Child Item

headless ubuntu not syncing

jainraje

Hi All,

I sucessfully installed dropbox on a headless ubuntu server using the following guide:

https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/install-dropbox-headless-ubuntu-server

The dropbox file/folders sync correctly when starting dropbox using the dropbox command line utiliy.

The dropbox daemon appears running:

$ systemctl status dropbox

● dropbox.service - Dropbox Daemon

Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/dropbox.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)

Active: active (running) since Wed 2023-01-04 13:24:15 PST; 5s ago

Process: 24630 ExecStop=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Main PID: 24635 (dropbox)

CGroup: /system.slice/dropbox.service

├─24635 /opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/dropbox

└─24671 /home/rajeev/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/dropbox /newerversion

Jan 04 13:24:16 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-38-x86_64-lin

Jan 04 13:24:16 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-38-x86_64-lin

Jan 04 13:24:17 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/tornado.speedups.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-g

Jan 04 13:24:18 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/wrapt._wrappers.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gn

Jan 04 13:24:19 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/rajeev/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/cryptography.hazmat.bindings

Jan 04 13:24:19 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/rajeev/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/apex._apex.cpython-38-x86_64

Jan 04 13:24:19 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/rajeev/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython

Jan 04 13:24:19 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/rajeev/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython

Jan 04 13:24:20 zeus dropboxd[24635]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/rajeev/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/tornado.speedups.cpython-38-

After a reboot the sync does not appear to be running and the command line states Dropbox is not running:

$ dropbox status

Dropbox isn't running!

I require the dropbox to automatically sync after reboot. What am I missing?

Find more posts tagged with

Setting Up the Apps

Desktop

Linux

Spam

Insightful

Accepted answers

jainraje

The headless ubuntu Dropbox sync is syncing now without any manual intervention).

1) Use this link to install dropbox on ubuntu: https://www.dropbox.com/install-linux

2) Use this link to setup dropbox systemd service unit: https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/install-dropbox-headless-ubuntu-server

Modify the dropbox.service file to call dropboxd using the install location in step 1 (not location in step 2 guide)

What was not clear to me before is the dropbox systemd daemon is running in superuser mode under the "username" account. To access/control the dropbox daemon from command line, sudo -u username dropbox <options> must be done.

That sums it up. Thanks to the knowledgble members who posted in the thread.

All comments

Walter

Hey @jainraje, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Can you please clarify if you've enabled the desktop app to auto-start when you boot your device as outlined here?

Let me know and we'll take it from there.

jainraje

HI Walter,

Thank you for your message.

To summarize I installed the headless dropbox on a headless ubuntu 16.04 and confired a systemd service unit to run at system boot time (using my username as opposed to root). Finally, I enabled the auto-start at system boot as any other systemd service unit by issuing the following command: $sudo systemctl enable dropbox

My understanding is the above will setup the system to always run the dropboxd after system reboot. No manual intervention is required.

The dropbox.py (Dropbox Desktop App) and dropboxd work together yes?

Every time I run dropbox status is always returns Dropbox isn't running yet some files appeared to sync correctly. So I'm really confused and do not feel confident the system is setup correctly.

Здравко

@jainraje wrote:
...
Every time I run dropbox status is always returns Dropbox isn't running yet some files appeared to sync correctly. ...

Hi @jainraje,

Did you make sure you have run 'dropbox status' under the same user context like the Dropbox daemon? Take in mind that every user can have independent Dropbox context and running the control script in one context targets the Dropbox daemon on the same context, not any other! 😉

Hope this helps.

jainraje

I believe yes to your question.

Upon closer inspection is appears the daemon is having errors starting.

$sudo journalctl -u dropbox.service

systemd[1]: dropbox.service: Main process exited, code=killed, status=9/KILL

systemd[1]: dropbox.service: Unit entered failed state.

systemd[1]: dropbox.service: Failed with result 'signal'.

Здравко

@jainraje wrote:
I believe yes to your question.
...

Hm... 🤔... What's the meaning of 'believe' above? What's it actually?! That's the matter! What's getting back following:

ps axo user,comm | grep dropbox

jainraje

Nothing comes back:

$ ps axo user,comm | grep dropbox





A few additional data points:
1) After a fresh reboot the dropbox systemd service unit fails during start-up:

$sudo journalctl -u dropbox.service

systemd[1]: Started Dropbox Daemon.
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/apex._apex.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/tornado.speedups.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-163.4.5456/wrapt._wrappers.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/apex._apex.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/tornado.speedups.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropboxd[29288]: dropbox: load fq extension '/home/user/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-164.4.7914/wrapt._wrappers.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
systemd[1]: dropbox.service: Main process exited, code=killed, status=9/KILL
systemd[1]: dropbox.service: Unit entered failed state.
systemd[1]: dropbox.service: Failed with result 'signal'.
systemd[1]: dropbox.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
systemd[1]: Stopped Dropbox Daemon.2) A dropbox process is running in memory:

2) A dropbox process is running in memory:
$top | grep dropbox
12229 user    20   0  398112  39552  20472 R 100.0  0.5   0:00.26 dropbox

Здравко

@jainraje wrote:
Nothing comes back:
$ ps axo user,comm | grep dropbox

If nothing comes back (at that moment at least), no any Dropbox daemon is running. I cannot support your service setup. You should check what's going wrong there; it's not a Dropbox issue.

@jainraje wrote:

...

...
2) A dropbox process is running in memory:
$top | grep dropbox
12229 user    20   0  398112  39552  20472 R 100.0  0.5   0:00.26 dropbox

As seems, for some reason, it starts later. Why? 🧐 It's something you should figure out.

As can be seen the context is different! Now if you just run:

dropbox status

..., you will get "Dropbox isn't running!" for sure. Cosa it's so: there is not running Dropbox daemon in "rajeev" context; it's running in "user" context.

Your default context is rajeev, but you can switch to user using something like:

sudo -u user dropbox status

Now you will get the actual context (the user context). 😉

Good luck.

jainraje

the `user` in the log was me removing my actual username. sorry that was misleading. there are only 2 contexts rajeev and root. i'm going to try to sort this out. i'm going to disable the dropbox systemd and run dropbox manually. i'll keep this thread updated. any comments or suggestions from you or others are well received. again, many thanks for your messages.

jainraje

Update:

After disabling the dropbox systemd service unit and rebooting no dropbox was running in memory according to `top`. I was then able to successfully run dropbox from the command-line. All desired file/folders are synching at this point.

Now that via the command-line dropbox is working correctly I'll focus my attention on getting dropbox to auto synch after system boot using the systemd service unit. i recall reading somewhere a delay is required to get that scheme to work.

Здравко

@jainraje, I just took a look on your "guide" (if can be said so) and there are some conceptual bugs. Don't "install" the daemon on place different than described by Dropbox (something messed by your guide). That's the source of your issues. Better build your own service instead of using unreliable guides!

jainraje

This is what I was afraid of. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to find decent/correct guides. So far I've used two with the later being the *better* of the two. Can you please point me to a dropbox community guide focused on installing drop on a headless server and setting up a dropbox systemd service unit?

Здравко

In spite Dropbox application works as a service running in user session, Dropbox doesn't support running the application in any system service level (in any way). 🤷 It's strange, but it's so and there is NOT any official distribution or guide for such services. Everybody may use whatever works. Read Dropbox application directions (i.e. the works in particular user context only) and particular service platform documentations (i.e. systemd documentation) for a way to meet Dropbox requirements. There are different possible ways, but I would rely on using control through control script (not directly) - more complicated, but more stable (trace pid by ~/.dropbox/dropbox.pid 😉).

jainraje

You useful comments help me understand and "connect the dots" sort of say on how the headless Dropbox on Linux works. I have a idea on how to get the Dropbox systemd service unit to run. I'll test it out and post back my results.

jainraje

The headless ubuntu Dropbox sync is syncing now without any manual intervention).

1) Use this link to install dropbox on ubuntu: https://www.dropbox.com/install-linux

2) Use this link to setup dropbox systemd service unit: https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/install-dropbox-headless-ubuntu-server

Modify the dropbox.service file to call dropboxd using the install location in step 1 (not location in step 2 guide)

That sums it up. Thanks to the knowledgble members who posted in the thread.