[gentoo-user] sync'ing two computers (not related to emerge)

[Simon]

hi there!
  I've been using unison to synchronise and backup my computers.  unison is
based on rsync IIRC but with the difference that it 'remembers' the state of
the folder that was synchronised.  This way, if I delete a file on A, when
sync'ing it will be deleted on B.  While rsync would leave the file on B...

  I see rsync as a very good 'cp' program, but I need something that can
deal with conflicts (file changed on both hosts/directories) and can
propagate changes like deletes properly.  Is there a way to get this
behavior with rsync (maybe i missed something)?

  The reason i'm asking is that unison has been having problems recently in
sync'ing two pc...  On my laptop, when i start the sync, it first checks it
for changes against the 'unison snapshot'.  Changes done since last sync are
those that will be propagated.  But it takes so long to check for changes
(disk input rate is too slow i think) that once it finished, when it's time
to send the changes to the remote server, the remote end has already
disconnected!

Thanks for the help/suggestions!