System and method for content synchronization

A method of synchronizing content, the method comprising:

• sending a request from a client device to a content management system for a resource stored at the content management system;
• receiving the resource in response to the request;
• storing the received resource as a local peer resource in a local cache located in a local file system of the client device, the local peer resource having local peer resource content and an associated set of local peer resource filesystem metadata on the local file system, the local peer resource corresponding to a remote peer resource having remote peer resource content and an associated set of remote peer resource metadata at the content management system;
• maintaining a remote virtual model at the client device, the remote virtual model including a set of remote virtual model attributes for the remote peer resource;
• maintaining as a separate data structure from the associated set of local peer resource filesystem metadata, a local virtual model at the client device, the local virtual model including a set of local virtual model attributes for the local peer resource;
• determining that the remote peer resource and local peer resource are out of sync based on a comparison of the remote virtual model and the local virtual model at the client device, the comparison of the remote virtual model and the local virtual model comprising a comparison of the set of remote virtual model attributes and the set of local virtual model attributes;
• and
• based on a result of the comparison, synchronizing changes to the local peer resource to the content management system to update the remote peer resource.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory having stored thereon instructions executable by the processor to provide a synchronization manager configured to run on a client device to:
• request files from a content management system, the files having a first set of associated metadata at the content management system;
• store the files in a local cache associated with the content management system, the files in the local cache having associated filesystem metadata on a local filesystem;
• maintain at the client device and as a separate data structure from the associated filesystem metadata, a local virtual model modelling the files in the local cache, the local virtual model including a set of virtual local model attributes for the files in the local cache and a synchronization status for each of the files in the local cache, the set of virtual local model attributes comprising a content data hash and a set of metadata for each of the files in the local cache;
• and
• maintain at the client device a remote virtual model modelling the files on the content management system, the remote virtual model including a set of remote virtual model attributes for the files on the content management system and a synchronization status for each of the files on the content management system, the set of remote virtual model attributes comprising a content data hash and a set of metadata for each of the files on the content management system, the synchronization manager comprising:
• remote link services configured to:
• update the remote virtual model based on changes at the content management system;
• send copies of local peer files to the content management system based on changes to the remote virtual model to synchronize the content management system with the local cache;
• local link services configured to;
• update the local virtual model based on changes in the local cache;
• update the local cache based on changes to the local virtual model to synchronize the local cache with the content management system;
• a synchronization engine configured to:
• compare the local virtual model and the remote virtual model, wherein comparing the local virtual model and the remote virtual model comprises comparing the set of local virtual model attributes and the set of remote virtual model attributes;
• update the local virtual model based on the remote virtual model to indicate that the local cache is out of sync with the content management system;
• and
• update the remote virtual model based on the local virtual model to indicate the content management system is out of sync with the local cache.