How you can get round Dropbox’s symlink limitations on Linux

As of mid-2019, Dropbox introduced that they not assist symlinks that time exterior of the principle Dropbox folder. On this tutorial, we present a workaround on Linux that permits us to retailer in Dropbox any file, even when it’s not positioned inside the principle Dropbox folder.

What
is the limitation and why it’s an issue?

Think about that you’ve a bunch of recordsdata that you just wish to synchronize throughout your gadgets, however they’re saved exterior of your Dropbox folder. For instance, assume that your predominant Dropbox folder is positioned at ~/Dropbox however your paperwork stay within the ~/Paperwork folder. As much as just lately, you had the choice so as to add these recordsdata in Dropbox with out bodily transferring them by making a symlink:

ln -s ~/Paperwork ~/Dropbox/Paperwork

Sadly this function obtained deprecated by Dropbox. Each folder/file that was a symlink is now copied and the “(Symlink Backup Copy)” is appended to it. Because of this any modifications you make to your unique exterior folders will not be seen to Dropbox. 
Working across the limitation utilizing mount
Fortunately there’s a fast and straightforward answer to work across the limitation on Linux. Beneath I clarify how this may be achieved on Ubuntu, however the course of needs to be much like different Linux distributions.
To realize the identical

impact, we’re going to use “bind mount”. A bind mount allows us

to create an alternate view of the unique listing tree in a brand new

location. Any modification on one aspect is straight away mirrored on

the opposite, successfully permitting us to share the identical information.
To create a bind

mount you should use the next instructions:


# Create mounting level in Dropbox folder
mkdir -p ~/Dropbox/Paperwork

# Hyperlink the exterior folder in Dropbox
sudo mount --bind ~/Paperwork ~/Dropbox/Paperwork



That’s it! Dropbox ought to have the ability to begin synchronizing the information. Sadly the mount command doesn’t persist between restarts. To make the change everlasting we have to modify the /and many others/fstab file by appending:


WARNING: Enhancing your fstab file incorrectly can render your pc unbootable. It’s simple to get better from this downside however earlier than modifying the file, you’re suggested to do some studying.




# Add one line for each exterior Dropbox folder
/dwelling/YOUR_USERNAME_HERE/Paperwork
/dwelling/YOUR_USERNAME_HERE/Dropbox/Paperwork none
defaults,bind,x-gvfs-hide 0 0



Be aware that including the x-gvfs-hide possibility will enable make Nautilus file supervisor to cover the mounting factors.
I hope that’s

useful. Joyful Dropboxing. 🙂