config-shared/syncthing/INSTRUCTIONS.md

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   3
   4 # Install and configure `syncthing`
   5
   6 Created by [Steven Baltakatei Sandoval][bktei_2020_homepage] on 2020-04-27T14:37Z under a [CC BY-SA 4.0][cc_20131125_bysa] license and last updated on 2020-04-27T16:28Z.
   7
   8 ## 1. Summary
   9
  10 Syncthing is a decentralized file-synchronization program that permits
  11 sharing of files over the Internet with computers that have been
  12 configured to trust one another.
  13
  14 ## 2. Instructions
  15
  16 The following are instructions for installing Syncthing onto a GNU/Linux Debian 10 machine.
  17
  18 ### 2.1. Install `syncthing` via `apt-get`
  19
  20 Update the local repository package lists with `$ sudo apt-get update`.
  21
  22 Install the `syncthing` package with `$ sudo apt-get install syncthing`.
  23
  24 Note: As of 2020-04-27, Debian 10 Buster uses Syncthing version `1.0.0`.
  25
  26 ### 2.2. Enable automatic startup via `systemd` service.
  27
  28 Syncthing can be started automatically via `systemd` as a system
  29 service upon boot or a user service upon login. If `syncthing` was
  30 installed from the Debian 10 repository (ex: via `apt-get`), then the
  31 necessary service files (ex: `syncthing@.service` ) should already be
  32 installed. If not, see the detailed autostart instructions for where
  33 to download a copy of the service
  34 files.<sup>[[1]](#syncthing_20200331_autostart)</sup>
  35
  36 #### 2.2.a. Enable automatic startup via `systemd` upon boot (system service).
  37
  38 For a system service, identify the user under which to run
  39 `syncthing`. Even though `syncthing` will be run upon startup (without
  40 needing a user to login first), files cannot be created or modified by
  41 `syncthing` with permissions of a specified user. In this example,
  42 `baltakatei` will be the user. This means an appropriate directory for
  43 a `syncthing` shared folder would be `/home/baltakatei/Sync/`.
  44
  45 Alternatively, if `syncthing` were running as a headless server where
  46 no user is expected to directly modify files in the server's file
  47 system, then a dedicated dummy user named `syncthing-user` might be
  48 appropriate.
  49
  50 The commands to create a `systemd` system service under user
  51 `baltakatei` are:
  52
  53     $ sudo systemctl enable syncthing@baltakatei.service
  54     $ sudo systemctl start syncthing@baltakatei.service
  55
  56 The following notifications may appear while running these commands:
  57
  58     $ systemctl enable syncthing@baltakatei.service
  59     Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/syncthing@baltakatei.service → /lib/systemd/system/syncthing@.service.
  60
  61 The status of the new system service can be verified via:
  62
  63     $ systemctl status syncthing@baltakatei.service
  64
  65 The resulting status data will resemble:
  66
  67     $ systemctl status syncthing@baltakatei.service
  68     ● syncthing@baltakatei.service - Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for baltakatei
  69        Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/syncthing@.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  70        Active: active (running) since Mon 2020-04-27 09:01:00 PDT; 3min 34s ago
  71          Docs: man:syncthing(1)
  72      Main PID: 2799 (syncthing)
  73         Tasks: 23 (limit: 1132)
  74        Memory: 45.3M
  75        CGroup: /system.slice/system-syncthing.slice/syncthing@baltakatei.service
  76                └─2799 /usr/bin/syncthing -no-browser -no-restart -logflags=0
  77
  78 #### 2.2.b. Enable automatic startup via `systemd` upon login (user service).
  79
  80 For a user service, identify which user under which to run
  81 `syncthing`. In this example, `baltakatei` will be the user. This
  82 means an appropriate directory for a `syncthing` shared folder would
  83 be `/home/baltakatei/Sync/`.
  84
  85 The commands to create a `systemd` user service under user
  86 `baltakatei` are:
  87
  88     $ systemctl --user enable syncthing.service
  89     $ systemctl --user start syncthing.service
  90
  91 The following notifications may appear while running these commands:
  92
  93     Created symlink /home/baltakatei/.config/systemd/user/default.target.wants/syncthing.service → /usr/lib/systemd/user/syncthing.service.
  94
  95 The status of the new user service can be verified via:
  96
  97     $ systemctl --user status syncthing.service
  98
  99 The resulting status data will resemble:
 100
 101     $ systemctl --user status syncthing.service
 102     ● syncthing.service - Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization
 103        Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/syncthing.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
 104        Active: active (running) since Mon 2020-04-27 09:57:08 PDT; 14s ago
 105          Docs: man:syncthing(1)
 106      Main PID: 3284 (syncthing)
 107        CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/syncthing.service
 108                └─3284 /usr/bin/syncthing -no-browser -no-restart -logflags=0
 109
 110 ## 3. References
 111 - <a name="syncthing_20200331_autostart">1.</a> ["Starting Syncthing Automatically"][1]. Date: 2020-03-31. [syncthing.net](https://syncthing.net). Date Accessed: 2020-04-27. [Archive link](https://web.archive.org/web/20200414114635/https://docs.syncthing.net/users/autostart.html). Archive date: 2017-04-14.
 112
 113 [1]: https://docs.syncthing.net/users/autostart.html
 114 [bktei_2020_homepage]: http://baltakatei.com
 115 [cc_20131125_bysa]: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
 116
 117
 118 <hr>
 119 <p xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">This work by <a rel="cc:attributionURL"  href="http://baltakatei.com"><span rel="cc:attributionName">Steven Baltakatei Sandoval</span></a> is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=ccchooser" target="_blank" rel="license noopener noreferrer" style="display: inline-block;">CC BY-SA 4.0</a><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=ccchooser"><img style="height:22px!important;margin-left: 3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;opacity:0.7;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc_icon.svg" /><img  style="height:22px!important;margin-left: 3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;opacity:0.7;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-by_icon.svg" /><img  style="height:22px!important;margin-left: 3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;opacity:0.7;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-sa_icon.svg" /></a></p>