Using the command line with a flatpak installation

[Paddy L.]

I'm using Linux Lubuntu 18.40 64-bit

I have a script that checks the Dropbox status before deciding how to proceed. This has always been easy with the command line functions, specifically:

$ dropbox status

I have, for certain reasons, converted from a PPA installation to a flatpak installation. The installation works perfectly, but I haven't been able to work out how to use the command line.

The "status" command gives a simple, but unhelpful, response:

$ flatpak run com.dropbox.Client status
usage: dropbox-app [-h] [--debug]
dropbox-app: error: unrecognized arguments: status

The same is true of any command that I use.

How do I check the current status of Dropbox when using flatpak, or isn't it possible?

Thank you

[Daphne]

Hey there @Paddy L., I hope you're doing well today!

If you haven't already, can you try using the commands outlined here to see if that does the trick?

Let me know if this helps!

[Paddy L.]

Thanks for the updated list, @Daphne.

As recommended, I downloaded the Python script and placed it in ~/Dropbox. Unfortunately, while that script accepts the commands, whatever command I enter (including the one I want, status), it says that Dropbox isn't running.

$ ./dropbox.py status
Dropbox isn't running!

I don't know Python, but I can see that it needs the contents of ~/.dropbox/dropbox.pid. That file is empty.

Back to square 1, unfortunately.

[Paddy L.]

Hello again, @Daphne. I have an update.

I found that if I find the running instance and put its PID into ~/.dropbox/dropbox.pid, then the script works!

Somehow, the part of Dropbox that puts the PID into the file has been removed from the flatpak installation; or, maybe, it's confused as to where to place the file.

Thus, the question now is how to ensure that the correct PID is placed into the file whenever Dropbox starts.

I'm unsure how to do that, but I shall think about it.