Arch Linux

Tétrapyle

Member

Registered: 2014-01-03

Posts: 53

no GUI for dropbox (-> you need a system tray to access some settings)

Hi!

I installed dropbox on my computer with the packages in the AUR. It seems to run fine (that is: files get synchronized) but with no GUI.
The issue is : there is no GUI whereas I think it's supposed to be there.
There are various threads on the Internet about similar issues but I couldn't find anything relevant. Or maybe I missed something?

I'm using xmonad. So there's no system tray or application menu...
I stopped the systemd user service and launched manually: no GUI either (but still working). Here's the output:

$  dropbox-cli start
Starting Dropbox...dropbox: locating interpreter
dropbox: logging to /tmp/dropbox-antifreeze-X5ka4t
dropbox: initializing
dropbox: initializing python 2.7.11
dropbox: setting program path '/opt/dropbox/dropbox'
dropbox: setting home path '/opt/dropbox'
dropbox: setting python path '/opt/dropbox:/opt/dropbox/python-packages-27.zip'
dropbox: python initialized
dropbox: running dropbox
dropbox: setting args
dropbox: applying overrides
dropbox: running main script
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._constant_time.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/psutil._psutil_linux.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/psutil._psutil_posix.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/linuxffi.pthread._linuxffi_pthread.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/tornado.speedups.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/cpuid.compiled._cpuid.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/linuxffi.resolv.compiled._linuxffi_resolv.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/linuxffi.sys.compiled._linuxffi_sys.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/posixffi.libc._posixffi_libc.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/librsyncffi.compiled._librsyncffi.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtWebKit.so'
Dropbox isn't running!
Done!
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtCore.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtNetwork.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtGui.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtWebKitWidgets.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtWidgets.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtPrintSupport.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtDBus.so'

Actually, I just need the GUI to change the dropbox directory's location, and when it's done, I don't want it anymore. But that's not the point.

Any idea?

Last edited by Tétrapyle (2018-05-06 16:15:58)

WorMzy

Forum Moderator

From: Scotland

Registered: 2010-06-16

Posts: 11,846

Website

Re: no GUI for dropbox (-> you need a system tray to access some settings)

I'm not at all familiar with dropbox, but it seems like you're explicitly running the command line tool (dropbox-cli)? Is there a non -cli binary you can run instead? Which packages did you install from the AUR?

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Tétrapyle

Member

Registered: 2014-01-03

Posts: 53

Re: no GUI for dropbox (-> you need a system tray to access some settings)

Well, I also tried the binary dropbox (it seems that dropbox-cli start is a wrapper).

I installed the packages dropbox and dropbox-cli from the AUR, and for good measure libappindicator-gtk3, perl-file-mimeinfo (I had xdg-utils), python-pyqt5 (I had python2-pyqt5).

Edit:
I tried with Openbox. Same thing, when running the command dropbox, the last output is :

dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtDBus.so'

The sync is working but no GUI.
By the way, I'm not sure what they mean by GUI. Is there a window or is it just a clickable icon somewhere?

Last edited by Tétrapyle (2018-05-05 12:44:48)

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: no GUI for dropbox (-> you need a system tray to access some settings)

dropbox only starts the legacy tray icon (apart from the first time you launch it I assume), that you can use to access the settings. I don't know if there's any other way to access dropbox's settings. Did you check 'dropbox-cli help' for such option?

Tétrapyle

Member

Registered: 2014-01-03

Posts: 53

Re: no GUI for dropbox (-> you need a system tray to access some settings)

Oh yes I checked. dropbox-cli cannot change this setting (that is change the directory). There has been some workarounds, but either out-of-date (e.g. there used to be a dropbox.db in ~/.dropbox but there's not anymore) or simply not satisfying (some have used symlinks or changed $HOME while installing, etc.).

$ dropbox-cli help
Dropbox command-line interface

commands:

Note: use dropbox help <command> to view usage for a specific command.

 status       get current status of the dropboxd
 throttle     set bandwidth limits for Dropbox
 help         provide help
 puburl       get public url of a file in your dropbox's public folder
 stop         stop dropboxd
 running      return whether dropbox is running
 start        start dropboxd
 filestatus   get current sync status of one or more files
 ls           list directory contents with current sync status
 autostart    automatically start dropbox at login
 exclude      ignores/excludes a directory from syncing
 lansync      enables or disables LAN sync
 sharelink    get a shared link for a file in your dropbox
 proxy        set proxy settings for Dropbox

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: no GUI for dropbox (-> you need a system tray to access some settings)

In that case, I guess the only way to access the settings is via the tray icon. There are many lightweight X panels with systray, or standalone systray applications that you could install for that.

Tétrapyle

Member

Registered: 2014-01-03

Posts: 53

Re: no GUI for dropbox (-> you need a system tray to access some settings)

Thanks a lot, WorMzy and ooo!

My personal issue is solved : change the sync directory location! I didn't know there was such a thing as a systray app. I added a note about that in the wiki. I installed one, changed the settings before the windows went in a complete mess and my keyboard stopped responding, then hard rebooted and uninstalled it.

However, I cannot mark the thread as solved, since it's about the missing GUI : I don't consider an icon in a systray with some popups as a GUI, plus Dropbox seems to imply that such an application does exist but you don't see any useful message about it when you launch the program with the command line. But this is something Dropbox should take care of, not really our concern.