User Queries

SyncDat may encounter situations in which information from a human operator is required.  Following is a list of such queries and the default action.  The default action is automatically chosen when the terminal is not interactive (such as when running as a script), or when -q Quiet is set, or when -y Yes is set.

All Modes

You have selected Local Master, but the remote host is read-only.
Remote host is read-only: files cannot be uploaded or deleted.

If an operation may require write access to the remote server, but the remote server is read-only, the default is to abort the operation unless -n NoAction is specified.

Invalid username or password

If syncdat needs a password but is unable to prompt for one, it will not run.  Passwords may be provided on the command line or stored in the encrypted password vault.  See the Authentication section for details.

Local Master or Remote Master

Slave is newer than last synchronization.
Slave is newer than master.

If a file on the slave side is newer than the equivalent file on the master side, or of a slave-side file has been modified since the last synchronization, the default is to overwrite the slave.

Peer Mode

Warning: Cannot copy remote symlinks to this Windows system.
Warning: Cannot copy local symlinks to remote system.

If a symbolic link needs to be copied to a system which does not support or allow symbolic links, the user may be asked whether to delete the link and replace it with a file.  The default is to do nothing.

Local and remote file types are different

If the path on one side leads to a directory while the other leads to a file, or there is similar mismatch of types, the default is to do nothing.

File has changed on both sides since the last sync or at the same time.

If both copies of a file have been changed since the last sync, the default is to do nothing.

WARNING: A previous peer synchronization did not complete.

If a previous sync failed to complete or is still in progress, the files may be in an inconsistent state.  Trying to perform a Peer sync under such conditions could result in data loss.  The default action is to abort the operation.

Resolving the Peer Mode conditions above will require user intervention.  Either syncdat must be run interactively, or the one of each pair of conflicting files must be removed.  For this reason, Peer Mode is not recommended for scripted or other non-interactive scenarios.