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andreafabrizi / Dropbox-Uploader

Dropbox Uploader is a BASH script which can be used to upload, download, list or delete files from Dropbox, an online file sharing, synchronization and backup service.
https://www.andreafabrizi.it/2016/01/01/Dropbox-Uploader/
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Why are you recommending "Choose the type of access you need: App folder" in first time setup #551

Open kot7k opened 3 years ago

kot7k commented 3 years ago

Hi, I really like dropbox_uploader, have been using it for a lot of time and has been working rock solid. I wanted to update to latest version some time ago and be prepared for the new oauth, it all seemed to work good at first but then i noticed that it wasn't listing anything (although neither giving errors) it seemed like my dropbox was empty, but it wasn't obviously.

So then i started to dig into settings of my uploader app and saw a suspicious, "app folder" setting. Why would i want to restrict my own personal dropbox_uploader to 1 folder (and subfolders) when i had been using it with full dropbox permission for a long time? I had to remove the app and create it again with "full dropbox" access instead of "app folder" access and now everything works like before.

Just wanted to share my own experience here in case this could help anyone. If you plan to use dropbox_uploader to access all folders in your dropbox in setup instructions step 3, choose: Full dropbox and not app folder.

And i would recommend explaining a bit more in setup instructions this point.

rafkot commented 3 years ago

As a first-time user, I followed the instructions as well even though it made no sense that the script which is supposed to access information and read/write to an entire account would work when restricted this way. Also, the setup instructions printed by the script advise that only files.content.write and files.content.read are required which is only enough to view the list of files (and maybe move/copy them without downloading: haven't tested).

So I modified the permissions for the same "App" then removed ~/.dropbox_uploader directory (using unlink in the script could work as well) and then run the script again, providing the new App key and secret and approving the permissions.

This limited scope within App Folder is enough to safely to play around with the script or just use it with a simple upload directory with the management of the files actually left to a mobile app or a browser. But when you actually want to use the app as intended, you should delete the App on Dropbox website then unlink/remove ~/.dropbox_uploader and create a new app with full access.