Put() and get() for collection

[sigau]

Hello,
I'm working on an interface for irods to make it easier for our users to use irods.
My first question is the following when I want to use the api to send or retrieve a file on irods I can use the function

session.data_objects.put(local_object,irods_path)
or
session.data_objects.get(iobject,local_path)

but when it comes to sending/retrieving collections it's more complicated, for sending I came up with a function such as :

def copy_folder_to_irods(racine, local_folder_path, irods_destination_path,session,list_of_icollection):
    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(local_folder_path):
        ## Create the iRODS collection for the local folder if it does not exist
        relative_path = racine.split("/")[-1]+"/"+ os.path.relpath(root, local_folder_path)
        irods_collection_path = os.path.join(irods_destination_path, relative_path)
        if irods_collection_path.endswith("/."):
            irods_collection_path = irods_collection_path[:-2]
        if irods_collection_path not in list_of_icollection:
            session.collections.create(irods_collection_path)
            ## update the pickle file contining the list of collection
            update_irods_collection2("add",irods_collection_path)

        ##Copy the files from the local folder to the iRODS collection
        for file in files:
            local_file_path = os.path.join(root, file)
            irods_file_path = os.path.join(irods_collection_path, file)
            session.data_objects.put(local_file_path,irods_file_path)

    ## Recursively copy the sub-folders
    for dir in dirs:
        local_subfolder_path = os.path.join(root, dir)
        irods_subfolder_path = os.path.join(irods_destination_path, relative_path, dir)
        copy_folder_to_irods(racine, local_subfolder_path, irods_subfolder_path, session, list_of_icollections)

But it would be much more practical to be able to use put() and get() on folders, as is the case with icommands.

is this currently possible?
I think it could be relate to #276

Thank in advance
Gautier

[trel]

Agree - this appears to be a direct duplicate of #276.

[d-w-moore]

I have been thinking about this for a while. Probably an rsync style thing is what's called for, to reduce redundant copies in a recursive get( ) and put( ) capability for PRC.... For example, checksums can be cached locally (with the client) and in iRODS. If file/dataobject checksums differ, copy the object; else, don't. This, together with the recent client redirect feature, could make for a tidy and efficient "near-rsync" ability via PRC.