[Weekly Report] Rhythmbox iPod/MTP Syncing

[Paul A Bellamy <paul a bellamy gmail com>]

This last week I have begun implementing the syncing mechanisms.  Thus 
far, I've done most of my work on the iPod plugin.  A lot of my 
confusion thus far was on the hashing for comparison.  I didn't quite 
understand the hashing last week, and think I have a much better 
understanding of it now.  I'll be implementing that this week.   Stuff I 
did last week includes:
- Fought with Git (Yay, for losing all my changes to one file!)
- Set up a pc-side file for the plugin to store data in.
- created rb_ipod_source_load_file() and rb_ipod_source_save_file() to 
support saving and loading of the iPod properties.
- I was most concerned with getting it saving and loading a file.  Now 
that that is done I will be refactoring the code so that all iPod plugin 
data is stored in a single GKeyFile
- Created a function rb_ipod_helpers_get_serial() and 
volume_get_serial() which use HAL to query usb_device.serial.  These 
will eventually probably go into libgpod, as HAL is phased out.
- Finished college Finals! Yay!

It feels great to finally be done with college, and just have the GSoC 
Project to focus on.  This will be my first full week solely focusing on 
the project.  For the next two weeks I will be working on the Sync-ing 
mechanism, and getting that working.  I think, my first focus will be on 
the hashing.  From my discussion with Cristophe the most efficient way 
of doing it will be to put both libraries (local and iPod) into a 
GHashTable, then compare between them to generate lists needing addition 
and removal.  I will be timing this method, to make sure it is not too 
costly.

For this pc-side file for the iPod plugin, It will be used to store the 
contents of the Properties panel, and associate it with each iPod.  The 
properties panel will allow you to select what to sync, and whether to 
sync automatically.  This will then be stored in the file, along with 
the iPod's serial number, so that you won't need to re-select the 
options each time you reconnect the device.

Paul Bellamy