cbox

Maps a file directory into CouchDB attachments, and then pushes, pulls, or syncs with a CouchDB instance. Designed to run forever, consume minimal network traffic, and preserve file history while respecting deletions.

It's like an open-source Dropbox.

Installation

It's written in node so you'll need npm. Then:

npm install -g cbox
cbox # prints commands, usage

As an example, to continually sync a local directory to a CouchDB instance:

cbox sync --local {folder} --remote {url} --watch

That's it! cbox will watch files on the remote database and in the local folder, and will sync any changes that occur. To stop syncing, stop the process by pressing Ctrl-C or the like. To save that command for the future, use --save:

cbox sync --save --local {folder} --remote {url} --watch
cbox all # runs all saved jobs

Commands

• pull: pull files from remote into local
• push: push files from local up to remote
• sync: push and pull files from and to local and remote
• jobs: list all saved jobs
• rm: remove a saved job, without modifying any remote or local copy
• all: run all saved jobs

Options

• --local: a local folder, like ~/Pictures.
• --remote: a remote database, like a CouchDB instance.
• --save: save the given command for later re-use.
• --watch: continue watching and reacting to changes indefinitely.
• --config: path to a non-default file to use for saving and reading configuration values. Defaults to ~/.cbox.json.
• --log: indicates level for logging. Choose from error, warn, info, verbose, debug, and silly.

Running on Startup

N.B. These instructions are for *nix systems, like Linux and Mac OS X

Using forever and cron, you can set cbox to run on a regular basis. Like this:

npm install -g forever
echo '@reboot' `which node` `which forever` '--minUptime 1' `which cbox` '--log info' | crontab

That'll run all saved jobs whenever your computer starts. If cbox fails, forever will restart it.

Config

By default, jobs are saved to ~/.cbox.json. It's just JSON, so you can edit it as you please. If it becomes invalid JSON, cbox will get angry. Here's an example config file:

[
  {
    command: 'pull',
    local: '~/Pictures',
    remote: 'http://localhost:5984/pictures'
  }
]

Tests

The tests sync data with a live CouchDB instance running at http://localhost:5984. So, to run the tests, make sure you have an instance listening at that URL.

To run the tests, do npm test.

License

ISC