Dropbox requests root password to change the ~/.dropbox folder's permissions

[Cbhihe]

Spoiler

platform: Archlinux with dropbox version 44.4.58-1

The message is new to me. See snapshot below:

Why ? What for ? This folder has permissions corresponding to the single user using /usr/bin/dropbox on that system.

I have seen quite a few queries/complaints about similar issues with `dropbox` complaining about incorrect privileges, particularly from Mac users, both on this forum and on other ones.  The desktop software you make available not being FOSS it is impossible to know what is going on.
Can you explain that root password request and provide a way to circumvent the issue ?

Cheers.

[Walter · Accepted solution]

Hey there @Cbhihe - sorry to hear about this.

Can you please let me know if you get the same message on our latest version of the app (hint:it's 57.4.89) as found in this page? 

Also, could you make sure you're meeting all of our requirements as per this page?

As per the password request, it's possible that your device's home directory is locked and that's why our client (i.e. the desktop app) is asking for your machine's password. Do you have your Dropbox folder on an ext4 formatted drive? 

In any case, keep me posted on your findings and we'll take it from there. Thanks!

[Cbhihe]

Thanks Walter for yr prompt reply.

- I clicked "Cancel" on the dialog box and did not type in the root passwd.

- I partially nuked dropbox off that box, i.e. I removed everything apart from some config files.

- Yes, every volume on that particular OS is on ext4, except for the minimal EFI partition, which is FAT32 of course.  On some other systems (where I did not see the issue at hand) it is different though. Some use NTFS, etc.

- I re-installed the most recent version of dropbox available in AUR , v.55.4.171-1.
Except for bleeding edge  devs, you will find that very few are willing to install offline (i.e. with a tar ball, per your suggestion) because it means more maintenance (busy work) to keep things  up to date.

- I also re-installed the only plugin I use related to the dropbox service: `nautilus-dropbox`.

- I re-enabled and restarted the daemon, service and all.

So far so good. Will keep you posted if I see something strange happen again. If not, will mark this as answered and closed in a week time. I put an alarm internally on my ticket just for that.

Thank you.

[Walter]

Thank you for your update @Cbhihe - glad to hear this works for you now.

I'm leaving this thread open too - you can always circle back here to let me know if you stumble upon any issues again. 

Thanks for using Dropbox and enjoy the rest of your day! 

[Cbhihe]

Hi @Walter,

Your first reply solved my issue and incidentally also put me on the right tracks to solve a couple of other issues related to how systemd manages daemons (in particular the dropbox .service related one).

Thank you in any case for the heads up on how outdated my version of dropbox was.  My bad entirely.

[Walter]

Glad to hear this helped @Cbhihe!

Should you ever need anything else, just let us know. 

Thanks for using Dropbox and have a magnificent weekend!