| Developer(s) | The OpenSync Project |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 0.22 / 28 October 2007 |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Synchronization |
| License | GNU Lesser General Public License |
| Website | opensync.org |
OpenSync is a software library framework used for synchronization of PIM data (contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes) between personal computers and mobile devices. It is derived from MultiSync. OpenSync is plugin based and its product-specific plugins allow support for a wide variety of different synchronization endpoints (PIM applications, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, groupware servers, and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directories). Its design and implementation would allow other synchronization uses as well.
OpenSync has been selected to be KDE's main synchronization framework. It is cross-platform software that can be run on Microsoft Windows and various Unix-like systems, including Linux and Mac OS X.
OpenSync is free and open source software, released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License.
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OpenSync has an ambitious goal to solve all possible PIM synchronization needs. Regardless of its current shortcomings, its feature list is extensive:
(Note: vEvent 1.0 is the same as vCalendar 1.0, and vEvent 2.0 is the same as vCalendar 2.0 or iCalendar, which all are supported as well.)
OpenSync synchronization takes place in groups which can have two or more different type of members supporting different set of object attributes. Development version also has a sync engine that is able to merge attributes from same object changed on different endpoints.
Before synchronizing anything, OpenSync converts data coming from members into internal XML-based formats, which are:
This conversion is implemented in VFormat plugin. Format descriptions are in XML format, allowing more frequent updates to those without modifying and recompiling the actual program code.
OpenSync is able to automatically configure some products for synchronized attribute settings (for supported attributes and data formats).
OpenSync is able to merge different attribute changes of same object since last synchronization between different group members. This reduces significantly manual conflict resolutions and user attention to actual synchronization process.
Since OpenSync is written in C and libraries it uses are openly available, it can be compiled to almost any platform where C compiler is available. Currently known working platforms are:
Support is based on general features and may vary depending on features of particular device, OpenSync bugs, or connection method used (Bluetooth, USB, IRDA).
The Motorola plugin is written in Python.
Generally, devices supporting SyncML 1.1 or 1.2 over Bluetooth, USB, or IP-protocol are supported. Nokia 770, N800, and N810 Internet Tablets using GPE suite are supported.
Sony Ericsson devices supporting SyncML or IrMC.
Msynctool is the command-line interface that comes with OpenSync. Its name comes from the term "MultiSync", but it has been decided to be change the name to something closer to the project name. Msynctool supports all features that OpenSync itself supports, and is thus considered to be the reference user interface.
Mototool is the command-line interface for Motorola's devices, and is also written in Python.
KitchenSync is the GUI frontend for the K Desktop Environment. It synchronizes KDE PIM-suite applications like Kaddressbook (contacts), KOrganizer (calendar), and Knotes (notes). Mail synchronization is not supported. In future versions KitchenSync will be ported to KDE Akonadi. KitchenSync is written with C++-language, Qt- and KDE toolkits.
KDE PIM applications can also be combined into Kontact framework, where they appear as a single application with tighter integration. As applications are the same, Kontact is also a supported application.
Gnome-Sync was a GUI frontend for GNOME desktop environment, now discontinued.[1] It was written in C and used the GTK+ toolkit.
Some of the plugins available for OpenSync are:
OpenSync is under active development. The latest stable release is 0.22, and as the codebase will be its last 0.2x release (although some fixes have been added). Main development efforts now focus on the current versions. Development versions (0.31 through 0.39) have gone through major architectural changes including capabilities and merging support.
These are current challenges that developers are aware of and trying to address in the future releases.