Linux panel icon won't launch Dropbox website

[josephj11]

On Linux, right clicking the Dropbox panel icon and selecting Launch Dropbox website does not work.

It creates a file in /tmp called something like dropbox-antifreeze-6bajuC and tries to run it.

There are two problems with this.

1) The first line of the file is blank making automatic file type identification fail

2) The file is identified as a perl script and opens in kate.

Removing the leading blank line and adding a .html extension to the  file name of a temporarily saved copy of the file makes it work as expected.

Since it's not remotely a perl file, I can't change my file type options in properties without potentially breaking a bunch of things,

How do I fix this?

kubuntu 18.04 Linux/KDE 5.47.0/Qt 5.9.5

[Jay]

Hi @josephj11, thanks for posting today!

Currently, the Dropbox desktop application is officially supported on Ubuntu and Fedora, and not variations on it like kubuntu.

Does the Linux installation match the requirements from this article?

Any info you can provide would be great!

[Здравко]

Hi @josephj11,

You didn't mention what exactly is your Dropbox versions (yes - plural). Can you post the result from following command:

dropbox version; dpkg-query -W dropbox

🤔 Let see what are your Dropbox application version, command control script version, and the plugin version for Nautilus.

@Jay, Just for info: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, etc... are different names of the same distribution!!! In this context what is the meaning of "not variations on it like kubuntu"??? 🧐 What is different actually? 🤔 Same kernel, same libraries, same repository, same packaging system, etc... The distinction between different "variations" is the chosen set of preinstalled packages, nothing more! And, of course, follows the different lookings and feelings. Doesn't matter what "variations" exactly you have installed in advance; in all case if you want to change something don't have to reinstall anew, but just add the coresponding packages existing in Kubuntu for example but missing in Ubuntu... and voila. In every one moment you can install every one package available on Canonical repository into every one "variation", without limitations. Can you clarify for me from the view point of Dropbox (and more generally of any software) what's the difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu, for example (or any other "variation")? 🤔 Rhetorical question, of course!

[josephj11]

dropbox version; dpkg-query -W dropbox
dropbox 2015.10.28

 dropbox 2015.10.28

Thanks for your reply.

That looks really old, but I install all updates I get as soon as they come in.

kubuntu exists (primarily) because it comes installed with KDE. I don't have Nautilus installed. I use Dolphin which is the KDE equivalent.

[Здравко · Accepted solution]

Hi @josephj11,

That's look really old. Seems you haven't set up Dropbox repository. That's why the control script and plugin can't get updated automatically. At the beginning install the latest package. It will take care for the repository settings for you. In advance might be better uninstall the current package. Execute following command in terminal before first run of the just installed package content (or might be better before install it):

rm -rf ~/.dropbox-dist

At the end of this step run just installed application and repeat the command from my previous post. Let's hope the output will be 'better' now. 😉 Post it.

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@josephj11 wrote:

... I don't have Nautilus installed. I use Dolphin which is the KDE equivalent.

---

Yes and no!

1. Yes - it's a KDE equivalent and have almost same features.

2. No - Nautilus and Dolphin plugins are NOT directly interchangeable! Compatibility library is usually needed, if the particular plugin isn't designed for such work, as the Dropbox plugin. But you probably know this.

[josephj11]

I installed Nautilus and that fixed it.

I just saw this and also installed a newer Dropbox package as well.

This is what apt has now:

bigbird@sananda:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ cat dropbox.list
deb [arch=i386,amd64] http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu bionic main

[Здравко]

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@josephj11 wrote:
....

This is what apt has now:

bigbird@sananda:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ cat dropbox.list
deb [arch=i386,amd64] http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu bionic main

---

Yes, your repositories are configured now. Once new version of control script and/or plugin brings up, depending on your settings, it will be installed automatically or you will be notified about. 👍 With proper settings, you won't need to install new packages by hand anymore.

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@josephj11 wrote:

I installed Nautilus and that fixed it.

...

---

The installation of Nautilus itself can't fix anything. If you mean that you can see now a file status and open in the web interface particular folder, yes - you can do it with Nautilus. If this is not possible with Dolphin, it's because not configured properly yet. Both file managers can be used!

Some steps to make work Dolphin with Dropbox possible:

1. Make sure you have installed proper library set (package). Run following in terminal:

   sudo apt-get install dolphin-plugins

2. Open your Dolphin (I assume installed already) and go into the settings:
   
3. Go into "Services" tab and make sure Dropbox is selected (the check mark is set):
   
4. Confirm your choice and close the Dolphin file manager. (anyway, you will get a warn that this is need for the new setting to take effect)

Now all Dropbox related entries, including the Dropbox folder itself, should have status marks:

... and appropriate commands in the context menu of every one file structure entry (file or folder), including "View on Dropbox.com":

Tested and works. 😉

Enjoy!

[josephj11]

I actually meant what I said. Installing Nautilus made the panel icon work correctly - openning the folder in Dolphin and the web page in my default browser (Vivaldi.)

I just checked  the dolphin-plugins package. It is not installed and its description mentions integration with VCS systems, but doesn't say anything about Dropbox. There is no Dropbox Integration option in Dophphin (possibly because I did not install the plugins package.) The only thing I don't see are the status markers on Dropbox folders. I didn't even know that feature existed till now.

I went ahead and installed and configured the dolphin-plugin package and now I see the new context menu options you mentioned.

Thank you.

[Здравко]

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@josephj11 wrote:

I actually meant what I said. Installing Nautilus made the panel icon work correctly ...

---

😮😯🧐🤔🙂😃 Ok... There isn't any direct relation between Nautilus and the panel icon (neither Nautilus nor panel icon have any ideas for each other), but... 🤷 as you have said!!! 😉 I'm not there, so I can be sure what exactly you have done. The most important is that now everything works. 👍

Enjoy!

[josephj11]

It may be a separate issue, but one small thing still doesn't work.

When I right click on a file in Dropbox from within Dolphin and select Copy Dropbox link, it says it did it, but I get something that looks like an empty entry in my clipboard. There's nothing there when I paste it into my text editor (kate.)

This is not a big deal because I don't think I ever had this feature before (maybe, years ago) and I can still get the link by using the Dropbox website.

Just thought I'd mention it as long as we're solving "everything" and someone else might read this later.