What is Unison File Synchronizer?
Unison is a file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows. It allows two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in each replica to the other.
Unison shares a number of features with tools such as configuration management packages (CVS, PRCS, Subversion, BitKeeper, etc.), distributed filesystems (Coda, etc.), uni-directional mirroring utilities (rsync, etc.), and other synchronizers (Intellisync, Reconcile, etc). However, there are several points where it differs:
* Unison runs on both Windows and many flavors of Unix (Solaris, Linux, OS X, etc.) systems. Moreover, Unison works across platforms, allowing you to synchronize a Windows laptop with a Unix server, for example.
* Unlike simple mirroring or backup utilities, Unison can deal with updates to both replicas of a distributed directory structure. Updates that do not conflict are propagated automatically. Conflicting updates are detected and displayed.
* Unlike a distributed filesystem, Unison is a user-level program: there is no need to modify the kernel or to have superuser privileges on either host.
* Unison works between any pair of machines connected to the internet, communicating over either a direct socket link or tunneling over an encrypted ssh connection. It is careful with network bandwidth, and runs well over slow links such as PPP connections. Transfers of small updates to large files are optimized using a compression protocol similar to rsync.
* Unison is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at all times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication failures.
* Unison has a clear and precise specification.
* Unison is free; full source code is available under the GNU Public License.
Unison shares a number of features with tools such as configuration management packages (CVS, PRCS, Subversion, BitKeeper, etc.), distributed filesystems (Coda, etc.), uni-directional mirroring utilities (rsync, etc.), and other synchronizers (Intellisync, Reconcile, etc). However, there are several points where it differs:
* Unison runs on both Windows and many flavors of Unix (Solaris, Linux, OS X, etc.) systems. Moreover, Unison works across platforms, allowing you to synchronize a Windows laptop with a Unix server, for example.
* Unlike simple mirroring or backup utilities, Unison can deal with updates to both replicas of a distributed directory structure. Updates that do not conflict are propagated automatically. Conflicting updates are detected and displayed.
* Unlike a distributed filesystem, Unison is a user-level program: there is no need to modify the kernel or to have superuser privileges on either host.
* Unison works between any pair of machines connected to the internet, communicating over either a direct socket link or tunneling over an encrypted ssh connection. It is careful with network bandwidth, and runs well over slow links such as PPP connections. Transfers of small updates to large files are optimized using a compression protocol similar to rsync.
* Unison is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at all times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication failures.
* Unison has a clear and precise specification.
* Unison is free; full source code is available under the GNU Public License.
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Features Vote on or suggest new features
- Bidirectional sync
- 2 way sync
- Synchronization
- Command line interface
- Folder Sync
- Gtk
- File Sync
- Well documented
Supported Languages
- English
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Comments and Reviews Post a comment / review all • positive • negative relevance • date
Categories
Backup & Sync • OS & UtilitiesTags
- database-replication
- command-line-start
List containing Unison File Synchronizer
Windows Apps
Unison File Synchronizer
Summary
Our users have written 6 comments and reviews about Unison File Synchronizer, and it has gotten 82 likes
- Developed by Benjamin C. Pierce
- Open Source (GPL-3.0) and Free product.
- Average rating of 4.2
- 54 alternatives listed
GitHub repository
- 2,361 Stars
- 171 Forks
- 106 Open Issues
- Updated May 16, 2022
Popular alternatives
- 1
- 2
- 3
Unison File Synchronizer was added to AlternativeTo by Mutant on Jul 2, 2009 and this page was last updated May 9, 2022. Unison File Synchronizer is sometimes referred to as Unison.
Recent user activities on Unison File Synchronizer
- Danilo_Venom edited Unison File Synchronizer14 days ago
- sweethuman added Unison File Synchronizer as alternative(s) to MacDropAny28 days ago
- peteralternativeto Downvoted a comment on Unison File SynchronizerpeNo way the best for me are CopyWhiz and Gs Richcopy 360, but I will give Unison a try!4 months ago
An effective tool. does what is built for. I use it since about 10 years, flawlessy, in a home environment with 3-4 devices.
Best synchronization software with GUI there is.
Not easy to use IMHO
No way the best for me are CopyWhiz and Gs Richcopy 360, but I will give Unison a try!
The GTK sdk will be needed, I used https://sourceforge.net/projects/gtk-win/
Cross-platform, highly customizable, well documented, can be made into a service with NSSM