Stop Dropbox from attempting to sync a socket

[Rob B.35]

I am continually seeing an error about op-daemon.sock (a socket created/used by 1Password, but this is just a specific example) with a completely misleading description that the filename contains invalid characters.

The guidance to set the `com.dropbox.ignored` attribute does not help because:

    xattr: [Errno 102] Operation not supported on socket

Shouldn't Dropbox recognize sockets and skip over them?

[Megan]

Hi @Rob B.35, let's jump right into this!

If I understand this right, you're coming across some errors when it comes down to syncing some of your socket files using our app.

Could you clarify -or even send us a few screenshots- of the error you get when this happens, and some example file names that this happens to?

I would also like for you to locate your Dropbox icon on your task bar, next to your WiFi and hover your mouse there and let me know the version of the app that you use on your end.

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

[Rob B.35]

Here's a screenshot.

The filename is op-daemon.sock

I'm currently running the Beta (if you mean in the upper-left of the pop-up)

It's specifically *this* file that is reported. I don't know if there are other sockets that are being process (or ignored!) successfully. Note that this file does not appear in the Finder, which makes the "Go to file" option somewhat confusing. From a terminal I can produce:

$ ls -ltra

total 8.0K

-rw-r--r-- 1 rab staff rab  66 2023-01-05 15:07 plugins.sh

drwx------ 4 rab staff rab 128 2023-01-05 15:22 plugins/

srwxr-xr-x 1 rab staff rab   0 2023-01-23 17:50 op-daemon.sock=

drwx------ 6 rab staff rab 192 2023-01-23 17:50 ./

-rw------- 1 rab staff rab 144 2023-01-23 17:50 config

drwxr-xr-x 9 rab staff rab 288 2023-03-23 15:23 ../

(Note that the / and = are indications of the file type, namely, direcory or socket, and not part of the names.)

[BenDBX]

Hi @Rob B.35 

I have handed this issue off to a specialized team who is currently investigating. We will update you when we have more information!

Regards,

Ben

[radical_exponent · Accepted solution]

Hi @Rob B.35,

The error / help text here is _definitely_ unhelpful. It should just tell you that syncing special files (in this case, a unix domain socket I think) is not supported. We're working on fixing the error text.

The actual underlying error here is that the item is not a regular file (or dir or symlink), and the sync engine is refusing to sync it for that reason. The error itself is safe to ignore. The sync engine can't/wont sync that file, and if I understand correctly, that's the desired end state anyway.

Right now I don't think we have a way to permanently suppress the error, since as you discovered you can't add the com.dropbox.ignored xattr to a unix domain socket.