I'm experimenting with LM and renaming files. It appears that LM is smart about the case where a file is renamed and just sends the name change without treating it as a delete and add, correct? It's a little hard to be sure since I can't see a way to check the status of a file, but renaming a 100MB file seems to take no time for transferring.
An edge case is where you rename a file changing only the case of the filename. For example, renaming "TEST.TXT" to "test.txt". Windows is not case sensitive so these names are identical when used. If I rename a file like this using Live Desktop, it seems to work great.
However, if I rename a file like this on my Vista laptop, it appears to be broken. Renaming "TEST.TXT" to "test.txt" on the device changes the name of the file obviously, but that change is not sync'd up to the Live Desktop (i.e. Live Desktop still thinks the file is called "TEXT.TXT). If on Live Desktop I were to then rename "TEST.TXT" to "Testing.txt", that would rename the file on Live Desktop, but the file on the device ("test.txt" at this point) is not changed.
It now appears that the file on the device is disconnected from Live Mesh. There's a file in Live Mesh called "Testing.txt" that doesn't appear on the device and a file on the device "test.txt" that doesn't appear in Live Mesh. Changes to the disconnected copy do not sync up to Live Mesh. You can fix it by copying files to create new entries, but it seems like a fairly nasty and subtle bug. It's not uncommon for me to correct capitalization in filenames.
I'm guessing, but it looks like the device client doesn't detect case-only renames as changes, but perhaps does a file-sensitive comparison when syncronizing?
If someone could verify this for me (or tell me if I'm just misunderstanding something), I'll log a bug on Connect.
I am currently at two PCs connected through different connections and validated the behavior.
If you rename the local file without changing the contents of the file, it will not replicate to the Live Desktop or a peer in your mesh. If you rename the file on the Live Desktop subsequent to that change, it *will* replicate to the other peers, but not to the PC where the first rename took place.
-steveMicrosoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare & Live Mesh Forum Moderator
I am currently at two PCs connected through different connections and validated the behavior.
If you rename the local file without changing the contents of the file, it will not replicate to the Live Desktop or a peer in your mesh. If you rename the file on the Live Desktop subsequent to that change, it *will* replicate to the other peers, but not to the PC where the first rename took place.
-steveMicrosoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare & Live Mesh Forum Moderator
