Provided by: taskwarrior_2.6.2+dfsg-1build2_amd64 
NAME
task-sync - A discussion and tutorial for the various task(1) data synchronization capabilities.
INTRODUCTION
Taskwarrior has several sync options, both external and built in. If you wish to sync your data, choose
one method only; mixing methods is 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 sharing systems, such as DropBox, Google Drive
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, cvs
...), and they all 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 SHARING SERVICES
There are many file sharing 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:
- 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 https://taskwarrior.org/docs/taskserver/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.
After setup, you run a one-time sync initialization, like this:
$ task sync init
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.
If you run multiple clients that sync to the same server, you will need to run this command on your
primary client (the one you use most often):
$ task config recurrence on
And on the other clients, run:
$ task config recurrence off
This protects you against the effects of a sync/duplication bug.
Strengths:
- Secure communication
- 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 - 2021 T. Babej, P. Beckingham, F. Hernandez.
Taskwarrior is distributed under the MIT license. See https://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
for more information.
SEE ALSO
task(1), taskrc(5), task-color(5), For more information regarding Taskwarrior, see the following: The official site at <https://taskwarrior.org> The official code repository at <https://github.com/GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior> You can contact the project by emailing <support@GothenburgBitFactory.org>
REPORTING BUGS
Bugs in Taskwarrior may be reported to the issue-tracker at
<https://github.com/GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior/issues>