What is janitor?

Janitor is a cli tool that will let you sync remote files to your local computer or server. This can help you keep files in sync from one single repository.

Why should I use janitor?

Janitor's orignal use case was for managing public SSH keys, or the allowed_hosts file on a server. Sometimes we can have many servers that need to keep a single file in sync. In addition, sometimes using a shared drive is not an option. So with janitor, you can store a single file in static storace (like amazon S3) and keep it in sync on all of your servers.

How do I keep my files in sync with janitor?

Run janitor sync on a cron job! This will keep your files up to date on a time schedule that you define!

How do I tell janitor what files to manage?

You use the janitor.yml file with a structure like below.

files:
  myFile:
    source: "https://your-file-location.com/test.txt"
    destination: "/home/stras37/Documents/testJanitor.txt"
    safeMode: true
  anotherFile:
    source: "https://your-file-location.com/something_random.csv"
    destination: "/home/stras37/Documents/ws19mvp.csv"
  oneLastFile:
    source: "https://your-file-location.com/lets_go_nats.txt"
    destination: "~/Documents/letsGoNats.txt"

What are the options for the janitor.yml file?

• Under files, name the each file you would like to have managed by the janitor.
• Each file will have a source and a desitnation
  • The source, is the rmote location to pull the file from.
  • The destination, is the locaiton on your local computer where the file should be stored.
  • If you add the safeMode option, you can indicate to janitor, whether you should overwrite an existing file or not. If safeMode is not present, false will be assumed and the local file "destination" will be overriden.

Anything else I should know about Janitor?

• Janitor will manage all files through the "Janitor's closet". Located in the ~/.janitors_closet directory. Within this directory there will be symlinks to all of the files managed by Janitor.
• Within the janitors closet, there is a file .janitor_error_log, where you can find any errors that janitor has run into.

Janitor CLI commands

• sync - Take the "source" files from your .janitor.yml file and "sync" them to the "destination" specified in your .janitor.yml file.
• mop - Janitor uses symlinks to keep track of all the files it manages. mop will remove all the dead symlinks from your .janitor.yml file.
• trash - Will remove all files managed by Janitor from your computer. It will not remove the .janitors_closet.