Hello everyone. I was wondering if there is any intention or an already started project maybe for developing a GNOME app (or GNOME circle app) for 2-way cloud syncing of files[1]. I would be happy to contribute as an early tester, should such an undertaking come into shape[2].
Short disclaimer: this is not a request of any kind, but rather an act of showing my appreciation towards GNOME as a great project, and my way of offering my input, as small as it may seem.
Background: I have moved most of my cloud data from iCloud to a cloud provider using standard protocols (CalDAV and CardDAV for Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and WebDAV for file storage), and using GNOME & GNOME circle apps for most of the features (GOA, GNOME Calendar, GNOME Contacts, Errands), but for syncing of files I have to rely on rclone’s bisync functionality.
Some reasoning (arguments in favor of, existing alternatives etc):
- A drive client app for syncing cloud storage into the native file system seems to be the missing piece of GNOME Desktop apps for groupware syncing.
- While we have drives mounted via GOA, and as such it is a great product, it’s rather suited for occasional browsing of cloud storage files, but not for regular editing etc.
- There are some proprietary (e.g. Dropbox), as well as free and non-free open-source (e.g. Nextcloud, Proton) GUI solutions which provide drive clients, but only a few are working with standard protocols, and none of them are GTK apps AFAIK.
rclone bisyncis great CLI utility[3], might be complex for the average desktop user though, and even more so if it needs to be set up as a service.- There are a few
rcloneGUIs in different stages of development[4], but all seem to try to replicate many ofrclone’s various functionalities, which would make them complex and possibly buggy.
So I imagine a GNOME app which would only target the 2-way syncing feature of rclone, possibly only for specific standard protocols, addressing the needs of regular desktop users.