syncnow 🚀

Small Bash script for fast file synchronization from the current working directory (pwd) to one or multiple remote hosts using rsync over ssh.
It is driven by a local config file called .syncnow 📄.

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1. What does syncnow do? 🤔

• Syncs selected files/directories from the current directory (SYNC_DIR = pwd) to remote host(s).
• Uses rsync over ssh (default port 22).
• Requires a .syncnow file in the directory where you run the command.
• Supports multiple destinations via SYNC_REMOTE_HOST="host1,host2" (comma-separated list).
• By default trying to sync with hostname sync-remote-host which can be resolved via /etc/hosts or DNS. You can override this by setting SYNC_REMOTE_HOST.

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2. Installation ⚙️

1. Copy the script to /local/sbin (or any directory in your PATH):

   sudo curl --url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nchekwa/syncnow/refs/heads/main/syncnow --output /usr/local/sbin/syncnow
   sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/syncnow

2. Make sure /usr/local/sbin is in your PATH:

   echo $PATH

3. (Optional) Set up SSH keys for the remote host:

   syncnow --auth

4. In your project directory create a .syncnow file:

   cd /path/to/project
   touch .syncnow

5. Run synchronization:

   syncnow

   or without confirmation prompt:

   syncnow -y

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3. The .syncnow file 📄

The .syncnow file must exist in the directory where you run syncnow.
If it is missing, the script aborts execution.

Example configuration:

# Remote SSH user
SYNC_REMOTE_USER="deploy"

# Single or multiple hosts (comma-separated list)
SYNC_REMOTE_HOST="192.168.1.10,192.168.1.11"

# SSH port
SYNC_REMOTE_PORT="22"

# Target path on remote host (by default can be same as local SYNC_DIR)
SYNC_REMOTE_PATH="/var/www/project"

# Files/directories to sync (example)
SYNC_SOURCE_ITEMS=("src" "config" "docker-compose.yml")

# Whether to include .syncnow in the synced items (Y/N)
SYNC_DOTSYNC_CONFIG="Y"

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4. ENV / variables behavior 🌱

• The script loads .syncnow as ENV:

  set -a
  source "$SYNC_DIR/.syncnow"
  set +a

• All variables from .syncnow become available in the script environment.

• Key variables:

  • SYNC_DIR – always pwd (directory from which syncnow is executed).
  • SYNC_REMOTE_USER – SSH user.
  • SYNC_REMOTE_HOST – single host or comma-separated list of hosts.
  • SYNC_REMOTE_PORT – SSH port (currently rsync uses port 22 directly; this variable is ready for future extension).
  • SYNC_REMOTE_PATH – target directory on the remote host(s).
  • SYNC_SOURCE_ITEMS – array of files/directories to sync.
  • SYNC_DOTSYNC_CONFIG – whether to include .syncnow in the synced items list.

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5. How it works (flow) 🔁

1. You run syncnow in your project directory.
2. The script:
   • requires .syncnow to exist,
   • SYNC_DIR is your pwd by default,
   • loads variables from .syncnow,
   • builds the host list from SYNC_REMOTE_HOST (supports comma-separated list),
   • checks DNS/host resolution for each host (getent hosts),
   • asks for confirmation (unless -y is used),
   • runs rsync for each item in SYNC_SOURCE_ITEMS to each configured host.