[Discuss] Anyone tried Sparkleshare.org yet?

[matt at mattshields.org (Matt Shields)]

On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 10:12 AM, Ian Levesque <ian at crystal.harvard.edu>wrote:

> On Jun 22, 2011, at 5:20 PM, Jack Coats wrote:
>
> > Sparkleshare is an opensource version of Dropbox.  They say currently
> > implemented for Linux and Mac.
> >
> > Has anyone tried it out yet?
>
> I've recently given it a go hoping to be able to provide a dropbox-like
> experience for some users at work that expressed a need for sharable project
> folders accessible from anywhere. They are looking into paying for Dropbox
> because it "just works" (can't argue there), and I'm hoping to lure them
> back to using our network storage in a new way.
>
> That said, I've had a few issues with Sparkleshare:
>
>  * Decision to use ~/SparkleShare as a base directory
>    - this directory isn't synced, it's just a "home" for synced dirs. this
> is confusing for end-users.
>
>  * Reliance on git (currently... unison support is apparently coming)
>    - slow and expensive commits for binaries (might be able to use
> git-bigfiles?)
>    - duplicate bits stored in local git repo means nearly doubling your
> local storage req's
>
>  * Basically no error notifications
>
>  * DIY server still rough around the edges
>    - still relies on using SparkleShare's XMPP server for notifications
>    - initial setup of the client is weird; if you don't have the server in
> your ~/.ssh/known_hosts file, it fails.
>
> When it's working, it does work pretty well even with these limitations.
> I've synced about 5GB to a local server and have done lots of
> edits/additions/deletions to stress test it. There have been times where it
> appears to be working forever, and I have to quit and restart the app.
> Ultimately, it's not ready for deployment and I'd caution that it's really
> only ready for someone that is prepared to babysit it a bit.
>
> ~irl
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Does the server piece support multiple users?  If so, can it support folder
sharing like Dropbox?  This might be great for companies that want to have
an easy way to backup and share inside their company and be able to maintain
their own infrastructure.

Matthew Shields
Owner
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