How do I set up rsync between two of my own laptops on the same network?

Question

I have two laptops, one running ubuntu and one running Mac OS X. How do I rsync from the Mac to the ubuntu machine?

Answer 1

You set up sshd on at least one of the computers to allow access from the other. On the Mac it's at System Preferences, Sharing, Remote Login, on Ubuntu apparently you just install openssh-server. Find out that computer's IP address (on the Mac, ifconfig en1 if you're using Airport, ifconfig en0 for the Ethernet connection). Then on the other computer run something like

rsync -Pvaz source_directory username@10.0.0.2:target_directory

where you substitute your user name for username, the relevant directories for source_directory and target_directory, the correct IP address for 10.0.0.2, and your favorite options for -Pvaz.

Answer 2

There are surely ways to do that via a cron, but I think, its far better to install Dropbox