04_Syncthing.md

Syncthing

Install Package

Install stable Debian packages from apt.syncthing.net.

1. Add the release PGP keys:

   curl -s https://syncthing.net/release-key.txt | sudo apt-key add -

2. Add the "stable" channel to your APT sources:

   echo "deb https://apt.syncthing.net/ syncthing stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/syncthing.list

3. Update and install syncthing:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install syncthing

Configure Autostart

1. Create syncthing user, adding to all groups it will sync files for.

   sudo adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" syncthing
   for usergroup in $USER `cat users.txt` publisher; do
       sudo usermod -a -G $usergroup syncthing
   done

2. Add group Read/Write/Sticky bit to ensure syncthing has permissions to write to sync paths.

   for user in $USER `cat users.txt`; do
       # GROUP: +Read +Write
       sudo chmod g+rw -R /${HOSTNAME}/${user}/safe
       # Directories GROUP: +Xecute +Sticky
       #  This copies group ownership to child items added to the folder.
       find /${HOSTNAME}/${user}/safe -type d -print0 | xargs -0 sudo chmod g+xs
   done

   • Note this distinction is important: Keep the files owned by the relevant user (non-syncthing) group, so that syncthing can create brand new files under that same group ownership.
   • Later, you can easily revoke syncthing's permission by removing user syncthing from the relevant user-group.
     • e.g. Remove the syncthing user from the publisher group, disallowing write-access to public files, by the following:

       sudo deluser syncthing publisher

3. Enable System-service with syncthing user.

sudo systemctl enable [email protected]
sudo systemctl start [email protected]

Optional Tweaks

1. Increase ionotify limit (web gui often warns about this one). Follow instructions at docs.syncthing.net

   # increase limit for next reboot
   echo "fs.inotify.max_user_watches=204800" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
   # increase current limit
   sudo sh -c 'echo 204800 > /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches'

Next Steps

#TODO

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