From: Daira Hopwood Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 17:39:43 +0000 (+0100) Subject: Editing Fire Dragons section. X-Git-Url: https://git.rkrishnan.org/vdrive/%22file:/somewhere?a=commitdiff_plain;h=d5b1cd3dfbcd3d2b542f1e2101887b3c9c41a4d7;p=tahoe-lafs%2Ftahoe-lafs.git Editing Fire Dragons section. Signed-off-by: Daira Hopwood --- diff --git a/docs/proposed/magic-folder/remote-to-local-sync.rst b/docs/proposed/magic-folder/remote-to-local-sync.rst index f840c865..b8e8978d 100644 --- a/docs/proposed/magic-folder/remote-to-local-sync.rst +++ b/docs/proposed/magic-folder/remote-to-local-sync.rst @@ -284,8 +284,10 @@ at a predetermined frequency. On each poll, it will reread the parent DMD (to allow for added or removed clients), and then read each client DMD linked from the parent. -Files with names matching the patterns used for backup, temporary, and -conflicted files will be ignored, i.e. not synchronized in either direction. +"Hidden" files, and files with names matching the patterns used for backup, +temporary, and conflicted files, will be ignored, i.e. not synchronized +in either direction. A file is hidden if it has a filename beginning with +"." (on any platform), or has the hidden or system attribute on Windows. Conflict Detection and Resolution @@ -339,11 +341,15 @@ We propose to record this information: In the magic folder db we will add a *last-downloaded record*, consisting of ``last_downloaded_uri`` and ``last_downloaded_timestamp`` fields, for each path stored in the database. Whenever a Magic Folder -client downloads a file to that path, it stores the downloaded -version's URI and the current local timestamp in this record. (Since -only immutable files are used, the URI will be an immutable file URI, -which is deterministically and uniquely derived from the file contents -and the Tahoe-LAFS node's `convergence secret`_.) +client downloads a file and writes it to that path as a successful +overwrite, it stores the downloaded version's URI and the current +local timestamp in this record. (Since only immutable files are used, +the URI will be an immutable file URI, which is deterministically +and uniquely derived from the file contents and the Tahoe-LAFS node's +`convergence secret`_.) + +When a download is a conflict, the client does not create a +last-downloaded record in its magic folder db. .. _`convergence secret`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/browser/docs/convergence-secret.rst @@ -362,30 +368,52 @@ the last download before the change that caused the upload. Both last-downloaded fields will be absent if the file has only ever been changed by the client that first created it. -The purpose of including the timestamp is to allow calculating the -length of time between the last download and the upload. If this is -very short, then we are uncertain about whether the process that -wrote the local file took into account the last download; we can use -that information to be conservative about treating changes as conflicts. +We first describe a slightly simplified variant of the proposed +design: + + When Alice's Magic Folder client sees a remote change, say under + the DMD for Bob's client, it compares the ``last_downloaded_uri`` + in the metadata for the downloaded file, with the URI that Alice's + client last uploaded (in the ``filecap`` field of the ``caps`` table + of the magic folder db). + + If Alice has no local copy of the file, then this download is + initially classified as an overwrite. + + Otherwise, if there is no ``last_downloaded_uri`` field in the + metadata, then this download is initially classified as a conflict. + + Otherwise, suppose that these URIs are the same, *and* there has + been no local change to the file in Alice's filesystem since her + client's last upload. In that case, we know that Bob's Magic Folder + client had written Alice's current version of the file to Bob's + filesystem before Bob's change. Therefore, the download by Alice's + client is initially classified as an overwrite. + + In all other cases, the download is initially classed as a + conflict. + +The full variant also takes into account the ``last_downloaded_timestamp`` +field: -so, when alice sees bob's change, it can compare the URI in the metadata -for the downloaded file, with the URI that -is alice's magic folder db. -(if alice had that version but had not recorded the URI, we count that as -a conflict. + The purpose of including the timestamp is to allow calculating the + length of time between the last download (in this case by Bob's client) + and the upload. If this is very short, then we are uncertain about + whether the process (on Bob's system) that wrote the local file took + into account the last download; we can use that information to be + conservative about treating changes as conflicts. -this is justified because bob could not have learnt an URI matching -alice's version unless [alice created that version -and had uploaded it] or [someone else created that version and alice had -downloaded it]) + Specifically, when a Magic Folder client detects a local change for + a given path and reads the corresponding last-downloaded record, and + the ``last_downloaded_timestamp`` shows that the download was more + recent than a given threshold (perhaps controlled by a configuration + parameter), then it omits the last-downloaded fields from the metadata. + This will cause any other client to treat the change as a conflict + if it already had a copy of the file. -alice does this comparison only when it is about to write bob's change. -if it is a conflict, then it just creates a -new file for the conflicted copy (and doesn't update its own copy at the -bare filename, nor does it change its -magic folder db) -filesystem notifications for filenames that match the conflicted pattern -are ignored +The `Earth Dragons`_ section below describes how to write a downloaded +file to the local filesystem, given an initial classification of the +download as an overwrite or conflict. Water Dragons: Resolving conflict loops @@ -469,8 +497,10 @@ In our proposed design, Alice's Magic Folder client follows this procedure for an overwrite in response to a remote change: 1. Write a temporary file, say ``.foo.tmp``. -2. If there are pending notifications of changes to ``foo``, - reclassify as a conflict and stop. +2. Use the procedure described in the `Fire Dragons_` section + to obtain an initial classification as an overwrite or a + conflict. If there are pending notifications of changes to + ``foo``, reclassify as a conflict and stop. 3. Set the ``mtime`` of the replacement file to be *T* seconds before the current time. 4. Perform a ''file replacement'' operation (explained below)