Re: Unison sync not working

Dear Greg
Yes, the local folder Downloads is in BTRFS. I only want to sync to
external SSD which is in FATS. Now that the extra SSD which is install
in the internal of Dell under EXT4, should I reformat it to FATS? The
2 external SSD in the enclosure that consist all the files have become
read only, while the ones in the local folder Downloads can still edit
and save. I have just run unison debug all and paste it as below. Is
this what you requested? As for the screenshot error, I paste it
below:

jq@fedora:~$ unison work
Unison 2.53.7 (ocaml 5.3.0): Contacting server...

Error: Cannot find canonical name of /run/home/mnt/128GB SSD: unable
to cd either to it (/run/home/mnt/128GB SSD: No such file or
directory)
or to its parent /run/home/mnt
(/run/home/mnt: No such file or directory)
jq@fedora:~$

GNU nano 8.5               /home/jq/.unison/work.prf
root =3D /home/jq/Downloads
root =3D /run/home/mnt/128GB SSD

auto =3D true
batch =3D true
prefer =3D newer

jq@fedora:~$ unison -debug all
[startup] Preferences:
ui =3D graphic
listen =3D
socket =3D
server =3D false
prefsman =3D
prefsdocs =3D false
doc =3D
version =3D false
i =3D false
color =3D default
silent =3D false
dumbtty =3D false
testserver =3D false
showprev =3D false
selftest =3D false
confirmmerge =3D false
retry =3D 0
repeat =3D
contactquietly =3D false
key =3D
label =3D
expert =3D false
height =3D 15
auto =3D false
maxthreads =3D 0
maxsizethreshold =3D -1
prefer =3D
force =3D
sortnewfirst =3D false
sortbysize =3D false
keeptempfilesaftermerge =3D false
diff =3D diff -u OLDER NEWER
copyonconflict =3D false
backupdir =3D
maxbackups =3D 2
backups =3D false
backupsuffix =3D
backupprefix =3D .bak.$VERSION.
backuploc =3D central
copymax =3D 1
copythreshold =3D -1
copyprogrest =3D rsync --partial --append-verify --compress
copyprog =3D rsync --partial --inplace --compress
rsync =3D true
fastcheck =3D default
ignorelocks =3D false
dumparchives =3D false
showarchive =3D false
rootsName =3D
ignorearchives =3D false
fastercheckUNSAFE =3D false
fat =3D false
allHostsAreRunningWindows =3D false
someHostIsRunningWindows =3D false
confirmbigdel =3D true
batch =3D false
killserver =3D false
halfduplex =3D false
stream =3D true
addversionno =3D false
servercmd =3D
sshargs =3D
sshcmd =3D ssh
xferbycopying =3D true
clientHostName =3D fedora
ignoreinodenumbers =3D false
links-aux =3D true
links =3D default
acl =3D false
xattrignore =3D Regex !(security|trusted)[.].*
xattrignore =3D Path !system.posix_acl_*
xattrs =3D false
times =3D false
group =3D false
owner =3D false
numericids =3D false
dontchmod =3D false
perms =3D 1023
watch =3D false
rsrc-aux =3D false
rsrc =3D default
maxerrors =3D 1
unicodeCS =3D false
unicodeEnc =3D false
unicode =3D default
someHostIsInsensitive =3D false
ignorecase =3D default
timers =3D false
terse =3D false
logfile =3D unison.log
log =3D true
debugtimes =3D false
debug =3D all
addprefsto =3D

Unison 2.53.7 (ocaml 5.3.0) log started at 2026-02-09 at 21:09:29

Usage: unison [options]
    or unison root1 root2 [options]
    or unison profilename [options]

For a list of options, type "unison -help".
For a tutorial on basic usage, type "unison -doc tutorial".
For other documentation, type "unison -doc topics".
To start interactive profile selection, type "unison -i".
allocated_words: 356385
minor_words: 316075
promoted_words: 51309
major_words: 91619
minor_collections: 1
major_collections: 0
forced_major_collections: 0
heap_words: 183682
top_heap_words: 183682
jq@fedora:~$


Appreciate your kind help.
JQ

On Mon, Feb 9, 2026 at 7:57=E2=80=AFPM Greg Troxel <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Quek Kim Chuah <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > Thank you for the reply. I will reply in blue.
>
> All my text is the same color because I'm reading in plain text!  But I
> can tell what I wrote.
> >
> >  - where are you syncing to and from?
> > I am syncing local folder "Downloads" in my Fedora 43 to another 128GB =
SATA
> > SSD install in the same pc. Also trying to sync to another external dri=
ve
> > with 2 128GB SATA SSD installed in external ssd enclosure.
>
> Then this is local sync, with only one unison running, and no ssh to a re=
mote.
>
> >   - what version of unison (on both computers, if remote is involved)?
> > Unison 2.53.7 (ocaml 5.3.0)
>
> That's almost up to date.  2.53.8 was released in November.  Often I ask
> people to upgrade but so far there are no hints that there is a problem
> in .7 fixed in .8, that is relevant.
>
> >   - the kinds of fileystems
>
> Wow, but it sounds like ~/Downloads is on btrfs, and one of the
> destinations is ext4 and some are FAT32.
>
> >   - the error as text rather than an image
> > I don't know what it means
>
> I'm reading mail in plain text and I'm not seeing your images.  It's
> likely that there are people on this list with vision issues.  I
> generally expect things that are fundamentally to be text to be text,
> not screenshots.  Someone else might be willing to help you based on
> screenshots.
>
> >   - the results of you trying to simplify by syncing locally, by
> >     disabling the watcher, and by using the CLI, if you are using the
> >     GUI.
>
> > The syncing is done using Terminal, unison work && unison ~/Downloads
> > /run/media/jq/128\ WESTERN && unison ~/Downloads /run/media/jq/128\ KIN=
GSTO
>
> That's good you are already using the command line without the watcher.
>
> You are vastly far from havinng a reason to file an issue, but the
> explanation of how to turn on debugging and get debug output should be
> helpful to you
>
>   https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/bcpierce00/unison/wiki/R=
eporting-Bugs-and-Feature-Requests__;!!IBzWLUs!QymRhtxBNjH3Ssj0MSqFkx3hZEfj=
7j_O7CNDfciUAZl5B0JEoRZ9FanuTv7XL6exCzQsHC1Zqtd0uMIjAsHawpE$=20
>
> You have not cut/pasted the text of what unison prints when you run it.
> So I have no idea what's happening.
>
> >   - what changed yesterday about your OS :-)
> > Nothing change on the OS itself. I just went Gnome Disk Management to "=
Edit
> > Mount Options", turn off "User Session Defaults" to enable "Mount at sy=
stem
> > startup", then on "Identify As -
> >
> > That is all I have done =F0=9F=98=80.
>
> So what happened when you undid this?  I don't expect that if you make
> random changes that you don't understand, that nothing bad will happen.
> Unison's sync/archve/etc. does not expect that structural changes will
> happen to established roots.
>
> Have you verified that you can read/write the filesystem on the other
> disk?  Unison has no magic and just does regular system calls.
>
> You should understand that FAT32 is a deficient filesystem, lacking user
> identities and permissions compared to UNIX norms, and that mounting
> FAT32 thus involves the OS making assumptions and accomodations.

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