Syncthing – Open Source Continuous File Synchronization
2 points · Open discussioncalmh
syncthing
Go2014–2014
calmh / syncthing
syncthing
Open Source Continuous File Synchronization
10Distinct people
16Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
33GitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Open Source Continuous File Synchronization
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use has been verified yet.
What people are saying
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Also in these discussions
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:03:16 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by week16 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2014-02-07 08:19:22 UTC to 2014-07-19 01:49:58 UTC. Weeks start Monday, UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 3 | 2014-02-03 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-02-10 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Feb 10 | 2014-02-10 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-02-17 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Feb 17 | 2014-02-17 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-02-24 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Feb 24 | 2014-02-24 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-03-03 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 3 | 2014-03-03 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-03-10 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 10 | 2014-03-10 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-03-17 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 17 | 2014-03-17 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-03-24 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 24 | 2014-03-24 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-03-31 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 31 | 2014-03-31 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Apr 7 | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-04-14 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Apr 14 | 2014-04-14 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-04-21 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Apr 21 | 2014-04-21 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-04-28 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Apr 28 | 2014-04-28 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-05-05 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| May 5 | 2014-05-05 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-05-12 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| May 12 | 2014-05-12 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-05-19 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| May 19 | 2014-05-19 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-05-26 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| May 26 | 2014-05-26 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-06-02 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 2 | 2014-06-02 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-06-09 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jun 9 | 2014-06-09 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-06-16 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 16 | 2014-06-16 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-06-23 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 23 | 2014-06-23 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 30 | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-07-07 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jul 7 | 2014-07-07 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-07-14 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jul 14 | 2014-07-14 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-07-21 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
This is an intentionally empty default branch.
You might be looking for https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing.
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
16 sourcesIt seems that mild goto usage is not uncommon in at least some major golang projects:
https://github.com/dotcloud/docker/search?q=goto&ref=cmdform
https://github.com/hashicorp/serf/search?q=goto&ref=cmdform
https://github.com/skynetservices/skydns/search?q=goto&ref=c...
https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/search?q=goto&ref=cmdform
https://github.com/juju/juju/search?q=goto&ref=cmdform
EDIT: formatting
In Steve Wozniak is not boringYou may have picked this up elsewhere in the conversation, but they are waiting on Go to have good cross platform support in the standard library for file change notification. This was originally going to be part of 1.3, but it's been pushed off to the next version of Go.
https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/issues/9
https://code.google.com/p/go/issues/detail?id=4068
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-GQrFdDVrA57-ce0kbzSth4l...!
In Syncthing: Open Source Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync Replacementsomeone above posted this: https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/blob/master/protocol/PROT...
In Syncthing: Open Source Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync ReplacementIs Synology ARM? syncthing seems to have a couple of different versions if he wants to try that: https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/releases
In Syncthing: Open Source Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync Replacement> But the documentation is not good.
The linked website is aimed at end-users.
Try the protocol docs: https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/blob/master/protocol/PROT...
In Syncthing: Open Source Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync ReplacementIt is a very young project (pre v1.0) - so give it some time. You can read about the protocol here[0].
[0] https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/blob/master/protocol/PROT...
In Syncthing: Open Source Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync ReplacementNewest change wins. More detail: https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/issues/61#issue-27202590
In Syncthing: Open Source Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync ReplacementProtocol information is linked from the homepage: https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/blob/master/protocol/PROT...
> Does this support delta/block-level sync for large files
Yes.
> Does it utilize the native OS platform APIs for detecting file modification
It uses polling.
Edit: inotify issue is here: https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/issues/9 (the author seems to want to implement this feature once go has a decent cross-platform file watching library)
In Syncthing: Open Source Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync ReplacementTheir protocol is published
https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/blob/master/protocol/PROT...
In Syncthing: Open Source Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync ReplacementAs far as I know the current contenders are git-annex[1], syncthing[2] and clearskies[3]. They're all still very green. git-annex is technologically farthest along but is still very unpolished for the basic "sync this dir" functionality to be reliable/friendly. Clearskies is still at proof-of-concept stage, defining the protocol and implementing the first clients. syncthing is probably the best bet right now, but I haven't tested it yet.
[1] http://git-annex.branchable.com/
[2] https://github.com/calmh/syncthing
[3] https://github.com/jewel/clearskies-ruby
In Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COOSyncThing is another open-source implementation that's worth a look: https://github.com/calmh/syncthing
In Clearskies (BitTorrent Sync alternative) fundraiserSyncthing seems farther along. Been planning to test both out:
https://github.com/calmh/syncthing
git-annex with the assistant was supposed to be a dropbox replacement too but I haven't had much luck with it.
In How Dropbox Knows When You’re Sharing Copyrighted Stuff Without Actually LookingI like that "untrusted peers" are defined in the protocol, but unfortunately it's only an optional addendum [1]. To me, untrusted peering is the most important feature and I hope that not being defined in the main protocol does not mean it will be step-mothered in the implementation.
BitTorrent Sync only supports untrusted peers via API [2], and the only other open-source BitTorrent Sync alternative that I am aware of [3] left it out completely.
[1] https://github.com/jewel/clearskies/blob/master/protocol/unt...
[2] http://www.bittorrent.com/intl/de/sync/developers/api
[3] https://github.com/calmh/syncthing/wiki
In ClearSkies – open-source file syncing without cloudMeanwhile... https://github.com/calmh/syncthing
In Who helps your Linux distribution run smoothly? Thank a packager todayShowing the 15 most recent of 16 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.