files missing in synced folders on Linux, but not online or on Windows

[sleepysloth]

I've been using Linux for a few months and the Linux version of Dropbox has been great. Recently, though, I wiped Linux, installed Windows, and then installed Linux again so I can dual-boot. I didn't have this problem on Linux before. All the folders and sub-folders are showing up, and some are synced perfectly, but others will have some files in them and not others. All the folders in question are checked on selective sync and should be syncing. 

Al the files are showing up correctly in Windows. The files are also present on my online Dropbox. Since setting up the dual-boot, I've added files on Windows, and those have all synced properly to the Linux folder. 

All of the missing files I've noticed have been Photoshop files, but there might be other kinds I just haven't noticed yet. Other Photoshop files are there, though! A lot of the new files I added in Windows are Photoshop files, and again, those are all showing up on Linux perfectly. Dropbox on Linux says that everything is synced. 

How can I get all the files to show up on Linux again? 

I don't know if I explained this very clearly, let me know and I can clarify anything that didn't make sense. 

[Здравко]

Hi @sleepysloth,

Now everything seems better. Should be some other issue. Can you post the log on dropbox start? Actually, post the result of:

dropbox stop; rm -rf /mnt/sdc1/Dropbox/.dropbox*; dropbox start

Wait for the moment when startup process finished completely. Let's see if there are some helper messages (sometimes could be when something goes wrong).

You can try following command:

(IFS=$'\n'; for a in `find /mnt/sdc1/Dropbox -type d -print`; do if [[ "$a" =~ "/.dropbox" ]]; then echo "<empty>"; else cd $a; echo "In directory $a:"; dropbox filestatus; fi; done) | grep -vE "<empty>|up to date|\.dropbox|infinite" | grep -B 1 -vE "In directory .+:"

Is the result showing some file or folder "unwatched" or similar unusual state? 🤔 The best case would be nothing. Also can you take a look around places where miss entries? Is there something unusual (containing folder gets out of sync, for example)? 🧐

[sleepysloth]

For the first one, I got: 

Dropbox isn't responding!
Dropbox isn't responding!
Dropbox is already running!

For the second one, it listed all my main folders followed by "unwatched," then started listing the files inside with the same result, but then it started saying "Dropbox isn't running!" after each file instead. It was doing this for every file in my entire Dropbox, so I ended the process, started Dropbox, and tried again. I waited over 10 minutes and it didn't produce any visible results, or stop running, so finally I killed the process again. 

[Здравко]

🤔🧐 Strange! Maybe your computer is too slow!? Anyway... Let's try in smaller steps. Try stop the daemon at first, using following:

dropbox stop
dropbox status

Execute above commands one by one. Repeat "dropbox status", if needed, till result "Dropbox isn't running!".

Once the status shows that daemon gets completely stopped, execute following:

rm -rf /mnt/sdc1/Dropbox/.dropbox*

After that, run the daemon back, using following:

dropbox start

Wait for some time to daemon gets running back. Can pass a while. Once prompt comes up, post the result - everything from the last command to the end (the end could be after the prompt).

[sleepysloth]

Here's what I got: 

Starting Dropbox...dropbox: locating interpreter
dropbox: logging to /tmp/dropbox-antifreeze-GzHJDj
dropbox: initializing
dropbox: initializing python 3.7.9
dropbox: setting program path '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/dropbox'
dropbox: setting python path '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368:/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/python-packages.zip'
dropbox: python initialized
dropbox: running dropbox
dropbox: setting args
dropbox: enabling allocator metrics
dropbox: applying overrides
dropbox: running main script
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/apex._apex.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/tornado.speedups.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/wrapt._wrappers.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/PyQt5.QtWidgets.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/PyQt5.QtCore.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/PyQt5.QtGui.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/naomi/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-116.4.368/PyQt5.QtDBus.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
Dropbox isn't running!
Done!

Then it said: 

(dropbox:8651): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: 16:02:29.903: About to Show called on an item wihtout submenus.  We're ignoring it.

[Здравко]

Ok, all seems fine. Let's see the last steps. Check the current status using following:

dropbox status

Post the result and try again the following:

(IFS=$'\n'; for a in `find /mnt/sdc1/Dropbox -type d -print`; do if [[ "$a" =~ "/.dropbox" ]]; then echo "<empty>"; else cd $a; echo "In directory $a:"; dropbox filestatus; fi; done) | grep -vE "<empty>|up to date|\.dropbox|infinite" | grep -B 1 -vE "In directory .+:"

... to see if there is something wrong. Is there something received as a troublesome? 🤔 Hope if there is, the troubles to be less than before. Post such results, if there are some.

[sleepysloth]

For the first one, it said "Up to date." 

The second one took quite awhile. Eventually it produced "bash: cd: too many arguments." 

[Здравко]

---

@sleepysloth wrote:
...

The second one took quite awhile. Eventually it produced "bash: cd: too many arguments." 

---

🤔 I confess, can't be sure what this means. If your folders/files count is big, the time for enumerating and evaluating every one is proportional, so it's normal to "took quite awhile". There is single "cd" command that in all calls takes single argument only. Can do you post the part where Eventually it produced "bash: cd: too many arguments."? 🧐

[sleepysloth]

That's the only thing it displayed. I did it again and it still just displayed "bash: cd: too many arguments" and nothing else. 

[Здравко]

---

@sleepysloth wrote:

That's the only thing it displayed. I did it again and it still just displayed "bash: cd: too many arguments" and nothing else. 

---

🤔Hm... The only chance such things to happen is using within file/folder name some unusual symbol, like semicolon, and some very old bash interpreter version. For actual versions this shouldn't be an issue, but... Let's try a bit patched variant of the command:

(IFS=$'\n'; for a in `find /mnt/sdc1/Dropbox -type d -print`; do if [[ "$a" =~ "/.dropbox" ]]; then echo "<empty>"; else echo "In directory $a:"; cd "$a"; dropbox filestatus; fi; done) 2>&1 | grep -vE "<empty>|up to date|\.dropbox|infinite" | grep -B 1 -vE "In directory .+:"

Now even for an old and buggy bash interpreter this should work (no chance the only argument be interpreted as multiple) and even when there is such or other error gonna be clear where exactly (in which directory) it happens. Let's see... 🧐

[sleepysloth]

This just didn't produce anything for me. I tried it a couple times. It took awhile each time and then just displayed a blank command prompt.