How to use two different systems with a repo on each that stays in sync
(1) By Doug (doug9forester) on 2025-05-17 21:27:59 [link] [source]
I use Windows for my editing and my VPS to drive my web page. I have a fossil repo on each (Windows cloned the VPS repo) and identical source trees. I want to keep the repos in sync and have the ability to update each separately and have the change reflected in the other. I have the ability to keep the source trees in sync using this on Windows:
fossil patch push VPS_URL:VPS_DIR -f
However, when I checkin a changed file on VPS (which was not changed on Windows), fossil does not behave the same way - the Windows repo is not updated. And I can't do anything on the Windows system without fossil trying to fork:
==>fossil ci obs-editor.php
Pull from ssh:VPS_URL//VPS_REPO
Round-trips: 1 Artifacts sent: 0 received: 0
Pull done, wire bytes sent: 435 received: 869 remote: VPS_URL
Would fork. "update" first or use --branch or --allow-fork.
Is there a different way to configure everything that would allow me to have repos absolutely in sync and allow updates from both systems?
(2.1) By Andy Bradford (andybradford) on 2025-05-17 23:35:52 edited from 2.0 in reply to 1 [link] [source]
> Why does fossil think that a fork would be created? Because you must have made a commit from the other repository and have not yet updated. You are given three choices: > "update" first or use --branch or --allow-fork. In this case you probably just want to update. So just run: fossil update fossil ci obs-editor.php Fossil knows that there exists another commit from the same point in the "tree" or DAG and needs you to make a decision on how to resolve this. For more information, you might read: https://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/branching.wiki Andy
(3) By Andy Bradford (andybradford) on 2025-05-17 23:35:23 in reply to 1 [link] [source]
> Is there a different way to configure everything that would allow me > to have repos absolutely in sync and allow updates from both systems? I think how you have it configured should work. You're just not following the standard workflow. See section 4.0 here: https://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/concepts.wiki And also specifically section 4.1 which discusses how to use "fossil update" to keep things current in your working checkouts. Andy
(4) By anonymous on 2025-05-18 18:06:47 in reply to 1 [link] [source]
... I want to keep the repos in sync and have the ability to update each separately and have the change reflected in the other
What's missing in your set up is the remote attribute set on the VPS-side repo and pointing at the Windows side repo URL. autosync is on by default, but check that it's set up on both ends.
## on VPS side do:
fossil remote https://windows.server/repo ## or whatever is the way your Windows-side repo is served
fossil set autosync on
This way repos on both ends refer to each-other, a change on one side will propagate/autoupdate to the other side. Of course, the repo should be served on both ends, unless you handle this via SSH or over the file-system.
Assuming the repos are not actively used at the same time on both ends (and time is reasonably sync'ed), this set up would minimize forking and keep both ends sync'ed.
(5) By Stephan Beal (stephan) on 2025-05-18 18:27:04 in reply to 1 [source]
fossil patch push VPS_URL:VPS_DIR -f
Tip: since 2.26, patch supports aliases, so you can do:
$ fossil patch alias add v VPS_URL:VPS_DIR $ fossil patch push v $ fossil patch pull --force v