Bonsai Is A New Effort For GNOME-Focused Multi-Device Cloud/Synchronization

[wizard69]

starshipeleven The readme says “The target audience are GNOME-desktop users with multiple devices for which they'd like their content kept in sync.”

So yeah GNOME-only unless someone shows up and change that. It would be highly unlikely and almost zero benefits to most users or GNOME.

Yet if they get notes and calendar syncs to work, along with some sort of well defined file sync, I would see it as extremely valuable. Having Linux sync with my iPhone calendar is already extremely useful. Being able to do this without a server across multiple Linux machines would be sweet.

mail on the other hand seems to be fine with the way it currently works with a remote server. At least I have few if any problems. In any event I can only see a couple of apps where this would really work well. The big problem I have is the loss of file access when the laptop can’t get a internet connection. So sometimes you simply need to have the files stored locally so automatic sync is huge.

One example is a good Notes like app that I use on the iPhone. While not perfect it provides a great way for me to store bits of information about the various machines I work on. Something like that which syncs up and keeps data consistent across machines is very useful. It is so useful that I might be willing to change cell phone platforms for a better solution.

what might be a bigger problem here is that doing this well isn’t as easy as the developer may think. I can see it taking years to get this working well as a server less solution supporting multiple apps.

[wizard69]

from the blog
But to build this I need a few fundamental layers to build applications atop. I’ll need access to files using all the GIO file APIs we love (GFile, GFileEnumerator, GIOStream, etc).

That thing is https://developer.gnome.org/platform...ch-gio.html.en and is literally GNOME's equivalent of KDE's KIO https://community.kde.org/KIO

Yes that is a DE-specific thing and not at all a toolkit thing.

This is exactly what the community needs though. It would be foolish to offer yet another “universal”‘ sync solution that doesn’t cater to a specific DE environment. If Linux is to ever make inroads in the desktop world it needs DE environments with well integrated and thought out features. Good APIs help to deliver these features across multiple apps users need or want.

developers will use the API if it works and delivers real functionality to their apps. Working of course is something else in this case. Some of the more successful approaches rely upon server sync so it will be interesting to see how this serverless solution works. In a nut shell where I would want this to work is in fact on the desktop so there is no value in arguments about it not working in XYZ environment.

[wizard69]

Bonsai does too. I use Qt desktops only so for me GIO (which Bonsai requires) is exotic.

All that really means is that this software is of no concern to you. Think about it a bit KDevelop or whatever it is called is of no concern to me because I don’t use it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t it great value to others.

I find it perplexing that this initiative being tied to GNOME is such a Big deal. It should be pretty much expected that GNOME developers will add new features to their software. Effectively this is all the API is. Instead of drawing primitives for the DE think of it as sync primitives.

[starshipeleven]

Michael, your title is misleading, Bonsai is not "Multi-Device Cloud/Synchronization." From Christian's post: "I want access to my files and application data on all my computing devices but I don’t want to store that data on other people’s computers." No cloud.

I suspect he used it for the same reason Owncloud and NextCloud have "cloud" in the name. It works like a cloud service but you own it. Consumers know that as cloud services.

[starshipeleven]

Can anyone explain what's the intended difference between bonsai and having a nextcloud server to sync your files?

That applications using GIO file API of GNOME can do "more" for some reason, in the blog he says this system allows them to share the same config files and operate at the same time without overwriting them and causing issues to the other application.

[starshipeleven]

Iolaum Nextcloud got some exotic dependencies right?

No it doesn't, on the local PCs you just install a sync client that syncs files.

[starshipeleven]

Vistaus Yeah. So cooperation was never really an option.

Yeah. Everyone is waiting for Bonsai to cooperate, Nextcloud, Syncthing and others are all figments of the imagination.

[starshipeleven]

Having Linux sync with my iPhone calendar is already extremely useful.

the iPhone isn't running GNOME and its applications aren't using GIO library from GNOME project so no it won't work.
You can set up a Caldav server for that, or use a cloud cladav service https://help.one.com/hc/en-us/articl...-using-CalDAV-

Being able to do this without a server across multiple Linux machines would be sweet.

Technically speaking, this system seems to have a "central" server too, he says you can either use your main PC or a raspberry pi connected to storage.

It would be interesting to know how he plans to make this work over the internet, as you usually need a public address for that.

One example is a good Notes like app that I use on the iPhone. While not perfect it provides a great way for me to store bits of information about the various machines I work on. Something like that which syncs up and keeps data consistent across machines is very useful. It is so useful that I might be willing to change cell phone platforms for a better solution.

Decent Note-taking applications have cloud sync, like Evernote. It has no official Linux client but there are native Linux applications that support its cloud sync protocol.

[Vistaus]

That doesn’t mean it isn’t it great value to others.

I never said it wasn't of great value? I just said that for me personally, it does have an exotic dependency. I never said anything about its value. Maybe you should put on your reading glasses instead of getting all defensive.