From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied over, on a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some sub-folders of a folder).

Can you suggest a good application for this?

I have ChronoSync, but it's rule-based rather than selection-based. I considered using tags in the Finder to mark folders, but it feels too cumbersome, and there's no good way of doing exclusions.

Daniele
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 25 Jan 2026 at 12:28:39 GMT, "D.M. Procida" <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied over, on
a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some sub-folders of a folder).

Can you suggest a good application for this?

I have ChronoSync, but it's rule-based rather than selection-based. I considered using tags in the Finder to mark folders, but it feels too cumbersome, and there's no good way of doing exclusions.

Carbon Copy Cloner has a 30 day trial.

<https://bombich.com>
--
Cheers, Alan
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 25/01/2026 12:28, D.M. Procida wrote:

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied over, on
a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some sub-folders of a folder).

Assuming you mean a one-off initial selection of files that are then
kept in synch each time you run the synch process then you don't need an
app at all, just a list of file names/paths in a text file and the
--files-from option to the rsynch utility.

Details here. <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16647476/how-to-rsync-only-a-specific-list-of-files>

If your exclusions are always entire sub-folders then then --exclude
option might be a better fit.

Can you suggest a good application for this?

I have ChronoSync, but it's rule-based rather than selection-based. I considered using tags in the Finder to mark folders, but it feels too cumbersome, and there's no good way of doing exclusions.

Daniele

--
Bruce Horrocks
Hampshire, England
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 25 Jan 2026 at 12:55:53 GMT, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

On 25/01/2026 12:28, D.M. Procida wrote:

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied over, on
a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some sub-folders of a
folder).

Assuming you mean a one-off initial selection of files that are then
kept in synch each time you run the synch process then you don't need an
app at all, just a list of file names/paths in a text file and the --files-from option to the rsynch utility.

Details here. <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16647476/how-to-rsync-only-a-specific-list-of-files>

If your exclusions are always entire sub-folders then then --exclude
option might be a better fit.

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need some sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

Daniele
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied over, on
a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some sub-folders of a folder).

Can you suggest a good application for this?

I have ChronoSync, but it's rule-based rather than selection-based. I considered using tags in the Finder to mark folders, but it feels too cumbersome, and there's no good way of doing exclusions.

Maybe you could rethink the organisation of your data,
rather than search for complicated ways of updating only parts of it?

Jan

PS In the olden days I had a sync utility that allowed for
'copy only files...' and/or 'don't copy files...'
with a great many possible selection criteria.
(32-bit, never updated, no longer maintained, quite dead)

It might have done just what you want.
Don't know if there is still anything like it.

--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

On 25 Jan 2026 at 12:55:53 GMT, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

On 25/01/2026 12:28, D.M. Procida wrote:

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied
over, on a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some
sub-folders of a folder).

Assuming you mean a one-off initial selection of files that are then
kept in synch each time you run the synch process then you don't need an app at all, just a list of file names/paths in a text file and the --files-from option to the rsynch utility.

Details here. <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16647476/how-to-rsync-only-a-specific-l

ist-of-files>

If your exclusions are always entire sub-folders then then --exclude
option might be a better fit.

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need some sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

I must confess that I really don't understand your problem.
You have a source bundle, and a back-up of it,
but you don't want the back-up to be identical to the source.

What could be the point of that?

Jan

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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 26/01/2026 11:08, J. J. Lodder wrote:

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

On 25 Jan 2026 at 12:55:53 GMT, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

On 25/01/2026 12:28, D.M. Procida wrote:

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied
over, on a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some
sub-folders of a folder).

Assuming you mean a one-off initial selection of files that are then
kept in synch each time you run the synch process then you don't need an >>> app at all, just a list of file names/paths in a text file and the
--files-from option to the rsynch utility.

Details here.
<https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16647476/how-to-rsync-only-a-specific-l

ist-of-files>

If your exclusions are always entire sub-folders then then --exclude
option might be a better fit.

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need some >> sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

I must confess that I really don't understand your problem.
You have a source bundle, and a back-up of it,
but you don't want the back-up to be identical to the source.

What could be the point of that?

Perhaps there are generated files that don't need to be copied - in the
same way a .gitignore is used to stop object files being put under
version control?
--
Bruce Horrocks
Hampshire, England
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 26 Jan 2026 at 11:08:23 GMT, "J. J. Lodder" <J. J. Lodder> wrote:

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need some >> sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

I must confess that I really don't understand your problem.
You have a source bundle, and a back-up of it,
but you don't want the back-up to be identical to the source.

What could be the point of that?

I'm still trying to find a nice way to get a selection (1000s of items, needs to be updated now and then) from my music library (many thousands of items and growing) that needs to be updated now and then, onto another medium.

Daniele
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 26 Jan 2026 at 16:05:03 GMT, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

On 26/01/2026 11:08, J. J. Lodder wrote:

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

On 25 Jan 2026 at 12:55:53 GMT, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

On 25/01/2026 12:28, D.M. Procida wrote:

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied >>>>> over, on a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some
sub-folders of a folder).

Assuming you mean a one-off initial selection of files that are then
kept in synch each time you run the synch process then you don't need an >>>> app at all, just a list of file names/paths in a text file and the
--files-from option to the rsynch utility.

Details here.
<https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16647476/how-to-rsync-only-a-specific-list-of-files>

If your exclusions are always entire sub-folders then then --exclude
option might be a better fit.

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need some
sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

I must confess that I really don't understand your problem.
You have a source bundle, and a back-up of it,
but you don't want the back-up to be identical to the source.

What could be the point of that?

Perhaps there are generated files that don't need to be copied - in the
same way a .gitignore is used to stop object files being put under
version control?

It's the same thing you helped with me a year or so ago - an Apple Music selection to another medium.

Daniele
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

On 26 Jan 2026 at 16:05:03 GMT, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

On 26/01/2026 11:08, J. J. Lodder wrote:

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

On 25 Jan 2026 at 12:55:53 GMT, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

On 25/01/2026 12:28, D.M. Procida wrote:

I want to keep two trees of files in sync.

I need to be able to select which items in the source tree are copied >>>>>> over, on a folder-by-folder basis (for example, to exclude some
sub-folders of a folder).

Assuming you mean a one-off initial selection of files that are then >>>>> kept in synch each time you run the synch process then you don't need an >>>>> app at all, just a list of file names/paths in a text file and the
--files-from option to the rsynch utility.

Details here.
<https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16647476/how-to-rsync-only-a-specific-list-of-files>

If your exclusions are always entire sub-folders then then --exclude >>>>> option might be a better fit.

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need some
sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

I must confess that I really don't understand your problem.
You have a source bundle, and a back-up of it,
but you don't want the back-up to be identical to the source.

What could be the point of that?

Perhaps there are generated files that don't need to be copied - in the
same way a .gitignore is used to stop object files being put under
version control?

It's the same thing you helped with me a year or so ago - an Apple Music selection to another medium.

Did last year's solution work and, if so, why won't it work this year?



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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

On 26 Jan 2026 at 11:08:23 GMT, "J. J. Lodder" <J. J. Lodder> wrote:

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need
some sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

I must confess that I really don't understand your problem.
You have a source bundle, and a back-up of it,
but you don't want the back-up to be identical to the source.

What could be the point of that?

I'm still trying to find a nice way to get a selection (1000s of items, needs to be updated now and then) from my music library (many thousands of items and
growing) that needs to be updated now and then, onto another medium.

[continued]
I think I would use a brute force approach
rather than trying to be elegant.
Why try to be nice to a computer?

1) Colour the folders you want, and everything above them.
(a minor one time chore, and maintenance should be easy)
2) Duplicate the whole in Finder.
3) Throw away all non-coloured folders from the duplicate.
(by finding them by label in Finder)
4) Throw away, or archive the old selection.

Once set up it is rapid, fail-safe, and idiot-proof,
because you never touch the original.
Bonus: it is immediately obvious in Finder
which are the selected parts,

Jan




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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need some sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

The rsync way would be to run something like:

find /Users/username/Library/whatever > /tmp/flist.txt

Then open that file and delete what you don't want. I suggest an editor with
a 'delete line' keystroke so you can just do it with that and cursor-down.
Save the file. Then supply that file list to rsync:

rsync --files-from=/tmp/flist.txt

(plus a destination and the other flags to rsync, eg -av and perhaps
--dry-run to test it out)

Theo
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

Theo wrote:

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

Nice idea, but unfortunately, several hundred folders, so really I need some >> sort of click to select/deselect mechanism.

No, you probably don't. Storage is cheap, so copy all the files once,
then copy only the new or changed files on subsequent runs of the
utility. If there are few new/changed files subsequent runs will be
very quick.

Windows has Robocopy which can be configured to do exactly this. In
addition, if there are classes of files which you don't want to copy
there are exclusion mechanisms which work, provided that you can
identify the file classes accurately.

There must surely be something similar for the Apple ecosystem ...??
--
Graham J
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