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Dropbox without Gnome

Dropbox, the 'it just works' file syncing service, released their Linux client recently. Unfortunately, it has a heavy Gnome/Nautilus dependency. If you don't use Gnome, you can get Dropbox to work without that baggage with these steps:

  1. Download the closed source Dropbox Linux client from http://www.getdropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86 (x86_64 for 64 bit)
  2. Extract the contents and you should get a .dropbox-dist folder out of the archive. Move the folder to $HOME
  3. Run ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd.

The first time you run the dropboxd daemon, a wizard will prompt you to configure the client for your machine. By default, Dropbox syncs the contents of the ~/Dropbox folder and as long as the dropboxd daemon is running, it will transparently sync that folder with your Dropbox account. To ensure that the daemon runs whenever you use your computer, just add a symlink to it in your ~/.kde/Autostart/ folder or equivalent location.

You don't actually need to do anything beyond that since it 'just works'. But if you feel like getting hold of some of the info that the Nautilus client provides, you can download this command line utility that some kind soul has written. Hopefully, someone out there is working on KDE integration even as I write this!

The only thing that I am syncing right now with my Dropbox account is my Firefox bookmarks and history information. Firefox 3 stores this data in a file called places.sqlite which lives in the Firefox user profile folder. On my work and home computers, I just moved this file to my ~/Dropbox folder and symlinked to it from the profile folder. It's been working ok for me so far without any conflicts. Let's see if this turns out to be a better solution than Weave which has never ever worked for me.

techtalk | 23 comments | permalink | 17.09.2008 12:22 SGT


Re: Dropbox without Gnome
HS wrote on Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:58

I thought the bookmark-syncing problem was solved 4 years ago when del.icio.us was released.

Any particular reason why you use Firefox's bookmarks feature instead of that? (Esp considering the FF extension for delicious is pretty good and integrates well with the browser)


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    Re: Re: Dropbox without Gnome
    deepak wrote on Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:06

    I like to keep my temporary bookmarks, private bookmarks and work related bookmarks within the browser. I know, delicious can save private bookmarks too but I prefer keeping these bookmarks within the browser.


    Reply to this comment
Re: Dropbox without Gnome
Luke Maciak wrote on Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:28

Dude, you win the internet! Thanks for this. I've been waiting for a KDE version since the beta. I never thought of trying this though. :)


Reply to this comment
    Re: Re: Dropbox without Gnome
    deepak wrote on Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:31

    Nice! When can I have this internet delivered?! ;-)


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
Gordon Schulz wrote on Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:25

Wow, thanks a lot for this awesome tip! Now... If I could only figure out how to set preferences (proxies and such) without any of those gnome stuff. Got any ideas maybe?


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    Re: Re: Dropbox without Gnome
    deepak wrote on Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:32

    I actually have no idea what preferences dropbox provides since I don't have a Gnome box handy. Dig into the source code, maybe?


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
dexter riley wrote on Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:38

Very nice! I don't think you're meshuga; you're clearly a mensch.


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
Eric wrote on Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:51

You may wanna try a Firefox add-on called "foxmarks" for syncing bookmarks and passwords.


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
raakken wrote on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:06

Thanks m8, this works great, but the symlink thing, I have no idea how you do it... I want dropbox to start when turn on my laptop


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    Re: Re: Dropbox without Gnome
    Diablomarcus wrote on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:27

    In case you haven't figured it out yet, add this to your autostart:

    ~/dropbox-dist/dropboxd &

    (At least that works in OpenBox3)


    Reply to this comment
Re: Dropbox without Gnome
Pablo wrote on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:14

I have not tried yet, but here someone is programing the version for KDE: https://launchpad.net/dropbox-kde


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
FreeMinded wrote on Fri, 01 May 2009 17:48

Cool, works perfectly with KDE. Thanks for the tip.


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
AJ wrote on Thu, 14 May 2009 10:43

You rock! Worked like a champ!!


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
MarkyB86 wrote on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:15

This works great in XFCE!


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
bento wrote on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:14

Hey, thank for this post, at least i have dropbox and now i even don't think to back to gnome :) btw do you have link for 32bit package? i can't find it. Thanks at all :)


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
Harry wrote on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:22

Thanks for sharing that


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
Milo van der Linden wrote on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:45

Excelent! Great work changed from opensuse 11.1 Gnome to 11.2 Kde and I was terrified about losing dropbox ;( you made my day!


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Dropbox & OpenSUSE 11.2 (KDE)
Lorenzo wrote on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:51

Thanks, works great!


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
kindofabuzz wrote on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:30

New builds out: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/dropbox-lnx.x86-0.7.80.tar.gz and http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-0.7.80.tar.gz


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
Guy Mac wrote on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:37

Thanks! Works perfectly! It even adds a thing in the KDE taskbar, an unexpected bonus.


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Re: Dropbox without Gnome
Hank wrote on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:17

So, there's a new version. You can keep up to date by looking at the stickies here:

http://forums.dropbox.com/

There should be one called Latest Stable Build


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