ChronoSync | Version Release Notes

To view the release notes for version 3.0 and later, click here...

Version 2.0.8
November 23rd, 2004

Features & Enhancements:

Improved performance while extracting modification date and data size information from file packages. This can positively affect scan performance as well as Analyze panel responsiveness if numerous and/or large file packages are in the scope of the sync.
Eliminated some redundant file scanning that was taking place while refreshing the contents of expanded folders in the Analyze panel, resulting in better responsiveness.
Changed the behavior of how a specific bi-directional sync. w/deletions scenario is handled. If a file on one target is deleted and the corresponding file on the other target is modified since the last synchronization, we now copy the modified file rather than delete it.
Implemented wait cursor (spinning rainbow) feedback for lengthy operations.
Implemented a global exception handler that calls attention to any program errors that may occur. Previously, these messages were just logged to the console.
The 'Last synchronized' time stamp is no longer updated if a trial synchronization operation is cancelled from the trial sync. selection window.
Added splash screen capability for OEM distributions.
Implemented a kinder, gentler license code scheme.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a Jaguar (Mac OS 10.2.x) specific bug that prevented files from being skipped from the trial sync. selection window.
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the detection of missed synchronizations after waking up from sleep.
Fixed a problem that would mysteriously cause a crash on certain systems when animating the progress bar during a synchronization.

Version 2.0.7
July 14th, 2004

Features & Enhancements:

Added new option in the "Attributes" rule to detect files that are constructed as file packages.
Tuned the bulk catalog collection code for slightly better performance.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a deadlock that could occur if the user opens a container document at precisely the same moment that a scheduled synchronization was loading another sync and/or container document.
Fixed a bug with the "leftTargetPath" and "rightTargetPath" AppleScript properties. They were defined as read-write but functioned as read-only. You can now modify these properties via AppleScript.
Fixed a bug that occurred while evaluating a rule group with more than two entries OR'd together.
Fixed a bug where pre-synchronization scripts would only run AFTER targets were validated. This precluded writing a pre-sync script to mount/prepare your targets.
Fixed a bug where certain alias files were not being correctly reconstructed within a packaged file. Most notably, this improves compatibility with Virtual PC data files among other file types.

Version 2.0.6
May 5th, 2004

Features & Enhancements:

Each target is now displayed at the top of the Trial Sync. selection sheet window.
The option to force-synchronize files that are marked for deletion is now available in the In the Trial Sync. selection sheet window.
A "Retry" button is now available when an error sheet window is displayed. Clicking it will retry the operation that induced the error, resuming the synchronization normally if the retry succceeds.
Added a few AppleScript accessible properties to the application and sync document objects.
Added a link to ChronoSync Tips in the Help menu.
Updated online help.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a problem where ChronoSync would sometimes incorrectly extract UniCode names for files with extremely long (100+ character) names.
I/O errors encountered while obtaining the contents of a folder will now raise an exception and terminate synchronizations instead of assuming the folder is empty.
Attempting to open a sync document in a container document that is no longer available (either deleted or on a volume that isn't mounted) now produces a meaningful error message.
Fixed a problem that was causing seemingly random login dialogs to appear if a scheduled document was saved on a server that was not presently mounted.
ChronoSync can now copy or delete locked packages.
Fixed an obscure bug that would result in (safely) deleted files being moved to the root level of a target if ChronoSync could not read the name of the local trash folder from its application bundle.
Fixed a bug where synchronizations would not terminate if the user chose to quit the application while more than one scheduled synchronization were executing (or pending execution) AND the user opted to terminate all running syncs.
Fixed a bug that allowed items from the main menu bar's 'Action' menu to be applied to entries in the Trial Sync selection sheet window.
Fixed a bug whereby the status of the scheduler displayed at the bottom of the Scheduled Documents window was not guaranteed to be correct the very first time you opened the window.
Now displays a more meaningful error message if a file exclusively open by another application is encountered during a sync.
Fixed several sections of code that were not thread-safe when run on certain system configurations. This was causing scheduled synchronization errors and possible crashes when running with synchronous scheduling turned OFF.
Fixed an extremely unlikely (but theoretically possible) bug that could cause a crash at some random point in time after closing a document for which its log was viewed by the user.
Fixed a crash that could occur if a folder was excluded from the Trial Synchronization sheet window AND the excluded folder was previously expanded in the Analyze panel prior to performing the trial sync.
Eliminated an obscure crash that could occur when running more than one scheduled documents that mounted & dismounted volumes automatically.
ChronoSync now specifically identifies situations where a symbolic link designated for copying is corrupt. It is now reported as such in the resultant error message.
Added additional logic to various stages of the file scanning process to ensure ChronoSync reacts in a stable way when encountering corrupt symbolic links.

Version 2.0.5
February 17th, 2004

Features & Enhancements:

Added email delivery via "Direct Messaging" which allows "faceless" email notifications to be sent without using an email client. It is much more reliable than the "Messaging Services" built into the operating system by Apple.
You can now specify Microsoft Entourage as the email client to route email.
Added pre-determination, which defines how conflicts or date roll-backs should be handled before running synchronizations. This eliminates user interaction during user-invoked synchronizations and allows scheduled synchronizations to handle these conditions without generating an error.
Added trial-sync scope reduction. The various operations that will be performed as a result of a trial synchronization are enumerated, categorized and listed with checkboxes next to each operation. You can then quickly eliminate certain operations from the scope of a synchronization with a single click.
The size of the trial sync sheet window is now recorded in the corresponding document so it will always open to the last displayed frame size.
The modification and creation date rules may now have a relative date specified. In addition to an absolute date & time, specifying a relative time in the form of (+/-)dd:hh:mm:ss will calculate a date relative to the instant of rule evaluation. Thus specifying "-00:12:00:00" would mean "12 hours ago", relative to when the rule is evaluated (which is while running a synchronization or using the Analyze panel to view files).
Implemented AppleScript support for container documents.
The log associated with a container document now captures all log messages posted to any contained document while the container is being synchronized.
Optimized the logic that deals with unlocking files during a "Safe copy" operation. As a result, there are now fewer attribute writes for copied files.
Added extra logic to the safe-copy process that handles a relatively obscure situation when synchronizing with an SMB mounted (Windows) server. The problem was that the OS would not always correctly report the correct state of a deleted file and the safe-copy logic would fail. We now account for this possibility.
Improved ChronoSyncs' behavior when quitting the application after running scheduled synchronizations. It will now abort the quit process if the user has one or more sync documents open regardless of their modification state.
Immediate feedback is now provided when executing a sync document from the scheduled items list. Previously, it could take several seconds (or longer) before a status was displayed.

Bug Fixes:

Improved the logic that is used to determine whether a file should be deleted or copied during a bidirectional synchronization (with sync. deletions turned ON). Previously, if dealing with files that were already in-sync prior to deployment of ChronoSync, and a pair of files was never copied by ChronoSync, the logic could result in a deleted file being replaced by its counterpart rather than deleting the counterpart. ChronoSync can now intelligently deal with this specific situation.
Implemented a fix that works around an OS bug in Jaguar systems, allowing NFS mounted volumes to be verified.
Fixed a bug that prevented any file/folders from being recognized if a target was the root level of a statically mounted NFS server.
Fixed a problem where copying a resolved alias file over an existing file would result in an incorrect restoration of the files' attributes based on the source alias, not the resolved file.

Version 2.0.4
January 15th, 2004

Features:

Added the ability to duplicate a rule or rule group by selecting it and choosing "Duplicate" from the "Edit" menu.
Added the ability to duplicate a scheduled item by selecting it and choosing "Duplicate" from the "Edit" menu (or its contextual menu).
Better handling of application file packages.
Implemented an optimization that significantly improves "sequential sync" analysis performance (a "sequential sync" occurs when a sync document is opened, synchronization is performed once, then performed again, without closing the document).
File paths displayed in the Trial Synchronization sheet window are now truncated. Middle path components are replaced by an ellipsis (...) so that the filename is visible, regardless of the sheet window's width.
More robust summary information is now displayed at the bottom-left of the Trial Synchronization sheet window.
Email messages sent after synchronizations that contain errors now include the text "(w/Errors)" in the subject.
Updated online help.
Minor interface tweaks.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where a scheduled document could potentially still execute even if the user disabled its entry in the scheduled items list window.
Fixed a bug where scheduling multiple items to execute when the application quits would potentially only execute the first item.
Fixed an incorrect entry that was getting posted to the log when synchronizing container documents.
Fixed a bug that occurred when deactivating a nested group of folders in the Trial Sync window in a specific order .
Fixed a problem where excluding a folder in the Trial Synchronization sheet window would not propagate the change to all its children.
Fixed a bug where date roll-backs encountered in a scheduled synchronization would be logged as an error but the files would be processed as per pre-ChronoSync 2.0 rules.
Fixed a problem where extra blank pages would sometimes be generated when running an analysis report.
Fixed a problem where adding a Helper Filename Extension and tabbing between fields would cause typed-in values to disappear.
Fixed a problem where a file that gets modified but stays in sync (e.g. manually copied to the opposing target by the user) could potentially get flagged as a conflict in the future if/when one of the files is changed again.
Removed the potential for a negative "skipped" quantity to be reported after synchronizing a container document.
If a user attempts to open a scheduled document from the scheduler list window, and the document no longer exists, a "Document not found" error is generated. Previously, nothing would happen.
Fixed a problem introduced by an optimization in 2.0.3 where folders marked for deletion are not examined during the analysis phase. This change was causing the "processed" count to potentially be greater than it should be if a folder was synchronized as a deletion.
Removed the potential for the "Percent Complete" reported by a synchronizer to be greater than 100%.
The "When a Volume Mounts" schedule type menu selection is now disabled for Container documents.

Version 2.0.3
December 17th, 2003

Fixed a problem where "Sync on mount" scheduled synchronizations wouldn't execute under Panther.
Added a work-around to an OS anomaly where "Volume Full" errors would be erroneously generated when copying to certain types of file servers.
Fixed a problem where mounting a server with a user supplied name & password would crash if the server required complete URL construction (SMB, FTP, Panther "Network") and the supplied user name or password had a space character in it.
The "When volume mounts" scheduling option will now always allow either the left or right target to be specified no matter what type of media device it is.
Added the "Strict server identification" preference setting. Leaving this setting OFF eliminates some scenarios where ChronoSync can not verify a target server even though it is mounted.
Fixed a problem where encountering an empty folder inside a file package would interfere with the package date calculation and actually make ChronoSync think a file package had no modification date.
The user interface is now more responsive when performing large (100+ MB) file copies.
Fixed a problem where ChronoSync was not executing any scheduled synchronizations that came due while the computer was asleep (after the computer wakes up, of course).
Fixed some bad links in the online help center.
Fixed a problem where the user was allowed to edit a scheduled item even if the original document that was scheduled no longer existed. This could potentially result in an edit dialog that could not be dismissed.
ChronoSync no longer examines the contents of folders that are marked for deletion (during the analysis phase). This was unnecessary and could also result in irrelevant entries being displayed in the Trial Synchronization window.
Curtailed the user actions available when a file marked for deletion is selected in the Trial Synchronization window. You can now only Skip or Exclude the entry (or allow it to be deleted, of course).

Version 2.0.2
December 8th, 2003

Fixed a problem encountered if one of the targets resides on a Mac OS 9 server. If a folder contained a large number of files, ChronoSync potentially would not recognize all the files (problem was caused by a bug in the operating system).
Fixed a problem where changing the case of any letter in a filename (but not actually renaming the file) in a bidirectional synchronization could confuse the program.
Delivered a modest performance boost while performing analysis scans.

Version 2.0.1
December 4th, 2003

Fixed a problem which wouldn't synchronize if a target was the root level of a server connected via Panther's integrated network browser (worked fine for sub-folders or volumes mounted via "Connect to server")..
Fixed some problems in the online help.

Version 2.0
December 3rd, 2003

Major New Release!

A completely re-designed analysis engine which provides significantly faster scanning of targets.
A refined file copying algorithm offering improved file copying performance.
New "Container" documents for storing a collection of synchronizer documents and executing them as one.
Improved file server & removable media mounting/dismounting.
Improved file package handling including a "Dissect Packages" option.
More control over rule evaluation logic.
Nested rule groups which facilitate complex rule expressions.
New "Finder Labels" rule.
File "Open" and "Show in Finder" shortcuts from the Analyze panel.
Improved skipping when trial synchronizing (skipping a folder skips all children).
User actions such as exclusions may be applied while trial synchronizing.
Additional options when resolving conflicts.
Date roll-back detection.
Email notifications after synchronization.
Pre- and post- synchronization AppleScript execution.
"Sync on Mount" scheduling option.
Improved recovery from scheduled synchronization failures.
New Analysis Report option to print only out-of-sync files.
Simplified user interface.
Numerous bug fixes.
Optimized for Jaguar (10.2) and Panther (10.3).

To view the release notes for version 1.1.3 and earlier, click here...