Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

@Stefano, you could call it DevBox :)

I think your proposal is great if a little bit impractical. Realistically speaking you'd need a lot of time and effort. While your suggestions are sound, I'd start small with minimal features if I'd have to do it. But it could become a great project.

@Raphael C, contacting support is the best move. i can't believe they are ignoring this thread, i'm more inclined to think they just don't read this posts.

@Elad

I just tried Arq, and the biggest issue I have with it is that it doesn't sync. I use Dropbox for backing up and syncing my data. Arq only does one of those things.

@Elad thanks for the Arq tip off. Arq say they also support dropbox as their cloud store, which sounds like perfect option for me. Has anyone here tried it out with Dropbox?

I ditched Dropbox paid account. For development I use Arq, backing up directly to S3/Glacier and it has exclude patterns too.

I use Dropbox only for some documents and such, on the free plan.

I started using pCloud for development. They have a great linux client (and windows and mac) and do pattern matching for ignoring files and folders which seems to work great. It is system wide though but that is OK for my use case.

You just have to remember to sync a local folder on your system, as by default the pCloudDrive folder is just a networked folder, kind of like what Dropbox's project infinity is meant to be and I don't recommend messing with that (remote) folder.

I still use Dropbox, but for other things, as Dropbox is still excellent when it comes to 3rd party integrations and it has them practically everywhere.

edit: Also, pCloud's LAN syncing worked great for me 

edit: Linux to Linux LAN syncing worked well, but Linux to Windows seems problematic. 

@Stefano, that is a great suggestion and it would be pretty funny if the customer feedback forum of Dropbox led to another cloud storage service or even company being created :p

I cancelled my dropbox account last month because of this, I've been using btsync which has this exact feature and a much more user friendly selective sync. So far, so good.

Only issue is there is no centralised server but that works for me as I use my NAS as the ultimate source of truth.

@Rapheal For the record, it seems that onedrive has a very similar group of frustrated users:
https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/262982-onedrive/suggestions/6988070-use-a-file-to-ignore-exclude-files-or-folder

Just sent a link to this topic to their support, maybe they'll at least communicate.

Are they even seeing this? It's funny they don't reply, either the company is not going so well or they really suck at costumer service. Either way, maybe if we open ticket requests pointing to this, they will be forced to give some feedback.

Maybe Microsoft will see this and start making OneDrive a better tool for developers, they have been good at listening to users (specially devs) requests lately.

Ok, it seems this thread isn't going anywhere. Dropbox started with an Ideabox (do you remember it?) when it was really interested to their customers' opinion. Now it's not as such anymore.

But... but we are developers, so... why don't we do ourself this service? A "developer oriented" Dropbox with the thing we need (and more).

I can imagine it as such:

• The server would be Docker (or Chef, Vagrant, etc…) encapsulated so you can push it on AWS, Azure, etc…
• The storage can be directly attached (a local disk), an ethernet storage or a cloud storage like S3, Google Docs, etc…
• Possibility to keep timely offsite backups on remote disk, Amazon Glacier or low cost storage options for increased security.
• The server would have a web interface for configuring and managing the projects.
• The server can have an “emergency” web editor for coding on the go.
• You will have a native sync tool on your computer or device (of course).
• Everything will be encrypted with a key you decide.
• This tool will read .gitignore files and Git (or SVN) remotes in folders. You can override .gitignore using a .somethingignore file.
• Can be told to follow symlinks or not (sometimes it’s useful)
• You will have infinite versions of file, with git pushes visible as milestones between directly from the webinterface/interface (a better reference than “2 days ago” file).
• You can connect to Github (or your git remote) and push/pull actual synced folders to/from remotes from the web interface (you can push/pull on mobility)
• Your sync client will give remote ssh access to your computers (if they are on) so you can run your Node (or anything you can run in console) on the go and debug from the web editor.
• The server will born “API oriented”, so can be consumed by editors (Atom, Sublime, Textmate) that can offer revisions in the interface, and from web services like ITTT.
• You can download a “patch” file between revisions, so you can apply (and distribute) this instead of the whole file.
• You can invite remote Github collaborators to your server, or anyone (readonly, write, etc… access) via mail.
• This would be a “self managed” solution that can be offered as a Cloud solution for a modest fee (for business). Dev folders are normally very light, so it will require less space than other solutions, so cheaper plans.

This could be considered as a “niche Dev Dropbox” you can have along Dropbox if you want (until Dropbox understand that developing the “.dropboxignore” feature would require a day of work and would make a bunch of customers happy) or replace it totally.

We could do it together as an open source project, and, after that, scream "screw Dropbox" for not listening to us.