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How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

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Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#331

Post by calamari4065 »

stcg wrote: post #260
phh wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is killing me. I have a colleague that told me "on iPhones I can super easily share files to someone else", and I'm like "20 years ago sharing files across devices was a non-issue, because we had STANDARDS (ok maybe 17-18 years ago rather). Sharing files wasn't considered a feature worth mentioning because every phone supported this out of the box (well not exactly, so the feature was having Bluetooth). Tec…

Is bluetooth not usable anymore?

Bluetooth caps out at a few tens of KByte/s.

Not very nice when you're trying to transfer an image several MB in size.

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#332

Post by aborsy »

midasuni wrote: post #312
pxeger1 wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Tailscale client is open source, FWIW

My understanding is that to configure your WireGuard tunnels the tailscale saas layer distributes the keys. If so there’s nothing stopping it distribute a key you don’t control.

Yes, there is tail lock that you can enable.

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#333

Post by ogurechny »

enriquto wrote: post #209
PeterisP wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assume that both devices are behind a different NAT with no inbound ports publicly accessible, which is a very common scenario - e.g. a phone behind a cell provider's carrier-grade NAT and a computer on a firewalled corporate network. The median user controls 0 public IPv4 addresses.

What would a canonical hacker do here?

Hacker usually has some kind of relay at hand:

https://github.com/nwtgck/piping-server

https://github.com/schollz/croc

Or a NAT traversal tool:

https://github.com/shawwwn/Gole

https://github.com/samyk/pwnat

Or can just manually ncat simultaneously from both sides to proper addresses and ports, probably with the help of some public STUN server.

Note that if worst case combination of NATs doesn't allow direct connection, then by definition a relay is needed, hacker or not, it doesn't matter.

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#334

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

"A way out could be websockets; it would allow me to stream more than 8 kB of data between clients, but it does require an entire websocket handler."

Websockets are not necesary. It can be done with HTTP/1.1.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19122646

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28913973

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37255178

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38988519 <-- I tried to provide a simple usage example here.

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#335

Post by Eisenstein »

ogurechny wrote: post #330
Eisenstein wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that Meta and Google make money from data, but they are also competent, so they can be trusted to at least not get breeched or sell the data to the an aggregator.

“But they feed us for free in our competent concentration camp!”

If the choice was between 'the competent concentration camp' and 'the concentration camp run by one dude in his spare time', then if the question is 'which one is more likely to feed me', then yes, that is apt.

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#336

Post by 0x38B »

Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #285

I recently discovered that the Files app on iOS/iPadOS can connect to SMB servers, so my solution is to just use the NAS that I've already got. Windows, MacOS, and Linux can also connect to SMB just fine and I'd be shocked if Android couldn't also do this. Rule 1: There are user accounts, but they're local to the NAS. I think it meets this one. Rule 2: Setting up the NAS is likely out of reach for many non-technical…

I tried File's SMB support but found that larger (100+ MB) transfers fail for no apparent reason (1). Third-party apps' SMB support is much better - I had success with Readdle's Documents, Goodreader, and most recently FileBrowserGO.

My slow-to-moderate internet speed may play a role; however even connecting to my laptops SMB share over a wired connection was fraught with issues.

1: the failed but in-progress transfers often stick around with no way to remove them. They're gone after restarting the device, though.

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#337

Post by syene »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #116
GoblinSlayer wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No no, file sharing is privacy! Not allowed. Also both SMB implementations are "let's implement a protocol and add security later" nightmare.

> file sharing is privacy I think the worse blocker is _piracy_. The copyright predators are terrified about people sharing files locally.

They probably meant piracy

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#338

Post by phh »

ArnoVW wrote: post #326
phh wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is killing me. I have a colleague that told me "on iPhones I can super easily share files to someone else", and I'm like "20 years ago sharing files across devices was a non-issue, because we had STANDARDS (ok maybe 17-18 years ago rather). Sharing files wasn't considered a feature worth mentioning because every phone supported this out of the box (well not exactly, so the feature was having Bluetooth). Tec…

As much as I hate Apple for their repetitive NIH syndrome, Bluetooth has never worked flawlessly, and increasing filesizes made it increasingly maladapted.

The point was that before FAANGs, people were talking together and created interoperable standards. In 2006, Bluetooth for file transfer between phones was pretty nice. Standardizing file transfer in 2010 would have given us file transfer over WiFi P2P, and people would actually use it, and it wouldn't be shipping broken on most devices.

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#339

Post by nomel »

vinnymac wrote: post #225
nomel wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No way. The "solution" can't require internet access.

The tech to do this exists, since WebRTC works without internet. One just needs to run a local server for signaling purposes. https://github.com/coturn/coturn

I don't think a browser is involved with the solution either. The protocol/transport definitely isn't the problem. It doesn't matter. The problem is integration, and solution, is integration.

The tricky bit that makes this hard is discovery. I think Apple does it right. UDP multicast discovery across local intranet, with bluetooth broadcast/NFC proximity for physically near devices that might be on separate networks/locked down. There's the possibility of internet based discovery, but that involves a central authority keeping track of your IP, constant polling, with a nice record of all your devices and transactions. In China, there are apps that use audio, for local discovery, which is neat.

I firmly believe we won't ever have a real solution for the next 30 years. It would require three enemies cooperating: Android, Microsoft, Apple. As is, Apple has this solved. Samsung is gettin there. Microsoft has nothing.

Re: How to copy a file between devices? (2022)

#340

Post by GoblinSlayer »

psanford wrote: post #276
tptacek wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you really want is the native iOS or Android version of this (or of any Magic Wormhole derivative), which the wormhole-william people are working on (I think the Android version already works).

Yeah the Android version has been out for a few years[1][2]. There's an iOS target that works as well, I've just never published it to the app store. Every time I start that process I get annoyed at how hostile Apple is to open source developers and give up. Hopefully I can at least distribute a side loadable binary when that becomes a thing for EU users. [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.sanford.…

Apple's walled garden is supposed to be protected from trespassing, so software can't be required to trespass it as breaking protection is computer fraud.
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