ghostsync

ghostsync is a file synchronization tool written in Rust that is built to handle the worst-case scenarios of cloud storage file behavior—especially those seen on macOS with iCloud's "Optimize Storage" feature.

Where traditional tools like rsync, cp, or tar may hang, error, or silently skip files, ghostsync is designed to detect, report, and safely handle:

• dataless files that haven't been downloaded yet (using BSD flags or Apple xattrs),
• invisible metadata quirks introduced by iCloud and Finder,
• unexpected sync failures caused by cloud-managed attributes.

Key Features

• ✅ Detects dataless files using ls -ldO and xattrs (safe, no unsafe code).
• ✅ Prints meaningful diagnostics when files are skipped or problematic.
• ✅ Walks and filters files robustly, using walkdir and xattr inspection.
• ✅ Handles macOS/iCloud corner cases better than common tools.

Example

ghostsync ~/Documents ~/Backup

This will walk the source tree and copy to the destination, flagging any skipped or problematic files with explanations.

Installation

cargo install ghostsync

Requires Rust 1.70+ and macOS (due to reliance on macOS-specific tools).

License

MIT License © 2025 Nathan Dautenhahn