
AeroFS - Unlimited P2P File Sync - makeramen
http://www.aerofs.com/learnmore.html
======
yurisagalov
well this is an unexpected but pleasant surprise :)

I suppose this is a good opportunity to let you guys know that the project IS
very much alive and kicking still, and we've just released a new set of
invites today (which I suppose is why we got posted to HN today, thanks!)

We've been very busy with coding and work, which is why we haven't really been
updating the blog, but if you have any questions I'll be happy to continue
answering them here

edit: FYI, the original discussion is at
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1538731>

~~~
timdorr
Do you support automatic versioning like Dropbox does?

Can we set up our own "cloud" server? I assume that would be as simple as
getting a server somewhere and running the software on it. Related: Do you
have a CLI alongside the GUI?

~~~
illumin8
To me, the cloud server is the biggest feature. I'm one of your alpha users
and while I am impressed with the potential of the project, Ubuntu is not
really a server OS. I would love to be able to throw it on a Red Hat box I
have in the data center and have my own private cloud.

~~~
dotBen
Well to follow that thought, I actually do run Ubuntu in the datacenter (
_we'll have to debate that one another time_ ) but last time I checked the
Ubuntu package for AeroFS was GTK/some other UI based package and I couldn't
see any command line mechanisms in the package to let me manage things on
server.

Would love to see that tided up because then this becomes a mechanism for
distributing files to the cluster super easy for my "normal end users", plus
the cloud benefits illumin8 is referring to.

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nuclear_eclipse
This is still in invite-only phase, and while I do have an account, I'm not
actively using it yet for my primary files because there are still some
features it lacks over Dropbox, namely:

* can't choose where local files are cached, it assumes where you want them

* no way to back up more than 1G to their "cloud", ie, no paid plans yet, which I would really like to have at least for my most unreplaceable files

* no way to share individual directories with other users, you must share entire "libraries" as they call them, which are basically top-level folders on your aerofs drive

* no way to make files publicly available for download

Other than those points, I think the service is a fantastic idea, and I do
eagerly look forward to being able to switch from Dropbox for my photos,
documents, etc. However, the above limitations mean that I can really only use
it for a few extra things that I don't have room for on my Dropbox account,
eg, music.

~~~
weihan
actually all of them are on our todo list--three of the four are already
implemented but yet to be exposed to the user :)

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mgunes
How will you be licensing and pricing it once it reaches 1.0? Any plans for
making it available under a free software license, dual or otherwise? I know
quite a few people who'd be inclined to pay for and contribute to a solution
of the kind you provide and Dropbox and Ubuntu One don't (very decentralized,
secure, fast, works local-only) with the condition that it's free-as-in-
freedom.

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evo_9
Interesting/cool product.

One thing that threw me off - the term 'Aero' (for me) implied Windows only...
No real easy solution there as I don't expect (or even think you need) to
change the name, but maybe adding something like 'cross-platforming file sync
without servers'.

Awesome none-the-less though!

~~~
StavrosK
As another datapoint, it didn't for me. It implied storing things in air.

~~~
arethuza
I was vaguely aware of the Windows thing, but to me Aero == bubbly chocolate

~~~
StavrosK
I could go for some Mikado...

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ch
According to this:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_size#Asymmetric_algorithm_k...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_size#Asymmetric_algorithm_key_lengths),
their choice in using 1024 bit keys might be a bit short-sighted.

~~~
weihan
thanks for pointing this out! we'll investigate this further and may increase
the key length as necessary.

~~~
andre
can you my own key?

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davidu
I've been waiting for someone to create this.

Since libTorrent was released, I figured someone would do something like this.
No idea if Aero is using libTorrent, but the idea was a natural evolution.

This looks well executed, thanks. Can't wait to see the next steps.

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Ixiaus
SSH and rsync? Or even better, use hg/bzr/git to maintain a version history of
the files and then just sync across devices (it's uber easy with Mercurial,
not sure about the other two). I personally use the latter (Mercurial).

~~~
rmc
Or use unison, which is similar to rsync, but works 'both ways'

~~~
nodata
Unison is unfortunately no longer under development.

<http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/status.html>

~~~
carterschonwald
true, though the devs still use it and release bug fixes.

Theres nothing to rule out folks taking active ownership of dev work on the
project, eg take the time to go to their svn repo
[http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison//svn-
instructions...](http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison//svn-
instructions.html) and eg run hg/git/darts import on the repo...

Also, if you look at the svn repo, its been touched with as recently as the
past 8 weeks. thats pretty good for a project thats not active

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trotsky
_even behind your pesky office firewall_

Curious - can you sync between two such locations (nat/default deny/no udp)?
i.e. will you bounce connections through your host or does one side have to
open an inbound port?

~~~
trotsky
It would seem perhaps that our impressions of "pesky office firewalls" are a
bit different :(

<http://www.aerofs.com:8080/signup>

 _Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.aerofs.com:8080_

~~~
weihan
Just fixed. It's now <https://www.aerofs.com/signup> instead :)

~~~
trotsky
aww, thank you!

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palewery
I hate to say it but I would use this if my peers were just my Facebook
friends. not that I don't trust 1024 bit encryption, I just don't like my info
on strangers boxes even thought it is encrypted

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grok2
Is my disk space on used to store data for others in the p2p network?

~~~
yurisagalov
not unless you've explicitly invited those people to share/collaborate on
files with you!

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urza
I've been using Wuala for last 2 years, and I am very happy.. I sotre there
all my important data.. private documents, projects and stuff I want to
share.. all my data is encypted and reduntantly stored in the web and peers,
atomatic sync, sharing, p2p.. its even better than dropbox because I can trade
space so I have about 10 GB for free and my data si truly encrypted so even
the provider cant acces them.

<http://www.wuala.com/en/learn/features>

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Sephr
How is this different from Wuala?

~~~
huhtenberg
I am guessing it's different by giving you full control over whom you are
sharing your disk space with. And, perhaps, by having less blurred focus as an
app in general and not trying to be social disk/file collaboration
sharing/discovery/you-name-it everything like Wuala did.

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rb2k_
I remember talking to one of the devs some months ago when first signing up.
Fun guy, great product.

It's a shame that I never got an invite, can't wait to get my hands on this :)

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phlux
What will your TOS be - what if something like a Wikileaks mirror is done
across your system?

~~~
trotsky
<http://www.aerofs.com/tos.html>

they are certainly covered if they wanted to prevent it.

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alnayyir
Is there a way I can use this to replace Unison, which I lean heavily on but
am unhappy with?

<http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/>

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TheAmazingIdiot
I love the top image. Check out the file "How to earn HN karma"

I think you found out :)

