To release some pressure from the storage of our HPC Watson, we can put larger files at an external storage past the horizon and retrieve them when needed. To keep both connected, a .verge exchange link file is created. (e.g. foo.txt creates foo.txt.verge)

By only moving large files and keeping them linked, we can save a lot of space and still keep project structure intact.

To install HRZN download and unpack the latest release and use

sudo make install

This will copy all neccessary files to the right locations in your system. This includes a config at /etc/hrzn/config and a hrzn executable in /usr/local/bin/.

Similarly, removing all hrzn components works with

sudo make uninstall

HRZN uses mainly these subcommands (partially still in developement):

• hrzn push to push files to the external storage
• hrzn pull to pull files from the external storage
• [/] hrzn move to change the origin path in a verge file
• [/] hrzn change-external to find all verge files recursively and change their path of the external storage

When a file is pushed away with hrzn, the verge file is left behind to keep the project structure intact

It is structured like this:

path_o        original/path/of/file.txt
path_x        external/path/of/file.txt
checksum_o    a3cca2b2aa1e3b5b3b5aad99a8529074
checksum_x    a3cca2b2aa1e3b5b3b5aad99a8529074
date_pushed   Thu Aug 14 10:59:46 CEST 2025