Option to sync with personal sync server

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Originally reported on Google Code with ID 154

Anki sync server is http://anki.ichi2.net/sync/ (port 80). It would be nice to set the
sync server that ankidroid uses. Though a personal sync server is not available now,
it will be available soon, so such a setting might as well be included now.

Reported by gwebmastertools@yahoo.com on 2010-08-13 07:26:30

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Reported by nicolas.raoul on 2010-08-13 07:37:50

• Status changed: Accepted
• Labels added: Type-Enhancement, Priority-Low
• Labels removed: Type-Defect, Priority-Medium

[hssm]

Good suggestion!

We will wait until Damien makes available the personal sync server though, so we can
see exactly which options should we include and how to handle them.

Reported by edu.zasu on 2010-08-13 07:40:34

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In the Anki forums, user David Snopek has submitted an idea for a running a personal
server and some code to go with it.  From what I understand, this can be used along
with a simple plugin to have AnkiDesktop sync to a local address.  Would it easy to
adapt Ankidroid to use do this as well? (see the link below)

Perhaps this could even be adapted to include media so people don't have to worry about
dropbox.

http://groups.google.com/group/ankisrs/browse_thread/thread/4d4cca6c540a4604/950eaaa3ca09f8e9?lnk=gst&q=%22sync+server%22#950eaaa3ca09f8e9

Reported by ottenlips on 2011-07-09 12:22:42

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That plugin is more of a proof of concept than something you'd use in the real world.
There is no security, and it does not remove the need for DropBox either. For now copying
via cable or sd card is the best bet.

Reported by dae@ichi2.net on 2011-07-09 13:07:14

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We'd better wait until there is an alternative sync server somewhere

Reported by inigo.aldana on 2013-01-08 08:34:46

• Status changed: WontFix

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Surely the project is not technically fully open source until the server code is released

Reported by jmoey139 on 2013-06-07 20:24:56

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The Anki suite contains several elements, some open source (Anki Desktop, AnkiDroid)
and some proprietary (Anki Mobile, AnkiWeb).

AnkiDroid is technically Open Source.
AnkiDroid is able to connect to proprietary web services (AnkiWeb for sync, ColorDict
for translations, etc). If users were forced to use these services, I agree it would
be a kind of lock-in. But these are optional, and many people do without them.

By the way, anyone interested in this should also consider volunteering to fix this
related issue: http://code.google.com/p/ankidroid/issues/detail?id=1582 (making shared
decks downloadable without an AnkiWeb account)

Reported by nicolas.raoul on 2013-06-08 03:03:42

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FYI, I've continued my work on a "personal sync server" on GitHub:

https://github.com/dsnopek/anki-sync-server

It's a continuation of the code posted to the mailing list per comment #3 above. I've
been running an alternative sync server at Bibliobird.com for several years now! ;-)
Since there is no configuration option, I have the "Bibliobird" addon to allow the
Anki Desktop app to sync against it.

Anyone can use this code to make their own personal sync server - it's released under
the GNU Affero GPL v3 (the same license as desktop Anki).

Reported by dsnopek on 2013-09-12 15:29:02

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Thanks!

On Sep 12, 2013, at 17:29, "ankidroid@googlecode.com"
<ankidroid@googlecode.com> wrote:

Reported by ottenlips on 2013-09-12 15:32:34

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What can we do to get this out of "WontFix" and back to an active issue? It was marked
as won't fix because there was no alternative sync server anywhere -- but now there
is!

Thanks,
David.

Reported by dsnopek on 2013-11-27 14:01:35

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First time I hear about this alternative, interesting solution for Open Source purists
like I am trying to be :-)
Anyone feel free to create a branch to develop this feature.

Is the software's name "Anki Server"? It might be confusing for most users (for me
"Anki Server" would mean AnkiWeb), so in the settings the option would probably have
a label like "Use Dsnopek Anki Server" instead of just "Use Anki Server". Have you
thought about using a more distinctive software name? I guess it is better to not use
the name "Bibliobird", as "Bibliobird" also means other things like a specific website.

Reported by nicolas.raoul on 2013-11-28 02:19:39

• Status changed: Accepted
• Labels added: Priority-Medium
• Labels removed: Priority-Low

[hssm]

In AnkiDroid I would probably call it "Sync server URL" or "Anki server URL" or something
like that. It uses the exact same protocol as AnkiWeb, so it's just a matter of providing
a text field to change the URL from "http://ankiweb.net/sync/" to a custom value. That's
how it works with the desktop Anki app, you just set an environment variable or create
an "add-on" in order to change the URL to your custom value.

I hope that makes sense!

Reported by dsnopek on 2013-11-28 12:41:31

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Or may it could be called "Alternative sync server URL" or "Personal sync server URL"?
People on the web seem to like to call it "personal" which is the term I've kept using.

Anyway, thanks for your response and re-opening the ticket!

Reported by dsnopek on 2013-11-28 12:43:24

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OK, a "Personal sync server" option sounds good, disabled by default.

A simple text field with a default value of "http://ankiweb.net/sync/" might be a bit
riskier, as users could mess with it unintentionally, then would not be able to fix
it easily.

Reported by nicolas.raoul on 2013-11-29 01:20:40

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Instead of adding a new preference, an alternative could be to allow users to add a
"custom account" when setting the username and password for sync. When they choose
custom account it gives an extra URL field, and for an AnkiWeb account it doesn't.

Reported by perceptualchaos2 on 2013-11-29 08:11:35

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@perceptualchaos2:
Good idea, if that does not make the log in screen more complex.

How about a menu item in that screen? Inexperienced users tend to not find items that
are hidden in menus, but people who have custom servers are experienced.

Reported by nicolas.raoul on 2013-11-29 08:19:49

[hssm]

I came across this issue from the https://github.com/dsnopek/anki-sync-server README
file, and I'm excited to see that this issue has been reactivated.

I just wanted to drop a note about the users who would be using this feature may not
necessarily be expert users. For example, any users of Bibliobird could have their
cards synced with their server. They may be beginners. It'd essentially be up to David
Snopek to educate them for how to set it up. Go here. Click here. Paste this URL into
this field, etc.

So in the end, as long as there is a field that's available somewhere for a user to
customize their URL, then that's what is ultimately important. Telling users how to
configure it would partially be up to those self-hosted sites, and I do agree that
you don't want to make it overly complicated for the existing and majority of users
who are syncing with ankiweb.net. 

By the way, you could always have a reset button that resets that value to http://ankiweb.net/sync/
if that's a concern (and if that's even possible).

Reported by kent@kentbye.com on 2013-12-06 07:18:09

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Please implement this feature.

Reported by tilldu on 2014-03-23 14:05:16

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Looking forward for this feature too!

Reported by dudumomo on 2014-05-12 14:23:43

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I run Dsnopek Anki Server and I like to have this feature.

Reported by justin.mares on 2014-05-21 11:25:11

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It would be great to have this feature. I am looking forward to it.

Reported by marcinostrouch on 2014-06-29 10:11:47

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That will be great! David Snopek is the man!

Reported by tomo3691@wp.pl on 2014-08-04 00:45:07

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Please implement this feature, it will be extremely useful to us.

Reported by ggventurini on 2014-09-18 10:13:50

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I second it. This feature would be hugely helpful to many Anki users who use Ankidroid
/ Anki on iPhone(/ whatever. It's easy enough to change on the computer to sync to
your own server)- perhaps I just pick bad times, but most of the time I need to sync
my decks, the severs are too busy / it takes so long it lags out.

Reported by Simcamr.SD on 2014-09-26 09:31:54

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AnkiDroid is Open Source, anyone please feel free to implement it and we will merge
it for the next release.
That's how all new features in AnkiDroid get done :-)

Reported by nicolas.raoul on 2014-09-26 09:39:09

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This is exactly why many people hate open-source. While I love it and appreciate it,
having an enhancement request open for FOUR YEARS is just sick, given that it is one
stupid setting.
Instead of adding new nifty superficial 'enhancements' nobody uses, you should implement
something as important as this. While shifting responsibility to someone else is very
comfy, it also makes you look rather bleak in your determination for a good product
everyone could use.

Reported by bohus.kovac on 2014-11-13 08:40:41

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@bohus.kovac: If AnkiDroid was not open source, then using your own server would probably
be forbidden in the first place.

Can you give me ONE example of non-open source SRS software that allows you to use
your own sync server?

Reported by nicolas.raoul on 2014-11-13 08:48:39

[hssm]

@bohus.kovac: AnkiDroid is a bit of a special open source project, in the sense that
there is not a central organization focused and working on it full-time. It has been
built by many different developers that felt like contributing to it, spending their
time and effort.

So, it is a bit difficult to prioritize features, as you largely depend on the availability
of developers that want to volunteer and their interests. If this has been open for
so long, I guess it is because the developers volunteering didn't consider it important
enough (relative to the other work to do) or interesting enough.

Your only ways to get this done faster are:
- talk to developers and let them know how important this is and the reasons why this
is important
- get them interested/motivated on this feature
- incentivize someone (not necessarily someone that already contributed to AnkiDroid)
to do it
- implement it yourself, if you have the skills

I hope this helps everyone interested in seeing this implemented to know how to productively
apply your energy, in order to move this forward.

Reported by edu.zasu on 2014-11-13 09:35:12

[hssm]

https://code.google.com/p/ankidroid/wiki/Contribution#How_to_sponsor_development

Reported by nicolas.raoul on 2014-11-13 09:51:09

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So, a quick look at the code makes me think this is fairly easy to do.  It looks like
Ankidroid uses a function to return the sync url and that function exists in only three
locations.  I believe all that really needs to be done is to create an option to turn
on a custom sync server and a second option to enter the custom sync servers URL. 
Once these options are saved, these three functions can check to see if the custom
sync server option is turned on and if it is return the custom sync server URL instead
of the default URL.

Of course good coding would check to see if the seek works and if not use the default
Anki Web server.  Of course this means adding two more custom fields so you can save
the custom sync server login and password so they can be used separately.

Also references to Anki Web and the Anki Web sync server are hard wired into the values,
so everywhere they are referenced it would have to be changed to reference the Custom
Sync Server.

That being said I can probably manage, the first step and even the second step.  I'm
a little busy right now on some other projects, but I'll try to get to it soon as I
have my own purposes for it.  As for changing the values, that sounds kind of tedious
and impossible for all the different languages.

Once this is done however, I'll need someone to test it out.  I don't currently have
a custom sync server setup myself.

Reported by stevex11235813 on 2015-02-15 06:19:18

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https://github.com/ankidroid/Anki-Android/pull/680

Reported by perceptualchaos2 on 2015-02-15 07:39:13

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^^^ if you take the code in that PR as a base and clean it up a bit according to the
comments in the PR then we will probably accept it

Reported by perceptualchaos2 on 2015-02-15 07:44:51

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Hello!

I'm not a programmer (Although I am taking an Assembly class, funny enough, so I'm
more of a newbie) but I'm more than willing to help out testing if I can.
Wish I wasn't stuck behind a university-wide IP address or I would have hosted Mr Snopeks
(dsnopeks) server for us to try it out on.

Happy to know my stalking of this thread for the last four years might finally be paying
off, you're epic for being willing to do this! 

- Si

Reported by Simcamr.SD on 2015-02-17 20:09:51

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Issue 1842 has been merged into this issue.

Reported by perceptualchaos2 on 2015-06-16 02:15:27

[hssm]

@stevex11 If you will make these changes I'd be happy to test it out. I've been using
Anki with Kindle to import spanish vocabulary words and going through the desktop to
sync flashcards up to my phone has been a huge annoyance. If you can make the changes
you talked about, I will set up a personal sync server to test my flashcards against
it.

Reported by ethan@goworkinc.com on 2015-07-07 17:48:00

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> If you can make the changes you talked about, I will set up a personal sync server
to test my flashcards against it.

The problem at the moment I believe is that there is no such working personal sync
server.

> going through the desktop to sync flashcards up to my phone has been a huge annoyance.

You don't need to go through desktop though... Just press sync on your kindle, and
then sync on your phone... Done

Reported by perceptualchaos2 on 2015-07-08 00:01:40