Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Sean Escriva]

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Greetings fellow Org users,

I'm the current maintainer for MobileOrg iOS[1] and am interested to get
feedback from any org-mobile users. What do you use to sync org files
across different machines, how could the current org-mobile workflow be
improved (if at all)?

We're actively working to get a refreshed MobileOrg release out and there
is currently some discussion related to syncing methods used to share org
files with mobile devices in a github issue[2]. No doubt many other org
users keep their org files in a git repo or other scm, so the question has
come up of just using git directly to sync with a mobile client. Some feel
that "for many users it's annoying to remember every time to push/pull when
changing devices" but I am of the opinion that we should always maintain
compatibility with the emacs lisp library that is currently implemented for
syncing org files.

Perhaps there is room to improve the behavior or org-mobile.el in ways that
would benefit users syncing org files on multiple machines and mobile
devices. I would appreciate input or suggestions for ways to enhance the
mobile sync experience/workflow.

Thanks,
Sean

[1] https://github.com/MobileOrg/mobileorg/
[2] https://github.com/MobileOrg/mobileorg/issues/120

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Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Alan Schmitt]

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On 2017-01-12 03:30, Sean Escriva <sean.escriva@gmail.com> writes:

> Greetings fellow Org users,
>
> I'm the current maintainer for MobileOrg iOS[1] and am interested to
> get feedback from any org-mobile users. What do you use to sync org
> files across different machines, how could the current org-mobile
> workflow be improved (if at all)?

I use git, and would very much like to be able to use that as a backend
to synchronize (I'm trying to move away from dropbox).

Best,

Alan

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Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Alan Schmitt <alan.schmitt@polytechnique.org> writes:

> On 2017-01-12 03:30, Sean Escriva <sean.escriva@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Greetings fellow Org users,
>>
>> I'm the current maintainer for MobileOrg iOS[1] and am interested to
>> get feedback from any org-mobile users. What do you use to sync org
>> files across different machines, how could the current org-mobile
>> workflow be improved (if at all)?
>
> I use git, and would very much like to be able to use that as a backend
> to synchronize (I'm trying to move away from dropbox).

I second this. The inability to use git directly was the main reason I
didn't end up using MobileOrg.

Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Anssi Saari]

Sean Escriva <sean.escriva@gmail.com> writes:

> Greetings fellow Org users,
>
> I'm the current maintainer for MobileOrg iOS[1] and am interested to
> get feedback from any org-mobile users. What do you use to sync org
> files across different machines, how could the current org-mobile
> workflow be improved (if at all)?

When I tried MobileOrg I think I used Dropbox. But since initiating
manual sync from Emacs seemed mandatory I just didn't get much use out
of MobileOrg.

So whatever you want to provide, make sure sync is automatic. And
preferably supporting private sync options too.

Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Eric S Fraga]

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On Friday, 13 Jan 2017 at 08:50, Anssi Saari wrote:
> When I tried MobileOrg I think I used Dropbox. But since initiating
> manual sync from Emacs seemed mandatory I just didn't get much use out
> of MobileOrg.

But automatic sync in Emacs should be quite straightforward and is
independent of the mobile end.  You can use a timer, for instance:

,----[ C-h f run-with-idle-timer RET ]
| run-with-idle-timer is an interactive compiled Lisp function in
| ‘timer.el’.
| 
| (run-with-idle-timer SECS REPEAT FUNCTION &rest ARGS)
| 
| Perform an action the next time Emacs is idle for SECS seconds.
| The action is to call FUNCTION with arguments ARGS.
| SECS may be an integer, a floating point number, or the internal
| time format returned by, e.g., ‘current-idle-time’.
| If Emacs is currently idle, and has been idle for N seconds (N < SECS),
| then it will call FUNCTION in SECS - N seconds from now.  Using
| SECS <= N is not recommended if this function is invoked from an idle
| timer, because FUNCTION will then be called immediately.
| 
| If REPEAT is non-nil, do the action each time Emacs has been idle for
| exactly SECS seconds (that is, only once for each time Emacs becomes idle).
| 
| This function returns a timer object which you can use in ‘cancel-timer’.
| 
| [back]
`----

>
> So whatever you want to provide, make sure sync is automatic. And
> preferably supporting private sync options too.
>
>

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (0xFFFCF67D), Emacs 26.0.50.1, Org release_9.0.3-201-ga51c6f

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Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Gijs Hillenius]

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Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> On Friday, 13 Jan 2017 at 08:50, Anssi Saari wrote:
>> When I tried MobileOrg I think I used Dropbox. But since initiating
>> manual sync from Emacs seemed mandatory I just didn't get much use out
>> of MobileOrg.
>
> But automatic sync in Emacs should be quite straightforward and is
> independent of the mobile end.  You can use a timer, for instance:
>
> ,----[ C-h f run-with-idle-timer RET ]
> | run-with-idle-timer is an interactive compiled Lisp function in
> | ‘timer.el’.
> | 
> | (run-with-idle-timer SECS REPEAT FUNCTION &rest ARGS)
> | 
> | Perform an action the next time Emacs is idle for SECS seconds.
> | The action is to call FUNCTION with arguments ARGS.
> | SECS may be an integer, a floating point number, or the internal
> | time format returned by, e.g., ‘current-idle-time’.
> | If Emacs is currently idle, and has been idle for N seconds (N < SECS),
> | then it will call FUNCTION in SECS - N seconds from now.  Using
> | SECS <= N is not recommended if this function is invoked from an idle
> | timer, because FUNCTION will then be called immediately.
> | 
> | If REPEAT is non-nil, do the action each time Emacs has been idle for
> | exactly SECS seconds (that is, only once for each time Emacs becomes idle).
> | 
> | This function returns a timer object which you can use in ‘cancel-timer’.
> | 
> | [back]
> `----
>
>>
>> So whatever you want to provide, make sure sync is automatic. And
>> preferably supporting private sync options too.

I have this in my emacs init.el 

(run-at-time "10:15" 86400 'org-mobile-push)

This works in combination with a cron job (a few minutes later) that
syncs the files to my 'cloud', where my phone picks them up.

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Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Anssi Saari]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> On Friday, 13 Jan 2017 at 08:50, Anssi Saari wrote:
>> When I tried MobileOrg I think I used Dropbox. But since initiating
>> manual sync from Emacs seemed mandatory I just didn't get much use out
>> of MobileOrg.
>
> But automatic sync in Emacs should be quite straightforward and is
> independent of the mobile end.  You can use a timer, for instance:

I have a few computers and they don't run all the time (let alone run
Emacs all the time) and I didn't want to setup a timer on all of
them. The need to sync for me is usually typing something in on a PC and
then having it available in my pocket. So the corner case for the timer
is that it has to trigger between me saving a file and shutting down or
hibernating or whatever on the PC which can be a pretty short time.

Between Emacsen files saved in Dropbox works fine (although I'd rather
not use Dropbox for anything) but on mobile Dropbox doesn't sync as far
as I know.

Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Eric S Fraga]

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On Friday, 13 Jan 2017 at 14:13, Anssi Saari wrote:
> Between Emacsen files saved in Dropbox works fine (although I'd rather
> not use Dropbox for anything) but on mobile Dropbox doesn't sync as far
> as I know.

I'm not sure what you mean but, in the Android version of mobileorg,
syncing with Dropbox happens automatically with the frequency I specify.

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (0xFFFCF67D), Emacs 26.0.50.1, Org release_9.0.3-201-ga51c6f

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Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Nick Dokos]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> On Friday, 13 Jan 2017 at 14:13, Anssi Saari wrote:
>> Between Emacsen files saved in Dropbox works fine (although I'd rather
>> not use Dropbox for anything) but on mobile Dropbox doesn't sync as far
>> as I know.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean but, in the Android version of mobileorg,
> syncing with Dropbox happens automatically with the frequency I specify.

I'm guessing he means that the syncing has to be event-driven, not
time-driven.  He wants the sync to happen just before emacs exits:
that way, everything is up to date. Time-driven syncing would be
racy.

I wonder if there is a before-exit hook that can be used.

-- 
Nick

Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[Karl Voit]

* Sean Escriva <sean.escriva@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> What do you use to sync org files across different machines?

I am using WebDav for syncing with Android. I will switch from
WebDav to SyncThing since it turned out to be a very neat and easy
to use sync method with enhanced privacy.

Apple decided not to support tools like SyncThing for political
reasons, so no luck for iOS here.

For non-mobile devices, I am using unison/rsync, git, and
SyncThing.

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Re: Syncing methods for org files and org-mobile.el

[FAb]

On 01/16/2017 03:48 PM, Karl Voit wrote:
> * Sean Escriva <sean.escriva@gmail.com> wrote:
>> What do you use to sync org files across different machines?
> I am using WebDav for syncing with Android. I will switch from
> WebDav to SyncThing since it turned out to be a very neat and easy
> to use sync method with enhanced privacy.
>
> Apple decided not to support tools like SyncThing for political
> reasons, so no luck for iOS here.
>
> For non-mobile devices, I am using unison/rsync, git, and
> SyncThing.
>
Hi,

I used WebDav (ownCloud) with OrgMobile (Android) but for some php
reason I switched to ssh/scp and a dedicated key.

For my PCs I use git.

I works fine.


Best,

0xFAb