HOW-TO:Share libraries using MySQL/Sync other parts of XBMC

Many things can be synced using path substitution.

Note that you can also use the Symlink instructions if your OS supports it.

DO NOT TRY TO SHARE DATABASES.

This works with both directories and single files. The following directories and files are generally safe to share between XBMC devices:

Steps

 * 1) Share your existing userdata folder or a new folder with those files via NFS, SMB, or AFP (make sure have write access, not just read-only access). Most users to do this from the same computer/device as the MySQL server.
 * 2) Copy the text from the right hand boxes and add it to your advancedsettings.xml file, between the and   tags.
 * 3) Note/copy the network path of your shared data folder and use that to replace PROTOCOL://YOUR_NETWORK_SHARE/xbmc/userdata/, for example an SMB share holding your playlists use
 * 4) Make sure all XBMC devices that are being synced have this addition to their advancedsettings.xml file.

Playlists
The Playlist folder in XBMC contains music, video and mixed playlists. If you have imported from pre-existing media libraries then you can use your old playlist folder to save time on recreating the various playlists. If your playlists include local file paths, you will need to edit them to use network shares instead.

Add-on data
Sync some of the add-on settings and preferences. With the way python/add-ons/xbmc works, add-ons don't always follow path substitution, and might not always use the remote "addon_data" folder/share. You would have to ask the person who made the add-on to support being able to save the data on a remote share if it is not working with path subs.

Keymaps
Useful if you want the controls on all your XBMC devices to be the same. Might not be a good idea if you use different types of remotes on different XBMC devices, as you'll likely want to have individual configurations for them.

RSS Feeds
This file tells XBMC what RSS feed to show on the home screen, if enabled.

Favourites
This will sync your favorites selections between all XBMC devices. If the favorite depends on a file path that is specific to one XBMC device then this might not work for the other XBMC devices.

Network share passwords
If your network shares use passwords (at least for SMB) then you will need to manually copy the passwords.xml file over to each XBMC device. This file keeps track of those passwords.