RoboSync 🚀

Lightning-fast file synchronization that just works.

RoboSync combines the battle-tested reliability of RoboCopy and rsync with modern Rust performance. Sync terabytes with confidence using smart strategies that adapt to your workload.

🎯 Why RoboSync?

• 🏎️ Blazing Fast: Multi-threaded parallel processing that saturates your storage bandwidth
• 🧠 Smart Defaults: Automatically picks the best strategy for your files - no PhD required
• 🔒 Rock Solid: Zero panics, comprehensive error handling, and automatic error reports
• 🌍 Cross-Platform: One tool that works everywhere - Linux, macOS, and Windows
• 📊 Real Feedback: Know exactly what's happening with progress bars, ETAs, and detailed logging

✨ Features

⚡ Performance That Scales

• Concurrent Mixed Processing - Different strategies for different file sizes, all running in parallel:
  • Small files (< 1MB): Lightning-fast parallel copies
  • Medium files (1-100MB): Platform-optimized APIs
  • Large files (> 100MB): Delta transfer with 64KB blocks
• Delta-Transfer Algorithm - Only copy what changed in large files
• Smart Compression - Zstandard and LZ4 for optimal network transfers
• Platform Optimizations - io_uring on Linux, native APIs everywhere

🛡️ Enterprise-Ready Reliability

• Automatic Error Reports - Never lose track of what failed
• Retry Logic - Configurable retries with exponential backoff
• Metadata Preservation - Timestamps, permissions, ownership, all preserved
• Symlink Support - Handle links your way: copy, follow, or skip
• Network Support - Works with mounted network drives (SMB/NFS/SSHFS)

🎮 Developer-Friendly Interface

• RoboCopy Compatible - Your muscle memory still works
• Multi-Level Verbosity - From silent to full debug output
• Dry Run Mode - See what would happen before it does
• Interactive Confirmation - Double-check before big operations

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+ (for building from source or cargo install)
• Zstandard library (libzstd) - for compression support

Installation

From Package Managers

# Arch Linux (AUR) - using yay
yay -S robosync

# Arch Linux (AUR) - using paru
paru -S robosync

# Using Rust's Cargo
cargo install robosync

# Update to latest version
cargo install --force robosync

Build from Source

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/roethlar/robosync.git
cd robosync
cargo build --release

# Copy to your PATH
sudo cp target/release/robosync /usr/local/bin/

Your First Sync

# Simple copy
robosync /source /destination -e

# Mirror with confirmation
robosync /source /dest --mir --confirm

# Sync to network mount with compression
robosync /local/path /mnt/network/path -e -z

# See what would happen
robosync /source /dest -e -n

📚 Common Use Cases

🗄️ Backup Your Home Directory

robosync ~/ /backup/home/ -e \
  --xd ".cache" --xd ".local/share/Trash" \
  --xf "*.tmp" --xf ".DS_Store" \
  -v --log backup.log

🔄 Keep Servers in Sync

robosync /var/www/ /mnt/server/var/www/ --mir \
  --compress \
  --retry 3 --wait 5 \
  --mt 16

📸 Organize Photos by Date

robosync /camera/DCIM/ /photos/2024/ -e \
  --min 1048576 \  # Skip files < 1MB
  --copy DATSOU \  # Preserve all metadata
  --no-report-errors  # Photos are already backed up

🎮 Sync Game Saves

robosync "C:\Users\Gamer\SavedGames" "D:\Backup\Saves" \
  --mir \
  --xf "*.log" \
  --confirm

🎛️ Command Reference

Essential Options

File Selection

Performance Tuning

File Size Categories (shown in -v mode)

Safety & Control

📊 Performance Benchmarks

Real-world performance on commodity hardware:

Tested on NVMe SSD with 16 threads

🔧 Advanced Usage

Force Specific Strategies

# Best for many small files
robosync /source /dest --strategy parallel

# Best for large file updates
robosync /source /dest --strategy delta

# Use native tools (rsync/robocopy)
robosync /source /dest --strategy rsync

Platform-Specific Optimizations

# Linux: Enable io_uring for maximum performance
robosync /source /dest --strategy io_uring

# Linux: Optimize for many small files
robosync /source /dest --linux-optimized

# Windows: Use native robocopy
robosync C:\source D:\dest --strategy robocopy

Error Handling

RoboSync's error handling adapts to your verbosity level:

# Default: Errors only in report file
robosync /source /dest -e

# -v: Errors on console + report file
robosync /source /dest -e -v

# -vv: Everything on console + report
robosync /source /dest -e -vv

# Disable error reports
robosync /source /dest -e --no-report-errors

📝 Important Notes

Network Transfers

RoboSync operates on local and mounted filesystems including network mounts like NFS, SMB/CIFS, and SSHFS. Mount your network drives first, then use RoboSync for blazing fast synchronized transfers.

🏗️ Architecture

RoboSync uses a sophisticated strategy selection system:

┌─────────────────┐
│  File Analysis  │ ← Scan source and destination
└────────┬────────┘
         │
┌────────▼────────┐
│ Strategy Select │ ← Choose based on file sizes
└────────┬────────┘
         │
┌────────▼────────┐
│  Mixed Executor │ ← Run multiple strategies concurrently
└────────┬────────┘
         │
    ┌────┴────┬─────────┬──────────┐
    ▼         ▼         ▼          ▼
[Parallel] [Platform] [Delta]  [Native]

🌍 Platform Support

Linux 🐧

• io_uring support for bleeding-edge performance
• Adaptive thread limits based on system resources
• Native rsync integration when beneficial

macOS 🍎

• Optimized for APFS and HFS+
• Conservative threading for system stability
• Full metadata preservation including extended attributes

Windows 🪟

• Native Win32 APIs for maximum compatibility
• RoboCopy fallback for complex scenarios
• Full NTFS metadata support

🤝 Contributing

We love contributions! Whether it's:

• 🐛 Bug reports
• 💡 Feature requests
• 📖 Documentation improvements
• 🚀 Performance optimizations
• 🧪 Test coverage

Check out our Contributing Guide to get started.

📜 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Standing on the shoulders of giants:

• rsync - The grandfather of smart syncing
• RoboCopy - Windows' robust file copier
• Rust Community - For amazing crates like tokio, rayon, and blake3
• You - For choosing RoboSync!

Ready to sync at the speed of light? 🚀

See the Installation section above to get started!