Ubuntu Manpage: task-sync - A discussion and tutorial for the various task(1) data synchronization capabilities.

Provided by: taskwarrior_2.5.1+dfsg-6_amd64

NAME

       task-sync - A discussion and tutorial for the various task(1) data synchronization capabilities.

INTRODUCTION

       Taskwarrior  has  several sync options, external and internal.  If you wish to sync your data, choose one
       method only; mixing methods is only going to lead to problems.  Each of the methods discussed have  their
       own strengths.

ALTERNATIVES

       There are three alternatives for syncing data, which are:

       1) Version control systems, such as git, hg, svn
       2) File hosting systems, such as DropBox
       3) Using the Taskserver and the 'sync' command

OPTION 1: VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMS

       There are several good, distributed VCS systems (git, hg, ...) and centralized VCS systems (svn ...), and
       they function in a similar fashion for our purposes.

       Setup  is  straightforward.   You  place  your  .task directory under revision control.  You then need to
       perform a regular commit/push/pull/update to make sure that the data is propagated when needed.  You  can
       even  do  this  using  shell scripts so that every task command is preceded by a 'pull' and followed by a
       'push'.

       Strengths:
         - Good data transport mechanisms
         - Secure transport options

       Weaknesses:
         - You need proficiency with VCS tools
         - You will need to manually resolve conflicts frequently
         - You need to provide the mechanism for making sure copies are up to date

OPTION 2: FILE HOSTING SERVICES

       There are many file hosting services, such as DropBox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, SkyDrive and more.   This
       technique  involves  storing  your  .task  directory  in a shared directory under the control of the file
       hosting services.

       Syncing happens quickly, although it is possible to run into conflict situations when there is no network
       connectivity, and the tasks are modified in two separate locations.  This is  because  the  file  hosting
       service  knows  only  about  files,  and  it has no idea how to merge tasks.  Avoid this problem by never
       modifying the same task on two machines, without an intervening sync.

       Setup simply involves creating the directory and modifying your data.location configuration variable like
       this:

           $ task config data.location /path/to/shared/directory

       Strengths:
         - Always secure
         - Good client support
         - Easy setup
         - Transparent use

       Weaknesses:
         - Tasks are not properly merged

OPTION 3: TASKSERVER

       The Taskserver was designed for this purpose  to  be  secure,  fast  and  conflict  free,  allowing  data
       interchange between assorted Taskwarrior clients, and tolerant of network connectivity problems.

       There  is a 'sync' command built in to Taskwarrior (provided the GnuTLS library is installed), and with a
       server account and client configuration, syncing is done on demand.

       Setup is a matter of creating an account on a Taskserver (see your Taskserver provider  or  operate  your
       own - see http://taskwarrior.org/docs/server_setup.html)

       Once  you  have  an  account, you'll receive a certificate, key, and credentials.  You'll need to put the
       certificate and key somewhere like this:

           $ cp <name>.cert.pem ~/.task
           $ cp <name>.key.pem ~/.task

       Then you configure Taskwarrior, using the provided details:

           $ task config taskd.certificate ~/.task/<name>.cert.pem
           $ task config taskd.key         ~/.task/<name>.key.pem
           $ task config taskd.credentials <organization>/<name>/<UUID>
           $ task config taskd.server      <server domain>:<port>

       If you are using a private server, you are likely also using a self-signed certificate, which  means  you
       will need one of the following additional entries:

           $ task config taskd.ca          ~/.task/ca.cert.pem

       The  CA  (Certificate  Authority)  will be used to verify the server certificate.  Alternatively, you can
       override the cert verification process using:

           $ task config taskd.trust       'allow all'

       This is an insecure option that should be used with caution, because it directs Taskwarrior to trust  any
       certificate.

       After setup, you run a one-time sync initialization, like this:

           $ task sync initialize

       This  will  make sure your client and the server are properly in sync to begin with.  From this point on,
       you never run the 'initialize' command again, just go about your business, and when you want to sync, run
       this:

           $ task sync

       You'll see a summary of how many tasks were uploaded and downloaded.  You can safely run the  command  as
       often as you like.  When there are no changes to sync, nothing happens.  If you do not have connectivity,
       your  task  changes accumulate so that when you next run 'sync' with proper connectivity, the changes are
       properly handled, in the right order.

       Strengths:
         - Always secure
         - Minimal bandwidth
         - Tolerates connectivity outage

       Weaknesses:
         - You need to manage your own server, or gain access to a hosted server.

CREDITS & COPYRIGHTS

       Copyright (C) 2006 - 2016 P. Beckingham, F. Hernandez.

       Taskwarrior is distributed under the MIT license. See  http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
       for more information.

REPORTING BUGS

       Bugs in task may be reported to the issue-tracker at
              <http://taskwarrior.org>

task 2.5.1                                         2016-02-24                                       task-sync(5)

NAME

INTRODUCTION

ALTERNATIVES

OPTION 1: VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMS

OPTION 2: FILE HOSTING SERVICES

OPTION 3: TASKSERVER

CREDITS & COPYRIGHTS

SEE ALSO

REPORTING BUGS