A port of Unison for the Nokia 770
About
Unison is a great tool to synchronize files between different computer systems, supporting various UNIX platforms including Linux and also Microsoft Windows.
Prerequesites
- dropbear SSH server installed and running on the Nokia 770, see http://maemo.org/maemowiki/InstallSsh
- if you want to start Unison on the Nokia 770 itself (instead of just using it remotely by starting Unison on your desktop machine and connecting via SSH), you also need the X Terminal Simulator from http://770.fs-security.com/xterm/
Installation
Download the attached Debian "arm" package for the older ITOS2005 operating system or the new "armel" package for the newer ITOS2006 (released end of June 2006) and install it with the Application Installer.
Usage
See the Unison manual for details.
Quick HowTo to synchronizing your $HOME on the Nokia 770
(click pictures to enlarge them)
Install Unison on the Nokia 770 and Unison with GTK support on your desktop machine. Create a directory (e.g. ~/Nokia770) on your desktop machine that will hold your sync-ed hierarchy.
Start Unison on the desktop with
unison-gtk
choose "Create new profile" and give it a whatever name you like, e.g. Nokia770.
Double-click the new profile, select your local directory (in my case /home/spiney/Nokia770)
for the second directory choose SSH, insert hostname or IP address in the Hosts field (and the username "user" in the User field in case you do not have a special Nokia770 configuration in ~/.ssh/config)
Ignore the warning about first sync, because it is the first time you synchronize and enjoy!
Note: to avoid Unison trying to synchronize it's own status directory on the Nokia770 (which will never be in sync because every update will change it), I suggest adding the following line to ~/.unison/<profilename>.prf:
ignore = Name .unison
Feel free to just synchronize the MyDocs directory by providing "MyDocs" when specifying the second directory.
Todo
Built a working GTK-enabled package, as in: find the reason why the application segfaults after a couple of seconds when built with GTK support.
Disclaimer
This package is provided without any warranties, use it on your own risk. Feedback is very welcome, feel free to use the feedback form or add comments below.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| unison_2.13.16-1_arm.deb | 409.18 KB |
| unison_2.13.16-5maemo1_armel.deb | 249.81 KB |





Comments
Are there plans to repackage
Are there plans to repackage unison for ITOS2006?
there always were plans
but I haven't found time to update to ITOS2006 myself. Well, that is, until today.
Unison port for OS2008?
Hi there, I was wondering whether you might be willing to let me know how you built Unison for OS2005/OS2006. I am currently using OS2008 and would like to run Unison on it. Since I assume that you are probably too busy to port it to OS2008 for me, I would be happy to give it a shot by myself.
If you could just give me some pointers to websites that tell how to start this process, and if you could also pass along any modifications you made to the source code, that would be wonderful.
Thanks very much!
The armel package installs
The armel package installs on the N800 & the programs opens in Xterm. I've just now installed it & haven't use it yet, but it looks like there may not be a need to do a special N800 port.