Syncthing on Ubuntu Touch

arubislander · 10 Jun 2020, 08:28

@kugiigi Maybe, I don't an arm64 device to test it on yet.
But it would help if you could provide the exact error message.

kugiigi · 10 Jun 2020, 08:38

@arubislander Here it is http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/BVnwgHKDnQ/

arubislander · 6 Oct 2020, 08:41

@Capsia I was not aware there were already instructions on running Syncthing on Ubuntu Touch.
The Syncthing web application writes its configuration in $HOME/.config/syncthing. So my app should pick up the existing configuration without any issues.

But because the old install is already using port 8384 you will have to stop it first. To do that open the Terminal app on your phone, or aquire a shell to your device from your computer.
Then stop the upstart job:

~$ stop syncthing
syncthing stop/waiting

and rename the upstart job configuration:

~$ mv $HOME/.config/upstart/syncthing.conf $HOME/.config/upstart/syncthing.conf.bak

Now reboot your device. When it is back up, install the Syncthing app from the Open Store.

Check if it starts and picks up your existing data. If it doesn't, please post back on here.

Otherwise clean up the old installation:

~$ rm $HOME/.config/upstart/syncthing.conf.bak
~$ rm -rf $HOME/apps/syncthing

arubislander · 6 Oct 2020, 09:26

@kugiigi Thank you...

Hmmm.. it seems to be missing the syncthing binary... could you post a listing of the contents of the /opt/click.ubuntu.com/.click/users/phablet/syncthing.syncthing/bin folder on your PinePhone?

EDIT: I downloaded the arm64 click and I confirmed that it is indeed missing the syncthing binary. I will prepare new versions to upload shortly.

EDIT2: Preparing a new click will take a bit longer than anticipated (the versioning is based on the upstream Syncthing version, and since this hasn't changed I will have to do some fiddling to get a version bump.)

Capsia · 10 Jun 2020, 12:31

@arubislander thank you, it worked perfectly

arubislander · 10 Jun 2020, 12:35

@Capsia I would be interested in knowing if you notice better battery life using this version than in the previous situation.

arubislander · 10 Jun 2020, 12:39

I have temporarily unpublished the app pending resolution of the issue that @kugiigi found...

arubislander · 11 Jun 2020, 05:28

A new version has been uploaded and the app has been republished.

@kugiigi, could you test this on you PinePhone?

kugiigi · 11 Jun 2020, 06:30

@arubislander It's working now although the first time I opened it, it was stuck in the splash screen.
Also, I've never actually used it so not sure if the functions are working

arubislander · 11 Jun 2020, 06:33

@kugiigi Yeah, the sticking the first time is because of the upstart jobs that are installed on first run. For now it is sufficient to know that it starts up. Thank you for testing.

Capsia · 12 Jun 2020, 19:27

@arubislander Hi,
I've used your app for 2 days now and I can confirm that the battery usage is much better than before .
The previous Syncthing was eating up all the battery in one night, now it is ok.
I've also found that Syncthing stops some time after the app closes. (before was running all the time)

Thanks

Capsia · 14 Jun 2020, 20:40

Hi @arubislander ,
I'd like to contribute an adapted icon that looks more Ubuntuish to make the app follow the icon style.

arubislander · 14 Jun 2020, 21:47

@Capsia Thank You! Expect an updateof the app soon.

EDIT: New version has been uploaded to Open-Store.

arubislander · 7 Jul 2020, 17:58

A new version (1.7.0) of Syncthing has been uploaded to the Open Store. This release follows the upstream release. See here for the release notes.

arubislander · 13 Jul 2020, 15:09

I have updated the first post with info about the Syncthing snap package, available for those who want to sync with/to an amd64 machine.

arubislander · 16 Jul 2020, 22:01

A new version of Syncthing is available in the Open Store. This version follows the release of 1.7.1 of the main Sycthing project.

arubislander · 1 Nov 2020, 14:12

A new version of Syncthing is available in the Open Store. This version follows the release of 1.10.0 of the main Sycthing project.

A Former User · 23 Dec 2020, 13:10

Thanks for bringing this awesome software to UBports!
I did not know about it until I found it in the store but now I try to learn about it and setup a local backup system. I plan to run a SoC as backup peer on my home network.

After the installation and the first successful start of the app on my OnePlus One I decided to set a user and password for the web interface. But then the app failed. Even a fresh install from the store did not change a thing. There may be some configuration files left that store my password protection. Opening localhost from the browser once asked me to enter username and password but then failed. The app either shows endless loading screen or prints "Not Authorized" on a white screen. Any ideas on how I could fix this?

Additionally I am concerned about the additional power usage as the OnePlus One is already struggling with low battery power. I would not mind to run Updates just once a week or manually in worst case. Is this possible? Sry as I can not run the app I was not able to further test this myself.

Greetings,

Jimmy

[Edit]
I had to reset the whole system and now also Syncthing is running again. I would still be interested in the option to setup https, username and password to enter the web UI. Is this somehow possible?

Additionally I am really interested in the best configuration to save energy. What would you advice?
I already disabled global discovery and relaying.

I read that the Syncthing Android app is able to sync only when the device is charged. This seems to be an awesome feature. But I guess its hard to implement for UBtouch right?

arubislander · 29 Dec 2020, 12:50

Hi @jimmypesto,

Thank you for interest in the app.

First a cautionary note. Syncthing is not intended as a proper backing up service, but as a synchronization service. The difference is about what happens if you accidentally delete a file: In a sync service the deletion is propagated, i.e. you lose the file on the remote location too.

Now to your questions:
Currently the app is simply a QML wrapper around the web interface of the regular syncthing webservice that runs on the device.
To help limit the battery usage I implemented a background job that stops the webservice after 10 minutes if the app is not running. Then it runs it for 5 minutes every hour as long as the app is not running. Using this strategy I haven't noticed a significant increase in battery drain. But if you do, please let me know.

Could you explain why you feel you need to set a username and password for the Syncthing instance running on the device and therefore access it over https? Since the syncthing webservice only listens on localhost and can therefore only be accessed from a browser on the device itself, setting up the extra security seems like overkill.

A Former User · 1 Jan 2021, 17:08

Hi @arubislander,
thanks for making this clear. Sorry for mixing this up.
With enough care this is even better as I share certain "backups" of the past between multiple systems. Keeping these merged/updated is awesome.

Wow you did an awesome job man! I like this idea and did not notice a significant difference in the first few days. Your settings are already a good choice. Only because of my old phone I am interested in saving as much as possible.
I think this is maybe a personal flavor. Would it be hard to add a rather simple interface that allows the user to tweak these settings?

It is arguable to call it paranoia. But as Syncthing supports it, I thought, why not.
I remember I had to change ~/.config/syncthing/config.xml to listen on 0.0.0.0 so I am able to access a headless device from the local network. This file can be edited by the user. You dont need root privileges to do this.
But I guess you are right.

Thanks a lot for your great work an feedback.