A CRDT-based file synchronization system

Abstract

Denne masteroppgaven utviklet en Conflict-free Replicated Data Type basert filsynkroniseringssystem ved bruk av en skreddersydd Conflict-free Replicated Data Type som en indeks for å spore endringer av filer og mapper. Conflict-free Replicated Data Type har egenskapen strong eventual consistency, og når det er implementert riktig, vil alle samtidige operasjoner i enhver netverk struktur være løsbar. Det har ingen krav om operasjonene utføres i samme rekkefølge og passer til peer-to-peer nettverk. Masteroppgaven bryter ned de enkelte begrepene i filsynkronisering, designer og implementer en proof-of-concept av systemet, og vil til slutt bli testet for korrekthet.

This paper designs and implements a Conflict-free Replicated Data Type file synchronization system with a custom made CRDT used as an index to track file updates. The system designed to be modular such that each module can be swapped to accommodate different needs. Conflict-free Replicated Data Types has the property of strong eventual consistency which when implemented correctly ensures that any concurrent operations across an arbitrary network are able to converge to be same state, regardless of the operation order. This is used to implement system to work in a peer-to-peer network. The paper carefully breaks down the different aspects of a file synchronization system, implements a proof-of-concept guided by the designed architecture, and verifies the functional requirements by a series of tests.