Configuration File

On startup, syncdat will attempt to load configuration information from one of several files.  On unix systems, first /etc/syncdat.cf, then $HOME/.syncdat.cf will be examined.  On Windows, the file %APPDATA%\DEI\syncdat.cf will be read.  These files can be overridden by specifying an alternate configuration file using the "-f" command line option.  Settings will be honored in the following increasing precedence: built-in defaults, %SystemRoot% or /etc config file, home or %APPDATA% config file, with the command line options overriding all.

A configuration file consists of plain text lines, at most 127 characters long.  Lines beginning with a hash, space, or tab are ignored.  All other lines have one of the following formats:

<variable>=<value> <variable> <value>

The second form will ignore any leading white space in <value>.  Note that Variable names are NOT case sensitive.  See the enclosed syncdat.cf file for an example configuration file.  Following is a list of variables which may be set.  Many of these have corresponding command line options, described briefly in the previous section.

Aggression <-3 to 5>
[-a]  Advise MTP/IP as to how aggressive it should be in fully utilizing the network path.  Positive values may increase performance at the expense of third-party traffic.  Negative values may reduce path latency and allow better performance for other traffic, at the cost of reducing performance.  See the Performance section for details.

Debug <level>
[-d]  Enable diagnostic messages to be sent to stderr.  Levels above 1 will produce copious output.  Disables "-s" and "Show".

Encrypt <0 or 1>
[-K]  If non-zero, all transactions will be required to use encryption.  If the server does not support encryption, an error will be returned.

Expire <seconds>
[-e]  Sets how long syncdat should wait without hearing from a server before it gives up and cancels a stalled transaction.  Longer values may be useful on highly unreliable networks.

LocalMaster <0 or 1>
[-l]  The remote directory will be changed to make it identical to the local directory.  See the "Local Master" section.

Latency <rtt>[:<rate>]
Advise MTP/IP of operation on a path with a high latency (over 500ms).  The first number is the minimum round trip time of the path, in milliseconds.  The second number, if present, advises the expected speed of the link (in kilobytes per second) and activates pipelining mode, which may result in faster throughput files on high-delay links.  This value is different from MaxRate, and should be a conservative (low) estimate.

MaxDatagram <bytes>
[-T]  Limit the size of network datagram payloads to no more than this amount.  The full IP datagram size will be 56 bytes larger when MTP/UDP/IP headers are included.  If your network is known to have problems with IP fragmentation, try setting a value of 1424 or smaller.  Default: none.

MaxRate <kilobytes per second>
[-k]  Set a limit on how fast each transaction can go.

MaxRTT <milliseconds>
Request that the path latency for each transaction be limited to the given amount of time.  This option may severely degrade performance.

MinRTT <milliseconds>
Advise MTP/IP as to the minimum latency of your network uplink.  See Latency above.

NoAction <0 or 1>
[-n]  Scan the directories and report what actions would be taken, but do not actually make any changes.

NoPWCache <0 or 1>
[-C]  Set to 1 to disable password caching.  You will be prompted to enter any passwords required.

Port <UDP Port Number>
[-p]  Specify the default UDP port number of the server.  Use this option if many of your servers are running on a port other than the default 8080.

Quiet <0 or 1>
[-q]  Set to 1 to display minimal output.  Automatically sets Yes.

Site <address>[/bits] <Aggression> <MaxRate> <Expire> <MaxRTT> <Latency>
Configure performance for individual peers.  Address must be a name, IP address, or subnet.  For subnets, use an address followed by a slash and the number of mask bits.  Remaining fields are white space separated and correspond to the named variables.  A value of 0 implies that the default should be used.  You may have multiple Site lines, one for each address.  If a name cannot be resolved at startup, syncdat may not run.

SyncDatConfigVersion 1
This version check is used to warn you if an update to syncdat causes a substantial change in configuration file processing.

Verbose <0 or 1>
[-v]  Display each individual action.

Yes <0 or 1>
[-y]  Disables interactive queries by assuming the default answer to all questions regarding conflicts and confirmations.