dropbox (was: Best practice for Documents directory: looking for comments on) my current setup

[Cory Myers]

On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 04:04:58PM +0200, martin f krafft wrote:
> Do they do anything other than remote storage and synchronisation
> based on modification times? How else do they or would they do it?
> What happens if you modify the same document in two places? How does
> it deal with conflicts?

There's no merge capability. I induced a conflict like so:

	1. Created "test" in Computer A's Dropbox with contents "hello".
	2. Waited for "test" to synchronize to Computer B.
	3. Took Computer A offline.
	4. Modified "test" on Computer A: "hello to you too".
	5. Modified "test" on Computer B: "goodbye".
	6. Brought Computer A online.
	7. Waited for Dropbox to attempt to synchronize the changes.


The results, on both machines:

	"test": goodbye

	new file "test ([Computer A]'s conflicted copy 2009-05-14)": hello
	to you too


Dropbox seems to give precedence to those changes that first synchronize
to their servers, not to those that were actually made first. Given that
Dropbox targets an audience of "normal" people (i.e., not vcs-home types)
who use binary formats like Word and PowerPoint, this conflict-resolution
model is not just simpler to implement---it's easier to understand and
safer in the event that things go awry.

Dropbox also saves files' revisions, but they're visible only in the Web
interface.
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