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Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

dropboxforum.com

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Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#261
post #236

For those interested in open source alternatives, syncthing, NextCloud (fork of ownCloud), and Seafile are some of the big names in this space, as others have mentioned. Personally I'm on syncthing. It's one of the best pieces of software I've ever used. My only complaint is it's not really instantaneous for me. In theory it works with inotify, but I've never quite been able to get it to work. I'm confident it will e…

I used to use ownCloud. Just curious - why is it not in your list of alternatives? Did the project die?

Owncloud still exists, but most original developers moved to its fork Nextcloud.

Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#262
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not as such users are just a vocal minority, and probably not enough to use as a consumer group.

And they really hate paying for stuff. Doubly so for things they think are simple and can be done "by myself".

You get to either pay to be a second class citizen at some place controlled by somebody else, or invest a few hours into getting a solution tailored to your use-case that won't bring bad surprises.

So, why would one pay?

Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#263
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't that require you to play sysadmin running your own servers?

No. There's already a peer-to-peer relay infrastructure in place for when your devices can't make direct connections to each other.

That sounds like the answer is actually yes because you have to run the various computers, provision enough storage to hold everything, secure them, and make sure you have a backup plan.

Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#264
post #53

The kicker is in the couching - dropping support for "uncommon filesystems" - of which their definition includes the default filesystem used by the most popular distro. Just dumb or wilfully ignorant?

Honest question, what do you believe is "the most popular distro"? Professionally, I have never seen a BTRFS deployment, nor any of the distros commonly at the top of Distrowatch (Manjaro, Mint, Elementary...). With the fragmentation of Linux, even the "most popular" distro may hold a tiny market share. The guys at dropbox probably know far more about their users than what is reflected in some arbitrary popularity co…

I would never attempt to use btrfs again in any environment. But if it is used, I hope the person has extremely strong backup policies in place for when it eventually crashes.

Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#265
post #236

For those interested in open source alternatives, syncthing, NextCloud (fork of ownCloud), and Seafile are some of the big names in this space, as others have mentioned. Personally I'm on syncthing. It's one of the best pieces of software I've ever used. My only complaint is it's not really instantaneous for me. In theory it works with inotify, but I've never quite been able to get it to work. I'm confident it will e…

I used to use ownCloud. Just curious - why is it not in your list of alternatives? Did the project die?

Nextcloud is a fork of Owncloud that's led by the original Owncloud developer, and it seems to be more popular with the free software and Linux community. It looks like both are still active.

Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#266

The kicker is in the couching - dropping support for "uncommon filesystems" - of which their definition includes the default filesystem used by the most popular distro. Just dumb or wilfully ignorant?

Let's not forget Fedora or EL users, XFS has been the default for some time now in both.

Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#267
This is exactly why I stopped using Dropbox and moved everything I have to my own https://nextcloud.com instance. It's very easy to install and upgrade, it is stable, have way more features than Dropbox and you have total control over your own data. Overall a superior experience. If they would do something I don't like, I would just never upgrade anymore and be done with it or just copy the files out of the /data/Nextcloud folder and move to another one open solution.

Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#268
I wonder if the xattr issue has anything to do with there being adequate abstraction of underlying file systems by the VFS? Btrfs, ext4, and XFS all support xattr, but I don't know if they all support xattr the same way via a single interface?

And then how does that compare on macOS where there's JHFS+/HFSX and APFS?

Re: Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems

#269
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to use ownCloud. Just curious - why is it not in your list of alternatives? Did the project die?

Nextcloud is a fork of Owncloud that's led by the original Owncloud developer, and it seems to be more popular with the free software and Linux community. It looks like both are still active.

Nextcloud is the successor of ownCloud.
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