What's the advantage of running Syncthing as a remote server?

[christiaan]

On my little journey of discovery finding alternatives to Dropbox/Google/Microsoft I tried Syncthing for Mac. I didn't like it because I found the user interface too esoteric for my team.

I'm still considering it as an option but I'm wondering what the point of a remote server is given that it's using peer-to-peer syncing and you could therefore just run it on the user's devices that need access to the files?

Edit: actually it doesn't have an iOS client so that rules it out for us

[jdaviescoates]

@christiaan I think it's possible be use Syncthing to sync files better/ faster on Nextcloud (and then just use Nextcloud clients)

I had a tab about that open for a while and have been meaning to ask in here is it's possible to set that up on Cloudron. I'll have to dig out the relevant link...

[avatar1024]

Just for info. The point of running on a remote server is that the files are always accessible even if all other devices are turned off.
Been using Syncthing for years, it is incredibly powerful for syncing files...a thousand miles faster and more reliable than NextCloud, Dropbox, etc.

[jdaviescoates]

@avatar1024 so the question is, how to use Cloudron Syncthing to sync files on Cloudron Nextcloud? Have you got that set up?

[avatar1024]

Syncthing is just missing a way to access files online (and an iOS app apparently ;)).

@jdaviescoates Sadly I don't think it can't be integrated neatly with something like Nextcloud (there are set-ups that kinda work but not great really). I have tried to do it in the backend (on the server file system itself) to sync directly in Nextcloud folder but you got to trigger regular manual scan of files by Nextcloud for the files to be visible on the web interface, and the process is resource intensive. Another way is to set it up as an external device, again there are issues with this. Seems like no one really nailed it, kinda work on some cases but not neat. I'll dig up a few few link on the topic and send your way. Also judging from forum discussion Nextcloud devs aren't really interested and kinda dismiss Syncthing as a robust protocol....which is a real shame and narrow minded view of them I think.

I did enquire that with Cloudron devs back in the day we never got around looking into this at the time (no blame on them at all by the way, it was in Cloudron's early days and I was asking obscure questions :)). Maybe we should reopen a post on the topic and see if people can come up with some ideas. I'd be happy to share what I've done already.

Haha I was writing this already as I saw your question popping up

[necrevistonnezr]

@christiaan

Edit: actually it doesn't have an iOS client so that rules it out for us

That's the one thing I never really understand about many (open source) software projects:

Mobile clients need to have the highest priority, and even if there are mobile apps, often one ecosystem is excluded (either Android or iOS) even though their market share in the relevant target groups are equally significant.

[avatar1024]

@jdaviescoates I have now opened a topic on this.

[yusf]

@necrevistonnezr said in What's the advantage of running Syncthing as a remote server?:

That's the one thing I never really understand

I suspect severe itch-scratching based development in many cases: developers who develop things that works for them tend to use real computers, whereas the general population don’t even buy laptops any more.