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Since Ubuntu one is no longer it appears that Sync between computers no longer works. Is there a new method to do this? I'd like to sync the apps from one machine to another.

3 Answers 3

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I'm adding this as a new answer now that I have a better understanding of what the full requirements are.

  • Install SpiderOak, Copy, DropBox or some other file syncing software on all machines.
  • Set the software up on the source computer to sync a directory that here we'll refer to as '~/SyncDir'
  • Schedule a cron job to regularly (daily?) run the following: sudo dpkg --get-selections | sed "s/.*deinstall//" | sed "s/install$//g" > ~/SyncDir/packageList
  • On the target computer, use the following script to watch for changes in the package list as it gets synced:

    while true; do
     change=$(inotifywait -e close_write,moved_to,create .)
     change=${change#./ * }
     if [ "$change" = "packageList" ]; then sudo aptitude update && cat ~/SyncDir/packageList | xargs sudo aptitude install -y; fi
    done
    

That should do it. You could theoretically run both parts on all machines so that they would see each others changes as well but there might be some tweaks required to stop it from continually updating. you also may need to move the "sudo aptitude update && cat pkglist | xargs sudo aptitude install -y" section into a shell script rather that running it directly inside the 'watch' script.

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  • Thanks again Nerdfest! I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but as soon as I can, I'll select this as an answer. This certainly is the closest that I've seen to accomplishing what I'm trying to do. I greatly appreciate your effort!
    – syserss
    May 7, 2014 at 16:07
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I am currently using Btsyc which is the BitTorrent sync client. It is not open source but works great.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tuxpoldo/btsync
sudo sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install btsync

Could also use dropbox

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  • DMGrier, will Btsyc syncronize applications? That's what I'd like to do.
    – syserss
    Apr 27, 2014 at 5:57
  • It works a lot like a cloud service does. The difference is instead of syncing to a remote cloud server the computer becomes the server. So in order for the syncing to work the computer needs to be on. So select the folder you wish to use with the bittorrent sync and any devices you have attatched will sync. If you want cloud storage then i recommend dropbox.
    – DMGrier
    Apr 27, 2014 at 14:31
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There are lots of good options for the same sort of service as Ubuntu One. My favourite is SpiderOak (https://spideroak.com/download/referral/ddae53eebe43dfc9f0ac35eb1345bb51) as it does security "right" with full client side encryption. They also have an advanced set of configuration options and it works quite well as a backup service.

Another good one that supports Linux is Copy (https://copy.com?r=wjbtyg). It does not have the advanced encryption that SpiderOak has, but has a more generaous referral program.

DropBox (https://db.tt/YdA2Xss) also supports Linux, but I hesitate to recommend it because of privacy concerns with a new member of their company.

Note that all of these will need to be installed by downloading a .deb file or adding a repository. Each has clear installation instructions, and they all also work across platforms (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS).

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  • 1
    Nerdfest, I use Dropbox, and SpiderOak looks great. However, I'm not sure how to use these to sync the applications from one machine to another. I'm bit of a novice Linux user, but I'm quite technical, so I don't mind scripts or the like. Is there a method to duplicate the apps from Machine A onto Machine B?
    – syserss
    Apr 28, 2014 at 18:05
  • You should be able to maker a copy of the directories you wish to sync on SpiderOak (for examlle), the delete the original directories and replace them with softlinks (ln -s) to the copy in your SpiderOak sync folder.
    – Nerdfest
    May 2, 2014 at 16:16
  • Thanks Nerdfest, but what I'm looking for is a way to pull the list of applications from the OS, and then re-apply that list to another machine. This was a service that Ubuntu One supported, so the Software Center has the capability to extract and import these lists, but it seems that there is no easy way to do this since the closure of Ubuntu One. I greatly appreciate your responses though.
    – syserss
    May 2, 2014 at 19:58

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