How to Workaround "Zip File is Too Large" Error

---

eddiejag wrote:

... I can't download the folder, I have to download each individual file, using the link

...

---

If somebody want to download a shared folder with link as is without compression/decompression (and the associated limits), I maid a shell script that once installed can just be run and everything pointed by a link provided will download keeping the folder structure as is. Supported are all types of shared links: www.dropbox.com/s/... www.dropbox.com/sh/... www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/... www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/...

The proper shells are typically available preinstalled on Mac and Linux. cURL and jq are the only external tools used inside and may need to be installed if not yet available on the system. Here it goes:

#!/bin/bash
##############################################################################
#        Downloads file and/or folders pointed by Dropbox shared link
#        ------------------------------------------------------------
# Just make it executable (if need, using
#   $ chmod a+x download_link
# ) and run it.
# Author: Здравко
#   www.dropboxforum.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/422790
##############################################################################

# Get from your application's settings:
#   https://www.dropbox.com/developers/apps/
# Required scopes: files.metadata.read and sharing.read
readonly APP_KEY=""
readonly APP_SECRET=""

fatal() {
  for msg in "$@"; do echo "$msg" >&2; done
  exit 1;
}

if [[ $# -lt 1 || $# -gt 2 ]]; then
  fatal "download_link:" \
  "  Required 1 or 2 command arguments." \
  "    First mandatory argument represents the pointed link and target content\
 to download." \
  "    Second optional argument represents desired local folder where content\
 to be downloaded. If missing, the download happens in current working\
 directory." \
  "  Found $# arguments."
fi
LINK="$1"
if [ $# -eq 2 ]
then FOLDER="$2"
else FOLDER=`pwd`
fi
readonly AUTORIZATION="$APP_KEY:$APP_SECRET"
readonly CONTENT_TYPE="Content-Type: application/json"
readonly LIST_FOLDER="https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder"
readonly LIST_FOLDER_CONTINUE="https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder/continue"
readonly SHARED_METADATA="https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/sharing/get_shared_link_metadata"
if ! which curl > /dev/null; then
  fatal "curl:" \
  "  Required for proper application work - trace and download,\
 but found missing."
fi
getList() {
  curl -f -X POST $LIST_FOLDER -u "$AUTORIZATION" -H "$CONTENT_TYPE" -d\
   "{\"shared_link\":{\"url\":\"$LINK\"},\"path\":\"$1\"}" 2> /dev/null
  local err=$?
  if [ $err -ne 0 ]; then
    fatal "download_link:" \
    " Inconsistency found while trying link \"$LINK\" at position \"$1\"." \
    " Error curl: $err"
  fi
}
getListContinue() {
  curl -f -X POST $LIST_FOLDER_CONTINUE -u "$AUTORIZATION" -H "$CONTENT_TYPE" -d\
   "{\"cursor\":\"$1\"}" 2> /dev/null
  local err=$?
  if [ $err -ne 0 ]; then
    fatal "download_link:" \
    " Inconsistency found while trying link \"$LINK\" with cursor \"$1\"." \
    " Error curl: $err"
  fi
}
getMetadata() {
  local IN_PATH=""
  if [ $# -eq 1 ]; then
    IN_PATH=",\"path\":\"$1\""
  fi
  curl -f -X POST $SHARED_METADATA -u "$AUTORIZATION" -H "$CONTENT_TYPE" -d\
   "{\"url\":\"$LINK\"$IN_PATH}" 2> /dev/null
  local err=$?
  if [ $err -ne 0 ]; then
    fatal "download_link:" \
    " Inconsistency found while trying link \"$LINK\" at position \"$1\"." \
    " Error curl: $err"
  fi
}
if ! which jq > /dev/null; then
  fatal "jq:" \
  "  Required for proper application work - communication formatting,\
 but found missing."
fi
metadata_type() {
  echo "$1" | jq -r '.[".tag"]'
}
metadata_url() {
  echo "$1" | jq -r .url
}
metadata_name() {
  echo "$1" | jq -r .name
}
metadata_client_modified() {
  echo "$1" | jq -r .client_modified
}
readonly URI_REGEX='^(([^:/?#]+):)?(//((([^:/?#]+)@)?([^:/?#]+)(:([0-9]+))?))?((/|$)([^?#]*))(\?([^#]*))?(#(.*))?$'
#                    ↑↑            ↑  ↑↑↑            ↑         ↑ ↑            ↑↑    ↑        ↑  ↑        ↑ ↑
#                    ||            |  |||            |         | |            ||    |        |  |        | |
#                    |2 scheme     |  ||6 userinfo   7 host    | 9 port       ||    12 rpath |  14 query | 16 fragment
#                    1 scheme:     |  |5 userinfo@             8 :...         ||             13 ?...     15 #...
#                                  |  4 authority                             |11 / or end-of-string
#                                  3  //...                                   10 path
makeLinkDownloadable() {
  if [[ "$1" =~ $URI_REGEX ]]; then
    echo -n "${BASH_REMATCH[1]}${BASH_REMATCH[3]}${BASH_REMATCH[10]}?"
    local POST_URL="${BASH_REMATCH[15]}"
    local QUERY="${BASH_REMATCH[13]}"
    (
      local DL="dl=1"
      IFS='&'
      for param in $QUERY
      do
        if [[ "${param:0:1}" == "?" ]]
        then
          param="${param:1}"
        else
          echo -n '&'
        fi
        if [[ "${param:0:3}" == "dl=" ]]
        then
          echo -n "dl=1"
          DL=""
        else
          echo -n "$param"
        fi
      done
      echo -n "$DL"
    )
    echo "$POST_URL"
  else
    fatal "download_link:" \
          "  Cannot recognize link format: \"$1\"."
  fi
}
fileDownload() {
  if [ -f "$2" ]; then
    local LOCAL_TIME=`date -r "$2" +%s`
    local CLIEN_MODIFIED=`metadata_client_modified "$1"`
    local REMOTE_TIME=`date -d "$CLIEN_MODIFIED" +%s`
    if [[ "$LOCAL_TIME" -ge "$REMOTE_TIME" ]]; then
      return
    fi
  fi
  local URL=`metadata_url "$1"`
  local DOWNLOADABLE=`makeLinkDownloadable "$URL"`
  curl -fL --create-dirs -o "$2" "$DOWNLOADABLE" 2>/dev/null
  local err=$?
  if [ $err -ne 0 ]; then
    fatal "download_link:" \
    " Unexpected error while download \"$DOWNLOADABLE\" to \"$2\"." \
    " Error curl: $err"
  fi
}
processList() {
  local FOLDER="$1"
  local REMOTE_PATH="$2"
  local LIST=`echo "$3" | jq -c '.entries[] | {".tag", name}'`
  local PIDS=""
  IFS=$'\n'
  for entry in $LIST; do
    local NAME=`echo "$entry" | jq -r .name`
    local TYPE=`echo "$entry" | jq -r '.[".tag"]'`
    case "$TYPE" in
      "file")
        echo -n . >&2
        (
          fileDownload "`getMetadata "$REMOTE_PATH/$NAME"`" "$FOLDER/$NAME"
          echo -n . >&2
        ) &
        PIDS="$PIDS $!"
        ;;
      "folder")
        folderDownload "$FOLDER/$NAME" "$REMOTE_PATH/$NAME" &
        PIDS="$PIDS $!"
        ;;
      *)
        echo "'$NAME' residing in '$REMOTE_PATH' is neither file nor folder."\
          "Ignored!" >&2
        ;;
    esac
  done
  echo "$PIDS"
}
folderDownload() {
  echo -n . >&2
  local FOLDER="$1"
  local REMOTE_PATH="$2"
  local LIST=`getList "$REMOTE_PATH"`
  local PIDS=`processList "$FOLDER" "$REMOTE_PATH" "$LIST"`
  while [[ `echo "$LIST" | jq .has_more` == "true" ]]; do
    local CURSOR=`echo "$LIST" | jq -r .cursor`
    LIST=`getListContinue "$CURSOR"`
    PIDS="$PIDS `processList "$FOLDER" "$REMOTE_PATH" "$LIST"`"
  done
  for pid in $PIDS; do wait $pid 2> /dev/null; done
  if [[ "$REMOTE_PATH" == "" ]]; then echo . >&2; fi
}
METADATA=`getMetadata`
TYPE=`metadata_type "$METADATA"`
NAME=`metadata_name "$METADATA"`
case "$TYPE" in
  "file")
    fileDownload "$METADATA" "$FOLDER/$NAME"
    ;;
  "folder")
    folderDownload "$FOLDER/$NAME" ""
    ;;
  *)
    fatal "download_link:" \
    "  Can handle only file or folder link, but found \"$TYPE\"."
    ;;
esac

Just put it on a place accessible in your PATH, register your script following the link pointed at the script beginning and put application credentials (no user authentication needed - no access token etc.). That's it, just run it.

Good luck to all. 😉