.14 fixes and better support for dark GTK themes.

Since we last wrote about Syncthing GTK, the application has received many other improvements and new features, like support for filesystem watching and instant synchronization using inotify, desktop notifications for file updates and Syncthing errors and more, features which are not present in Syncthing itself.

Install Syncthing GTK

Syncthing GTK is available in the main failsdownloads PPA, for Ubuntu 15.04, 14.10 and 14.04 as well as Linux Mint 17.1 and 17. To add the PPA and install it, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/failsdownloads
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install syncthing-gtk

Or, if you don't want to add the PPA, grab the Syncthing GTK deb from HERE.

Unfortunately, Syncthing GTK doesn't work properly under Ubuntu 12.04, that's why our PPA doesn't provide packages for this Ubuntu version.

Since the latest Syncthing GTK can automatically download and install Syncthing (and update it), I recommend using this feature.

To do this, before running Syncthing GTK, remove Syncthing from your system and stop all running daemon instances, then run Syncthing GTK and you'll be prompted to either enter the Syncthing path or download it - here, click download and Syncthing GTK should do the rest (note that in the screenshot below, the download button is no longer displayed because Syncthing has already been downloaded):

Arch Linux users can install Syncthing GTK via AUR.

For Fedora and openSUSE, you can use the official Syncthing GTK OpenSUSE Build Service repository.

To download the Syncthing GTK source code, download Windows binaries, bug reports and so on, visit the Syncthing GTK GitHub page.