Introduction

dbx-tools is a set of command line tools to manually keep a local directory in sync with your Dropbox.

In a production environment, use one of the releases tagged in Git. And, keep in mind: This is experimental software! Use it responsibly, especially when manipulating lots of files at once.

dbx-tools depends on dbxcli. It was tested with dbxcli Git release v2.1.1. Note that the version number in the output of dbxcli version does not match that of the Git release:

dbxcli version: 0.1.0
SDK version: 4.5.0
Spec version: a1d5111

dbx-tools was originally written for interfacing with Dropbox from within the Termux terminal emulator for Android.

Sample session

1. Make sure that dbxcli is available and that you are logged into Dropbox:

   ~$ dbxcli account
   

2. Create a path for your Dropbox and tell dbx-tools about it.

   ~$ mkdir Dropbox
   ~$ export DBX_HOME="$HOME/Dropbox"
   

3. Enable dbx-cd:

   ~$ source "`which dbx-cd-source`"
   

4. To get help on any command, use the -h option:

   ~$ dbx-ls -h
   Usage: dbx-ls […]
   

5. Navigate your Dropbox, noticing that local paths are created if necessary:

   ~$ cd Dropbox
   ~/Dropbox$ dbx-ls
   Pictures/
   Documents/
   Info.txt
   ~/Dropbox$ dbx-cd Documents
   ~/Dropbox/Documents$ dbx-pwd
   /Documents
   

6. Create and upload a file:

   ~/Dropbox$ echo Hello >Greeting.txt
   ~/Dropbox$ dbx-put Greeting.txt
   […]
   ~/Dropbox$ dbx-ls -l
   Revision         Size  Last modified  Path
   […]
   54913be5010b7a9a 6 B   47 seconds ago Greeting.txt
   […]
   

7. Try to upload the same file again:

   ~/Dropbox$ dbx-put Greeting.txt
   [skipped]
   

   Files that have been previously uploaded are skipped. This functionality compares hashes of file meta data plus file content. If a file is moved, then its meta data changes, and it will be uploaded again on dbx-put.

8. Create and upload a directory:

   ~/Dropbox$ mkdir Greetings
   ~/Dropbox$ echo Hello >Greetings/en
   ~/Dropbox$ echo Hallo >Greetings/de
   ~/Dropbox$ echo Salut >Greetings/fr
   ~/Dropbox$ echo Hola >Greetings/es
   ~/Dropbox$ dbx-put Greetings
   […]
   ~/Dropbox$ dbx-ls -R
   […]
   Greetings/
   […]
   Greetings/en
   Greetings/de
   Greetings/fr
   Greetings/es
   […]
   

9. Download a file:

   ~/Dropbox$ dbx-get Goodbye.txt
   […]
   

10. Try to download the same file again:

    ~/Dropbox$ dbx-get Goodbye.txt
    [skipped]
    

    Files that have been previously downloaded are skipped. This functionality compares revsions of files. Note that if a file is moved or renamed, then its revision changes, i.e. it will be downloaded again.

11. Download a directory

    ~/Dropbox$ dbx-get Goodbyes
    […]
    

12. Delete a file:

    ~/Dropbox$ dbx-rm Greetings.txt
    […]
    ~/Dropbox$ dbx-ls -l
    Revision         Size  Last modified  Path
    […]
    [remote file is missing]
    […]
    ~/Dropbox$ ls -l
    […]
    [local file has been deleted as well]
    […]
    

13. Remove a directory:

    ~/Dropbox$ dbx-rm -r Greetings
    […]
    

14. Clear hashes and revisions generated when uploading respectively downloading files:

    ~/Dropbox$ dbx-clear-cache
    […]
    

    Clearing the cache should rarely be necessary. It takes up little space, and keeping it prevents unnecessary uploads and downloads.

15. When moving around with dbx-cd, lots of unused empty directories may be created. To clean up empty directories in $DBX_HOME, use:

    ~/Dropbox$ dbx-clean
    […]
    

Coding conventions

• $VARIABLE_NAME

• function-name

• Maximum line length: 70

• Indentation depth: 4 spaces

License

Except where noted otherwise, files are licensed under the WTFPL.

Copyright © 2018 Felix E. Klee

This work is free. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License, Version 2, as published by Sam Hocevar. See the COPYING file for more details.