bgror

RubyDrop: A Dropbox Clone in Ruby

Created at: 26.11.2010 22:56, source: Ruby Inside , tagged: Cool Miscellaneous

Ever used Dropbox? It's awesome. A cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, and even mobile) file syncing and backup service with 2GB for free (or 2.25GB if you sign up with this link). Well, if you'd like to roll out your own system on your own infrastructure, send some thanks to Ryan LeFevre, the creator of RubyDrop, an open source Dropbox clone based on Ruby and git.

Cloning Dropbox sounds like a tall order and in reality, "Dropbox clone" is a big stretch. RubyDrop is quite simple under the hood and focuses on the file syncing part of the problem. A Ruby process monitors a folder for changes and uses Git to do the heavy lifting and change management between your clients and a defined central server.

RubyDrop is not without its flaws. What happens when files are changed on multiple nodes and then clash? Your mileage may vary. What's good, though, is that Ryan seems keen to improve the system and has already planned a centralized server and is considering integrating rsync to make file syncing smoother. Ryan is a systems engineer at TwitPic with a background in PHP, JavaScript, and C but RubyDrop is his first Ruby project. I look forward to seeing more both from him and RubyDrop.

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