acmeattic-devel team mailing list archive

[krishnan parthasarathi <krishnan.parthasarathi@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 4:27 AM, Karthik Swaminathan Nagaraj <
nkarthiks@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I vote for this to be on our Discussions list at our next conference call.

I too vote for this topic to be in our Discussions list. I am at loss to
understand why we should enforce backing up concepts like
'backup-but-no-sync', 'different-clients-different-view', etc. I was under
the belief that the clients were mere 'access points' to the backed up data
of a user. The Spider Oak model abstracts every client installation as an
unique entity. In a DropBox like model, as a user I can create different
folders for different clients in case I want them separated. We are going to
allow the user to download single files/folders from the attic, which
together with separate folders for different clients, gives a Spider Oak
like experience.
IMO, our system must be very basic and flexible to use in most of the
scenarios. I hope this gives where I stand in regard to this thread.

>
>
> On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 12:44 AM, Karthik Swaminathan Nagaraj <
> nkarthiks@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 11:40 PM, krishnan <
>> krishnan.parthasarathi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>   Yeah, it does seem to be the case that SpiderOak has a lot more useful
>>>> features, and their guarantee about security is much more believable than
>>>> Dropbox's. While we can still pick and choose the features that we would
>>>> like to implement, we need to pay close attention to designing the backend
>>>> architecture that allows these features to be built.
>>>>
>>>> In particular, I would like to see the following high level features
>>>> built in AcmeAttic: sync any folder on the client's filesystem with the
>>>> attic, sync from multiple devices, download (and sync) files that were
>>>> synced from a different machine. Encryption should be optional for specific
>>>> files or folders (it should by default be encrypted, but the user can change
>>>> this if required). Sharing should also be flexible, but I don't think we
>>>> need to implement the feature of creating a shared virtual folder that can
>>>> have any subset of files on the attic.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Aditya
>>>>
>>>
>>> I think, the attic should serve as a logical drive for the user over the
>>> network like in the DropBox model.
>>>
>>> Are you in favour of differentiating the client machines from which the
>>> files were uploaded to the attic? I think we must leave it to the user to
>>> choose if wants to partition his backup data based on source client machine
>>> by creating separate folders. We should not make any distinctions based on
>>> client machine and must allow syncing of all files across all client
>>> installations.
>>>
>>>  Suppose, the user syncs his files to the attic from a client  (say, his
>>> laptop) to the attic. Now, the same user can sync the files from attic to
>>> another client (in a specified path) and use it as if it is just another
>>> folder on this client.
>>>
>>> Who specifies the path where the file in attic needs to be placed in new
>>> client installations? Even if we store it as a user preference in the
>>> server, we will have trouble implementing it across different operating
>>> systems. eg user might not have access to a location in a linux installation
>>> for which he had access in Windows. What would we do if the user changes the
>>> location from another client installation and expects it to change in
>>> already installed client machines as well? The simplest approach would be to
>>> pull files from attic and place it in the "Attic" folder in the new client
>>> installation and not bother about where in the filesystem it must be placed.
>>> This also gives the user a single location to observe what he/she has backed
>>> up on the attic from this client machine.
>>>
>>
>> Exactly the problem SpiderOak tackles and I feel is a much more feature
>> rich version of DropBox. I don't know how many of you have actually used
>> SpiderOak, but here is how it handles this scenario.
>> Each client installation is different. Each user client has its own set of
>> shared folders. Indeed the attic is the place to store all the files, but
>> that does not limit us from providing backup functionality separately from
>> syncing. I am implying each client installation gets to choose which files
>> are backed up, but files from another client are not downloaded
>> automatically.
>> Use Case: I backup and sync my "Open Source Project Code" folder from my
>> desktop machine. (I want this folder to be revisioned and available across
>> all my machines).
>> I backup my "Music" from my laptop. I want this versioned alone but not
>> synced to my desktop and clutter / take up space on my work desktop.
>>
>> Although, each client installation would be able to view and download (any
>> revision of) any shared file. Thus, this provides the obvious advantages of
>> the cloud including *omni presence*, but leaves the preferences to the
>> client.
>>
>> Thus we should not limit ourselves to the "Attic" folder and try to handle
>> petty issues such as name clashes, etc. Each client's files are synced with
>> the cloud. A specifically marked "Sync" folder is synced between all client
>> installations (it would be great to specify which installations). There may
>> be any number of Sync folders, each of which is synonymous to a DropBox
>> folder.
>>
>> I think the plan is to have a single client functionality in the initial
>> releases. Upon future release plans for many clients per user, I think we
>> can clarify this model.
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>   Also, the user need not place all the files in the "Attic" folder in
>>> his/her laptop (the first client). Instead he can give symlinks/shortcuts to
>>> the folders and place it in the "Attic" folder of the client.
>>>
>>>   I think you are talking about client using symlinks for tracking
>>> changes to files/folders that user wishes to backup on the attic. The
>>> symlinking also provides the user a single view of all files backedup.
>>>
>> I think the clarification above kind of makes this more clear. Since each
>> client has its own set of shared folders, these folders can be anywhere on
>> the client machine. As the user points the client to the folder, each of the
>> folder becomes a top-level shared folder. There does not need to be a
>> symlink or copy to a single "DropBox"/"Attic" folder.
>>
>>
>>>  Cheers,
>>> Bharath
>>>
>>>
>>>  cheers,
>>> krishnan
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Karthik
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Karthik
>