Is the new iPhoto '08 Library syncing in entirety every time?

Question

The new storage for iPhoto Library in iPhoto '08 is a package. It SEEMS like PHD is sensing any minute change inside (which update the package's modified date) and then copying/syncing the ENTIRE library. For some users, this can be 15GB of pain.
Can anyone else confirm or deny?

Answer 1

OK, but please, there's no warranty or anything of that nature and it's a bit specific to my situation, but here goes:
1. I created a script at ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/iPhoto/Backup Library.sh
By putting it at that path, it shows up nicely in the AppleScript menu extra only when iPhoto is active. Thus, it can be manually triggered by the user at any time.
So, here's the script:
<pre class="command">#!/bin/sh
SERVER="afpserver.domain.net"
synclibrary()
    if test -d "/Volumes/Users/$USER/Pictures/iPhoto Library";
    then
        /usr/bin/rsync -av --delete-after "/Users/$USER/Pictures/iPhoto Library/" "/Volumes/Users/$USER/Pictures/iPhoto Library"
    else
        echo "iPhoto Library is not available."
    fi
echo `date` "* Syncing \"iPhoto Library\""
if test -d /Volumes/Users;
then
    echo "Users is available."
else
    echo "Users is not available. Mounting..."
    mount_needed=1
fi
if test "$mount_needed";
then
    mkdir "/Volumes/Users"
    sleep 1
    if `mount_afp -o nobrowse "afp://$USER@$SERVER/Users" "/Volumes/Users"`;
    then
        echo "succeeded."
        synclibrary
        echo -n "Unmounting Users..."
        umount "/Volumes/Users"
        echo "done."
    else
        echo "failed."
        rm -r "/Volumes/Users"
    fi
else
    synclibrary
fi
echo `date` "* Done Syncing \"iPhoto Library\""
exit 0
</pre>
Now, while I've been doing all sort of scripting for many years, shell scripting's a bit new to me, so any suggestions/corrections welcomed. I tried to mirror what Home Folder syncing does in this deployment's situation, which is:
1. If the user has manually mounted the Users sharepoint, this script realizes it's there, makes sure the iPhoto Library folder is present at the right remote location, and does its thing.
2. If the user does NOT have the Users sharepoint mounted, but has an active Kerberos ticket, I mount the sharepoint, run the script and then disconnect the sharepoint afterwards. I do this in a way that the sharepoint does not show up to the user.
Does that sound right to everyone?
OK, now to run the script automatically, I use launchd. Cron is deprecated.
So, the launch script goes in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.iPhoto.rsync.plist and looks like this:
<pre class="command"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.apple.iphoto.rsync</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/username/Library/Scripts/Applications/iPhoto/Backup Library.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/username/Library/Logs/MirrorAgent.log</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/username/Library/Logs/MirrorAgent.log</string>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>21600</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
</pre>
You can set the StartInterval to whatever you want. It's represented in seconds. I chose 3 hours, which is the same interval that I use for PHD.
I am also using the MirrorAgent.log to report all output and my script tried to make that output look as similar to the PHD output as possible. Thus, I can track it all in the one log.
There is ONE problem with this launchd script, which I can't seem to surpass, and that it the fact that I have to use FULL paths.... I can't use ~/Library/etc/etc which means I have to make the launchd plist for each user. Any workarounds for that would be greatly appreciated.
Any questions, just ask!
Message was edited by: jaydisc