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Forum Discussion
Linux Mint 20 : DropBox no longer syncing despite syncing icon!
Hello all. I have followed the suggestions made by others but still I am not syncing. I upgraded to Linux Mint 20 yesterday and everything works as it should, except DropBox; a key app for me. I note...
STOP PRESS!
In the last 5 mins (just after I had posted the above). The folders and files have miraculously updated without any apparent syncing taking place!
It seems to be working.
I shall harvest the commans used in case I need them in the future. Meanwhile, thank you all very much for your patience and help.
Regards from a locked-down SW France.
John
Iplicjian, Why are you trying build anew nautilus plugin? 🤔 I haven't noticed any complaint related to how Dropbox files appear on Nautilus! Or am I missing something?
Your problem comes from work of Dropbox daemon, not something else. Most probably you have some file/folder attribute somewhere in your Dropbox folder set inappropriately. Can you look into Dropbox folder for the exact files/folders which keep syncing and check what's wrong there? Just a simple "ls -l fileName.ext" can give a lot of info. Using Nautilus you can navigate in Dropbox directory tree. 😉
Don't lose your time with build which don't have any chance to help (even in theory).
Good luck!
PS: As Nautilus alternative in terminal you can use "dropbox filestatus". Just change to work directory to Dropbox and recursively check.
Oh... I just noticed another issue:
Iplicjian wrote:...
... user@AsusA54C:~/Desktop$ dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-107.4.443/PyQt5.QtDBus.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' Unable to monitor entire Dropbox folder hierarchy. Please run "echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=100000 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf; sudo sysctl -p" and restart Dropbox to fix the problem. ...
This mean you have too much files in your Dropbox folder and the current system settings forbid following so much in one process! Usually your files can get in sync initially (at application start), but later some of them will stay out of sync, till next application launch. To fix this either remove from the local storage some of the folders not in use so your files count can fit in the limitation or increase the limit as noted in the error message. Replace the number '10000' with your files count with some reserve added. You can see current limit using:
sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_watches
To be sure that most basic attributes are fine for your Dropbox directory execute following:
sudo chown -R "$USER" "$HOME/Dropbox" sudo chattr -R -i "$HOME/Dropbox" chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox
If the problem persists still, try following for fast recursive search:
(IFS=$'\n';for i in `ls -R1 ~/Dropbox`; do if [[ "$i" =~ ":" ]]; then cd `echo "$i" | sed "y/:/\//"`; echo -n "In folder: "; pwd; dropbox filestatus; fi; done) | grep -vi "up to date" | grep -vi ".dropbox:" | grep -vi ".dropbox.cache:"
Change Dropbox folder location everywhere above, if you have moved it.
Results :
user@AsusA54C:~$ sudo chown -R "user" ./Dropbox user@AsusA54C:~$ sudo chattr -R -i "user" ./Dropbox chattr: No such file or directory while trying to stat user chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on ./Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database/BigBlobs.apdb chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on ./Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database/ImageProxies.apdb chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on ./Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database/Properties.apdb chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on ./Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database/Faces.db chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on ./Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database/History.apdb chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on ./Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database/Library.apdb user@AsusA54C:~$ chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox user@AsusA54C:~$
Iplicjian wrote:Results :
... user@AsusA54C:~$ sudo chattr -R -i "user" ./Dropbox chattr: No such file or directory while trying to stat user chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on ./Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database/BigBlobs.apdb ...
Hi Iplicjian,
Pay more attention when editing command, not to put there some errors! 😉 Who advise you type the above command in exactly such a way?! Seems you haven't moved your Dropbox folder and no need any modifications on the commands, that I have posted already.
Have you updated your application to the latest stable release (109.4.517 at this post moment)? What's the result from:
dropbox version
Did you try to trace any strange statuses? According to the errors, you just posted, seems there are some issues in the database folder. What is the following commands results:
cd ~/Dropbox/ONLINE\ ONLY\ \(cloud\ storage\)/Dec\ 2014\ to\ Jan\ 2015.photolibrary/Database/ ls -al dropbox filestatus
🤔
Hope the above results will give helpful directions.
Thank you. The latest results from the command line are :
user@AsusA54C:~$ cd ~/Dropbox/ONLINE\ ONLY\ \(cloud\ storage\)/Dec\ 2014\ to\ Jan\ 2015.photolibrary/Database/ user@AsusA54C:~/Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database$ ls -al total 64 drwxr-xr-x 11 user user 4096 Oct 7 13:02 . drwxr-xr-x 9 user user 4096 Oct 7 15:05 .. drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Oct 7 13:03 Albums drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Oct 7 18:36 apdb lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 18 Jan 18 2015 BigBlobs.apdb -> apdb/BigBlobs.apdb -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 2645 Sep 28 2019 DataModelVersion.plist drwxr-xr-x 6 user user 4096 Oct 7 12:48 Faces lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 13 Jan 18 2015 Faces.db -> apdb/Faces.db drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Oct 7 12:59 Folders drwxr-xr-x 3 user user 4096 Oct 7 12:48 History lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 17 Jan 18 2015 History.apdb -> apdb/History.apdb lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 22 Jan 18 2015 ImageProxies.apdb -> apdb/ImageProxies.apdb -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 1497 Jan 27 2015 Keywords.plist lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 17 Jan 18 2015 Library.apdb -> apdb/Library.apdb drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Oct 7 13:03 Places lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 20 Jan 18 2015 Properties.apdb -> apdb/Properties.apdb -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 114 Jan 28 2015 SpanCache.plist -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 303 Sep 28 2019 tmSync.plist drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Jan 18 2015 Vaults drwxr-xr-x 3 user user 4096 Oct 7 12:48 Versions drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Jan 18 2015 Volumes user@AsusA54C:~/Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database$ dropbox filestatus Dropbox isn't running! user@AsusA54C:~/Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database$ dropbox filestatus Albums: unwatched apdb: unwatched BigBlobs.apdb: unwatched DataModelVersion.plist: unwatched Faces: unwatched Faces.db: unwatched Folders: unwatched History: unwatched History.apdb: unwatched ImageProxies.apdb: unwatched Keywords.plist: unwatched Library.apdb: unwatched Places: unwatched Properties.apdb: unwatched SpanCache.plist: unwatched tmSync.plist: unwatched Vaults: unwatched Versions: unwatched Volumes: unwatched user@AsusA54C:~/Dropbox/ONLINE ONLY (cloud storage)/Dec 2014 to Jan 2015.photolibrary/Database$
Many thanks. What next please ?
Hi Iplicjian,
All those "unwatched" don't look well. Let start step by step. You haven't checked your whatches limit yet, as I suggested. Let's make sure you have some basic tools installed using following:
sudo apt-get install tree jq
Now, current watch limits could be evaluated using following:
db_path=`jq -r '.personal.path' ~/.dropbox/info.json`; echo -n "Your Dropbox folder $db_path entries approximate count is "; tree -a "$db_path" | wc -l; sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_watches
Most probably Dropbox folder entries are above the limit, but let see the result. 🤔
Thanks !
Installed tree (whatever that is!); no problem.
user@AsusA54C:~$ db_path=`jq -r '.personal.path' ~/.dropbox/info.json`; echo -n "Your Dropbox folder $db_path entries approximate count is "; tree -a "$db_path" | wc -l; sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_watches Your Dropbox folder /home/user/Dropbox entries approximate count is 85186 fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 8192
What next please ?
🙂 Yes, as I have guessed 85186 is much bigger than 8192! The limit have to be above the actual value. Next some reserve addition, you can use the suggestion from the error, you have received previous, without any change. I'm repeating it below:
echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=100000 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf; sudo sysctl -p
To make sure limit is above the current entries count, repeat the check you just make in your previous post. Force Dropbox application to reload the just made settings using following:
dropbox stop; dropbox start; dropbox version; dropbox status
Check if the 'unwatched' entries are still unwatched (can be needed some time - many files are probably out of sync):
cd ~/Dropbox/ONLINE\ ONLY\ \(cloud\ storage\)/Dec\ 2014\ to\ Jan\ 2015.photolibrary/Database/; dropbox filestatus
🤔
Thanks very much. Done all that. No errors. Dropbox latest version and syncing. However, I am not yet seeing the hundreds of files that have been added / updated in the last four weeks.
I shall leave it to sync all day BUT, if we are still not syncing, is there anything else that we can do? For example remove all trace of Dropbox from my system and start over ?
It's clearly frustrating for you but more so for me when I think that my Win10 amd Mac systems work faultlessly as they have for YEARS !
Thanks for your support. John
user@AsusA54C:~$ echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=100000 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf; sudo sysctl -p [sudo] password for user: fs.inotify.max_user_watches=100000 fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 100000 fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 100000 fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 100000 user@AsusA54C:~$ dropbox stop Dropbox isn't responding! user@AsusA54C:~$ dropbox stop Dropbox isn't responding! user@AsusA54C:~$ dropbox start Starting Dropbox...dropbox: locating interpreter dropbox: logging to /tmp/dropbox-antifreeze-LBJEwR dropbox: initializing dropbox: initializing python 3.7.9 dropbox: setting program path '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/dropbox' dropbox: setting python path '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517:/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/python-packages.zip' dropbox: python initialized dropbox: running dropbox dropbox: setting args dropbox: enabling allocator metrics dropbox: applying overrides dropbox: running main script dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._constant_time.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/apex._apex.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/tornado.speedups.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/wrapt._wrappers.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/PyQt5.QtWidgets.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/PyQt5.QtCore.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/PyQt5.QtGui.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/PyQt5.QtNetwork.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' Dropbox isn't running! Done! user@AsusA54C:~$ dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-109.4.517/PyQt5.QtDBus.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so' cd ~/Dropbox/ONLIdropbox version Dropbox daemon version: 109.4.517 Dropbox command-line interface version: 2020.03.04 user@AsusA54C:~$ dropbox status Syncing 45,868 files • 2 hrs Indexing 273 files... Uploading 3 files... Downloading 45,592 files (0.0 KB/sec, 2 hrs) user@AsusA54C:~$
So, after almost 24 hrs syncing, Dropbox shows an up to date status. HOWEVER, the folders and files show me that nothing has synced for the poast month. I have executed Dropbox stop; Dropbox start and Dropbox status. Status now says and shows syncing but, after 30 seconds shows and reports Up to date. However the folders and files are NOT up to date.
Can anyone suggest what I can do, other than give up or return to a Win10 box ? :-(
STOP PRESS!
In the last 5 mins (just after I had posted the above). The folders and files have miraculously updated without any apparent syncing taking place!
It seems to be working.
I shall harvest the commans used in case I need them in the future. Meanwhile, thank you all very much for your patience and help.
Regards from a locked-down SW France.
John
Thank you, I had the exact same problem, and it seems the limit of "watched" files was ridiculously small. I have increased it to 500000 (instead of "just" 100000), just in case (I already have almost 300000 files in my Dropbox!)
Are you syncing to an external drive? The very basic interface for Dropbox
for Linux does not show my external drivesNo, I don't use it with external drives. I keep a backup of only the most important files on my external drive, leaving the bulk of the storing to Dropbox and the cloud...
