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Ubuntu headless install not working

I'm trying to do the Linux headless install as described at https://www.dropbox.com/install on an Ubuntu 16.04 workstation. It works until I get to the point in the instructions that say "If you're running Dropbox on your server for the first time, you'll be asked to copy and paste a link in a working browser to create a new account or add your server to an existing account."

I don't get any notice of the URL to use. The last thing I see when I start dropboxd from my command line is "Opening in existing browser session" -- but no URL is provided.

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Walter

Assuming that this is not caused by an antivirus, firewall or VPN/proxy setting on this specific machine, I'll need to ask: have you downloaded the Python script from that page as well @tn3?

If possible, could you change your default browser and try again too?

PS: For a list of all the system requirements take a look below:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/system-requirements

All comments

DavidLedger

Created shell script on the AWS server, while connected to it from an xterm on the Ubuntu laptop via ssh.

david@ivdweb:11$: cat bin/droptest
#!/bin/bash
# @(#) test Dropbox on AWS Lightsail Linux

dropbox start
lsb_release -d; echo "Shell: $SHELL"; echo "Display: $DISPLAY"; echo "User: $USER"; echo "Home: $HOME"; echo "Installed: $(dpkg -s dropbox | grep Package)"; cat ~/.dropbox/dropbox.pid; echo; ps -C dropbox; dropbox status; dropbox filestatus ~/Dropbox
pid="$(cat .dropbox/dropbox.pid)"
while ps -fp $pid; do sleep 1; done

Ran it on the AWS server, connected from an xterm on the Ubuntu laptop via ssh.

and got:

david@ivdweb:10$: droptest
Starting Dropbox...dropbox: locating interpreter
dropbox: logging to /tmp/dropbox-antifreeze-gTnSE0
dropbox: initializing
dropbox: initializing python 3.7.5
dropbox: setting program path '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/dropbox'
dropbox: setting python path '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273:/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/python-packages.zip'
dropbox: python initialized
dropbox: running dropbox
dropbox: setting args
dropbox: applying overrides
dropbox: running main script
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._constant_time.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/apex._apex.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/tornado.speedups.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/PyQt5.QtCore.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/PyQt5.QtGui.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/PyQt5.QtNetwork.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/PyQt5.QtWidgets.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
Dropbox isn't running!
Done!
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/PyQt5.QtDBus.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Shell: /bin/bash
Display: localhost:10.0
User: david
Home: /home/david
Installed: Package: dropbox
30309
PID TTY TIME CMD
30309 ? 00:00:03 dropbox
Dropbox isn't running!

Dropbox isn't running!
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 77 12:19 ? 00:00:03 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 61 12:19 ? 00:00:03 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 52 12:19 ? 00:00:03 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 47 12:19 ? 00:00:03 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 51 12:19 ? 00:00:04 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 56 12:19 ? 00:00:05 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 60 12:19 ? 00:00:06 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 55 12:19 ? 00:00:06 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 51 12:19 ? 00:00:06 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 53 12:19 ? 00:00:06 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 54 12:19 ? 00:00:07 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 56 12:19 ? 00:00:08 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 57 12:19 ? 00:00:09 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 55 12:19 ? 00:00:10 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 56 12:19 ? 00:00:10 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 47 12:19 ? 00:00:10 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 44 12:19 ? 00:00:11 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david 30309 1 41 12:19 ? 00:00:11 /home/bitnami/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273/
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
david@ivdweb:11$:

That's 18 x 1 second loops before the process dies. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The file entries added recently on the laptop have not arrived at the AWS server.

The only things that I have done on the local laptop are (i) visit the URL specified during the Dropbox install on the AWS server. (ii) start xterms and ssh into the AWS server. (iii) take part in this discussion.

Thanks,

David

Здравко

Hi @DavidLedger,

One last test, just to confirm my suspicions. 🙂 What is the result from:

ls -l1 ~/.dropbox-*

🤔

DavidLedger

david@ivdweb:1$: ls -l1 ~/.dropbox-*
total 12
-rw-rw-r-- 1 david david 8 Mar 19 17:58 VERSION
drwxrwxr-x 6 david david 4096 Mar 19 17:58 dropbox-lnx.x86_64-93.4.273
-rwxr-xr-x 1 david david 101 Mar 19 17:58 dropboxd
david@ivdweb:2$:

Здравко

Waw... To be honest, that wasn't expected. I thought, you has made alias of your Dropbox install. Seems this isn't the case. The only possibility, I can think of, is home directory alias (error prone choice for setup). Let's try:

echo "Declared home: $HOME"; echo "Real home: $(readlink -e $HOME)"

What's the result? Are the two paths different?

DavidLedger

david@ivdweb:5$: echo "Declared home: $HOME"; echo "Real home: $(readlink -e $HOME)"
Declared home: /home/david
Real home: /home/bitnami
david@ivdweb:6$:

The HOME for david is a symlink to the system generated /home/bitnami to make some of the Lightsail setup easier. Wouldn't expect it to cause a problem. Been doing things like that for years - and I've been a Unix sysadmin since 1983. I would expect software to find $HOME once at startup and then just use the inode.

Do I assume Dropbox doesn't like this?

David

Здравко

@DavidLedger wrote:
... I would expect software to find $HOME once at startup and then just use the inode.
Do I assume Dropbox doesn't like this?
...

Don't make assumptions, which are not confirmed! As a sysadmin you have to know that! 😱 Seems you have known the problem in advance. I suppose you know what follows (as a sysadmin). 😜

Be more careful in future. Have a nice evening!

DavidLedger

As a sysadmin with an understanding of system internals I'm surprised that it causes a problem. There's no reason why it should. Obviously I was aware of the link, but not that Dropbox would object. I'll flip the link and see if that fixes it.

DavidLedger

Flipped the link, but still the same problem. This time 15 loops of the sleep script.

david@ivdweb:3$: echo "Declared home: $HOME"; echo "Real home: $(readlink -e $HOME)"
Declared home: /home/david
Real home: /home/david
david@ivdweb:4$:

Would Dropbox have to be re-installed from scratch to complete the fix (assuming that was the problem)?

Здравко

@DavidLedger wrote:
...
Would Dropbox have to be re-installed from scratch to complete the fix (assuming that was the problem)?

Could be? Or re-link, at least. Try. Using following, for example:

dropbox stop
rm -rf ~/.dropbox
dropbox start

If no joy, try following:

dropbox stop
rm -rf ~/.dropbox ~/.dropbox-dist
dropbox start -i

As a last resort, remove the Dropbox directory too.

Good luck.