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© Copyright Robert Vasvari, 2005-2009.

RELEASE NOTES for AASync version 3.5.1

UPDATING TO A NEWER VERSION OF AASYNC WILL NEVER REMOVE YOUR SYNC DEFINITIONS AND LICENSES!

AASync 3.5 was built on MacosX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and it will not run on earlier OSX versions. This version requires a 64bit Intel Mac.

What is new in AASync version 3.5

Version 3.5 is a major version upgrade, with lots of powerful new features:

What is new in AASync version 3.5.1

  • Fixed small bug in schedule-cron interface.
  • Fixed the bug that prevented sync-chain setup.
  • Added new columns "size" and "Files" to the main window. These should give you a hint how much time/space is neede for syncing or retrieving.

AASync version 3.5 Conversion Notes

AASync will read your version 2 and 3.1 sync definitions, convert them to version 3.5 and store them under HOME/Library/Application Support/AASync_3.5. IF YOU USED ENCRYPTED SYNC IN VERSION 3.1, READ ON!. In order to make encrypted sync more reliable, from this version on, encrypted sync MUST be combined with encoded sync. What this means is that the file/folder names in the destination folder will be encoded, then on top of that you can also encrypt the contents of the files. This was necessary because there were many possible conflicts and problems that have arisen from filename incompatibilities between different hosts, and if content encryption is used, these problems made the recovery of encrypted sync files unreliable. In order to provide industrial grade reliablity for encrypted backups, we must combine it with filename encoding. The procedure to convert encrypted syncs to AASync 3.5 is fortunately very simple. AASync converts the sync definition automatically, so there is nothing to do inside AASync except maybe verify the settings by opening the Options panel for these syncs. What you have to do by hand is to clean up the destination folder, delete all files copied there by the previous version. For obvious reasons, AASync will not do this step for you. Once you cleaned up the destination folder, just run this sync in the AASync GUI. AASync will make a complete copy of your source in the encoded/encrypted format (depending on the size this will take a while). We understand that this might be inconvenient for a large backup, but it is well worth it. After this everything will work as usual.

AASync version 3.5 Auto Conversion Errors

Unfortunately for some users the automatic conversion into the new format does not work and it is impossible for us to test against every possible scenario. If the app starts but gets stuck in an unusable state on the first launch, that means you are getting an exception because AASync does not like something during the conversion.. Probably one of the older preferences files. Please remove any AASync preference file from HOME/Library/Preferences/ that matches com.objectwarehouse.aasync* and restart the app. If that does not help, rename HOME/Library/Application Support/AASync(2) or AASync(3) to something else. If you already have a AASync_3.5 in there, delete that too. Restart AASync. The program should start up with empty definitions, but it is ready to roll! Our appologies for the inconvenience...

Show Debug Log:
The Debug Log includes important debug information. It's primary purpose is to help US diagnose a problem you might have connecting to a remote site. Even if its output looks a little cryptic it is a very important trouble shooting tool. During normal operation its use is not recommended, since it unnecessarily uses system resources. In some rare instances a crash or a freeze might prevent you from getting to the transcript. For these problems there is a menu called "Tools/Show debug log". A verbose transcript will be written into the console log. This can be viewed by starting up the Console App (in /Applications/Utilities folder). This option is global, so it will apply to all connections. The log can be saved when the option is turned off. BE SURE TO TURN THIS OFF WHEN THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED as this option uses a lot of system resources.

What to do if things do not work...

The most common problems when running AASync:

  • Destination machine cannot be reached: - This is a common problem when trying to browse the remote system or run a sync and it just hangs saying the host is unreachable. This is caused by either the remote host really being down (you can ping that host from the Terminal to verify), or your own firewall or other network protection scheme preventing you to from reaching it. In whatever case, AASync has nothing to do with this problem, contact the remote host's admins, or check your own configuration.
  • Cannot log in: - This is the most common problem: you get an error message saying "bad username/password, access denied". It is ALWAYS caused by a bad password or username. If your login has been stored already on the keychain, open the KeyChain Access app, find this particular password under Internet Passwords, either check that it is correct, or remove it. If you remove it, AASync will ask for it next time a sync is run, so you can enter it correctly.
  • Sync errors: - once a sync starts there can be many errors caused by unreadable files, unwritable destination folders, etc... AASync will try its best display an informative error message. This is not always possible, due to the sheer number of possibilities for error combinations. If the cause of the error is not obvious, the best thing to is READ THE LOG. AASync has excellent logging facilities now, so make use of it! If logging level is set to Default, then the "Open Last Log" menu will show you the log of the last sync attempt. This log will have sync events (new files, changed files, etc..) and errors. These error messages should give you a clue what is going on. If not, then turn on "Tools/Show Debug Log" (see above). The Console app will open, and AASync will generate a very verbose log. This log will probably contain the answer to your problem. If you are unable to figure out what is the problem, send this debug log to us along with the problem description.

Slow Startup or Licensing Problems:

If AASync is very slow to start up, that can have some common reasons. If you experience that problem, please read the following carefully and try to determine which one applies in your case by process of elimination.

  • The license daemon: If you are a licensed user of AASync, every time you start the app, AASync will connect to a license daemon to check if you are authorized to run the app with all features. If necessary, AASync will start an RBDaemon process in the background. Due to a system bug that is under investigation by Apple, on some systems this license daemon is unable to startup, and spawns multiple processes of itself. In this case AASync takes several minutes to start up, and then it will not recognize the license even though it was entered properly previously. If this happens the workaround we can do is to convert your license to hostbound one, in which case the license daemon will not be started. Please click "local only" so the app will run, then click the Help/Licenses menu. On the license panel the hostid is shown , something similar to 0x001d4f487614. Please copy this hostid, then send us along with your original license. We will convert your license and send it back to you.
  • The preferences file: It does happen sometimes that the Preferences (which tend to hold a lot of information about window positions and such...) become corrupted. As a result, AASync can have an slow Startup and very erratic behaviour, even crash, due to bad data being read from the preference file. The thing to try is to simply remove this file and restart the program. The system Preferences file for AASync is: YOURHOME/Library/Preferences/com.AASync.aasync2.plist. Remove or just rename it and restart the program to see if that improves things...

    • Licensed Users: If you used the automatic updater to get the newest version of AASync, you might get a license warning as the update system launches the new version. Just quit the app and relaunch and the warning will go away.

    Show Debug Log:
    The Debug Log includes important debug information. It's primary purpose is to help US diagnose a problem you might have connecting to a remote site. Even if its output looks a little cryptic it is a very important trouble shooting tool. During normal operation its use is not recommended, since it unnecessarily uses system resources. In some rare instances a crash or a freeze might prevent you from getting to the transcript. For these problems there is a menu called "Tools/Show debug log". A verbose transcript will be written into the console log. This can be viewed by starting up the Console App (in /Applications/Utilities folder). This option is global, so it will apply to all connections. The log can be saved when the option is turned off. BE SURE TO TURN THIS OFF WHEN THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED as this option uses a lot of system resources.

    What to do if things do not work...

    The most common problems when running AASync:

    • Destination machine cannot be reached: - This is a common problem when trying to browse the remote system or run a sync and it just hangs saying the host is unreachable. This is caused by either the remote host really being down (you can ping that host from the Terminal to verify), or your own firewall or other network protection scheme preventing you to from reaching it. In whatever case, AASync has nothing to do with this problem, contact the remote host's admins, or check your own confoguration.
    • Cannot log in: - This is the most common problem: you get an error message saying "bad username/password, access denied". It is ALWAYS caused by a bad password or username. If your login has been stored already on the keychain, open the KeyChain Access app, find this particular password under Internet Passwords, either check that it is correct, or remove it. If you remove it, AASync will ask for it next time a sync is run, so you can enter it correctly.
    • Sync errors: - once a sync starts there can be many errors caused by unreadable files, unwritable destination folders, etc... AASync will try its best display an informative error message. This is not always possible, due to the sheer number of possibilities for error combinations. If the cause of the error is not obvious, the best thing to is READ THE LOG. AASync has excellent logging facilities now, so make use of it! If logging level is set to Default, then the "Open Last Log" menu will show you the log of the last sync attempt. This log will have sync events (new files, changed files, etc..) and errors. These error messages should give you a clue what is going on. If not, then turn on "Show Debug Log" (see above). The Console app will open, and AASync will generate a very verbose log. This log will probably contain the answer to your problem. If you are unable to fugure out what is the problem, send this debug log to us along with the problem description.
    • Filename length limitation errors: - AASync uses pax to archive and transport files. It has a limitation currently: the filenames cannot be longer than a 100 characters. If ASync encounters a file longer than 100 characters, it will produce an error message: pax: File name too long for ustar. If you see this message it will be followed by the offending filename. The sync will commence fine, this file will not be copied. The workaround is not to use filenames this long. Eventually pax will be fixed and 256 chars will be allowed (we hope) as the spec requires. Bugs have been filed with Apple.

    Slow Startup or Licensing Problems:

    If AASync is very slow to start up, that can have some common reasons. If you experience that problem, please read the following carefully and try to determine which one applies in your case by process of elimination.

  • The license daemon: If you are a licensed user of AASync, every time you start the app, AASync will connect to a license daemon to check if you are authorized to run the app with all features. If necessary, AASync will start an RBDaemon process in the background. Due to a system bug that is under investigation by Apple, on some systems this license daemon is unable to startup, and spawns multiple processes of itself. In this case AASync takes several minutes to start up, and then it will not recognize the license even though it was entered properly previously. If this happens the workaround we can do is to convert your license to hostbound one, in which case the license daemon will not be started. Please click "local only" so the app will run, then click the Help/Licenses menu. On the license panel the hostid is shown , something similar to 0x001d4f487614. Please copy this hostid, then send us along with your original license. We will convert your license and send it back to you.
  • The preferences file: It does happen sometimes that the Preferences (which tend to hold a lot of information about window positions and such...) become corrupted. As a result, AASync can have an slow Startup and very erratic behaviour, even crash, due to bad data being read from the preference file. The thing to try is to simply remove this file and restart the program. The system Preferences file for AASync is: YOURHOME/Library/Preferences/com.AASync.aasync2.plist. Remove or just rename it and restart the program to see if that improves things...

    • Please send requests, suggestions and bug reports to:
    (@)

    Uninstalling AASync: If AASync maintains: AASync.app, HOME/Library/Application Support/AASync2, HOME/Library/Preferences/com.objectwarehouse.aasync*. You may have passwords stored in the KeyChain (fire up Key Chain Access app), and the remote UNIX/SSH hosts you have connected to may have a ~/.rbtp directory.