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Use rsync when each Raspberry Pi should keep its own local copy of the videos; use NFS when every player should access one shared directory over the network. Add inotify only as a way to notice changes on the machine where they happen: it does not reliably notify a Pi about changes made remotely to an NFS share. Neither approach, by itself, synchronizes video start times or frames.
What rsync, inotify, and NFS each do
These are not three interchangeable ways to serve files. rsync transfers and synchronizes files between locations. NFS makes a directory on a server available to clients as a mounted shared resource. inotify reports filesystem activity to a local application; it can be used to trigger an update workflow, but it is not itself a file-transfer or sharing system.
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Raspberry Pi’s documentation covers rsync for folder synchronization and NFS for network-mounted shared resources, including directories intended to remain mounted. The Linux man-pages project describes inotify’s event-notification limits in inotify(7), “Limitations and caveats.”
Choose based on where each player should read its media
| Decision | rsync copies to each Pi | NFS shared directory |
|---|---|---|
| Where the media lives | A separate copy is transferred to each player or destination. | The files remain in a server directory that clients mount. |
| What must be maintained | An update process must deliver the intended files to every player. | The server share, network path, and client mounts must be available when players need the files. |
| Best fit | Players should read local copies, and the operator can manage distribution. | One centrally managed directory is preferred and the network and server can be present whenever clients need media. |
| Setup considerations | Remote rsync can use a remote shell such as SSH; Raspberry Pi’s example uses rsync over SSH. | Configure exports, mounts, permissions, and suitable user IDs across server and clients. |
| Playback synchronization | Not established by the file-copy method. | Not established by the shared-filesystem method. |
Prefer local copies when players should be independent readers
With rsync, each player reads its own transferred copy rather than relying on a shared mount for every file read. The operational trade-off is deployment: the update process needs to reach all intended destinations, and the operator needs to know when each transfer is complete and which version it received. Those are consequences of maintaining copies, not measured performance guarantees.
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Prefer NFS when one directory should be the managed source
NFS avoids distributing a separate managed copy to each Pi by letting clients use a server-hosted directory. In return, client access depends on the share being reachable and mounted. Raspberry Pi’s NFS guidance describes it as suitable for permanent network-mounted directories and regularly accessed shared resources. Its setup also requires attention to Linux permissions; its advanced guidance discusses matching user IDs between clients and the server.
Use inotify at the point where changes occur
inotify is useful for noticing local filesystem activity, such as a file arriving in a directory on the machine that receives or edits media. That machine can then initiate an update workflow. The Linux man-pages project states that inotify “does not catch remote events that occur on network filesystems”; applications that need to discover such changes must fall back to polling.
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In practice, if a different computer changes files on an NFS server while Raspberry Pi players are watching the mounted directory, do not rely on each Pi’s local inotify watcher to receive those remote change events. Watch the directory on the machine where the edits or file arrivals happen, or use polling on the mounted directory if clients need to discover remote changes. The documentation establishes this notification limitation; it does not prescribe a particular polling interval or update script.
Plan the update workflow for the chosen design
For rsync-managed local copies
- Choose the source directory and the destination directory on each player.
- Run rsync to transfer the intended media to each destination; for remote transfers, Raspberry Pi’s example uses SSH.
- If updates should start automatically when source files change, monitor the source machine’s local directory with inotify and trigger the transfer workflow there.
- Track whether the transfer has completed for every player before treating the deployment as consistent. The cited documentation does not prescribe an atomic-update pattern, so do not assume a file is ready for playback merely because a change was detected.
For an NFS-mounted directory
- Configure the server’s exported directory and the clients’ mounts, including permissions and user-ID arrangements appropriate to the setup.
- Have players read media from the mounted directory while the server and network path are available.
- If clients must discover changes made remotely, use polling or another explicit update mechanism rather than treating client-side inotify as a network-wide change feed.
File sharing does not synchronize video playback
rsync determines how files are copied, and NFS determines how clients access a shared directory. Neither mechanism establishes that multiple videos will start at exactly the same instant or remain frame-aligned. The cited filesystem documentation does not assess video-wall playback timing. Test start behavior and frame alignment with the actual player software and a separate synchronization design; do not infer synchronized playback from a successful transfer or mount.
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