MEGAsync
MEGAsync copied to clipboard
meganz
Symlinks
Hi,
I think it's very important to backup just the symlinks themselves. As normal files, if need be. This can be done with readlink (2) or man 2 readlink.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4572805/is-there-a-way-to-see-the-actual-contents-of-a-symlink
You don't have to follow the symlink or anything fancy, just store and save / then restore it's information. Where it points to. Without that I have incomplete backups. There are many unix programs which store user data as symlinks. And they expect them to be there.
With Dropbox dropping all linux support except for ext4, you will probably have a lot of new users... some fraction will be turned away by lack of symlink support as @dreamcat4 describes. Dropbox is one of the few alternatives that (semi-)supported symlinks. (Google Drive does not for example). Might be a good time to implement this.
I would also like to point out:
If you make the symlink a regular file, like a text file. + some way to flag it as a symlink just to your megasync linux/mac program internally. Then if the folder appears on a windows machine. For merging / conflict resolution - it should not be a problem.
Because then the merging / conflict resolution can take place, very much just like it already does with normal regular files.
It should not be that hard to implement this way. But if you still have reservations then please try to explain. Otherwise it's only going to frustrate users even more, not being given any explanation why you cannot do this.
I subscribe to the request. in mega support for symbolic links is very necessary. Now I'm using the yandex-disk service, but I'd like to switch to mega. Because of the lack of support for symbolic links, I can not do this.
and here I was looking for a way to reduce how many copy/paste edits I had to do... guess I can't just make edits to 1 folder and have those edits be applied in separate locations.
if we had symlink support, this would be possible...
if it were possible on Mega, it would cut my drive storage use by multiples, as I wouldn't be uploading the same file to multiple folders..
Yandex Disk and Syncthing have full support of symlinks, so Mega developers can lookup the implementation in them and do it in same way in Mega
Thing is that:
Without fixing this issue, and by ignoring symlinks as megasync does. Then this software is not working right on linux. Because it's overwriting symlink files on the local folder, with real files in the cloud, which are not symlinks.
Now I have lost my symlinks in my local folder (which I rely upon). And there is not much really to say, without trawling through the logs, to find out which files were overwritten. Because there is no conflict file generated. The local symlink is just wiped out.
So to 'better support symlinks'. Could be implemented in multiple stages. The first one(s) simply being: "co-exist better with symlinks". Rather than just destroy them without any kind of warning whatsoever beforehand.
Then later on, you might think to have some pathway, to better implement the saving and conflict management of symlinks, with files in the cloud. And improve the symlink support a bit more later on.
+1 for this issue. Please, add symlinks support. I tried Yandex but it seems not support really symlinks, and Syncthing is only for local devices. There is a megafuse update that says to work well, but it requires a lot of packages and code...
I just found this issue and I'm devastated(well not really, just a bit angry).
I use git-annex to manage a lot of my files, and it leverages symlinks. Without support for syncing symlinks this I cannot backup any of the files in my git-annex repos, which almost all of my important files.
If this is not fixed I will not pay another year with MEGA.
The support of symlinks is intended to be added at some point in the future. Please, stay tunned for further news :-)
Don't forget folder junctions in Windows! Those should be followed and instead nothing happens...
Don't forget folder junctions in Windows! Those should be followed and instead nothing happens...
+1
+1. This is really important for me. I also regularly lose symlinks and find myself cleaning them up manually. If it does not get fixed, I will have to find another syncing solution.
Any news on this? My plan expires in 3 days and this issue decides whether I buy another year. Will this feature be delivered in 2020?
Edit: Symlinks appear to be working as I would like for at least newer versions of Linux... Faith 50% restored in Mega... However not syncing symlink folders for older versions like Ubuntu 14.04 (even though for Dropbox they did...) Would love a fix for this if possible (considering Dropbox had it working) Also there's the second bug I point out with creating a sync folder pair from an outside folder inside of an already synced folder. You should be allowed to do this.... You can program the software to see the sync folder pairs that exist and not do an endless loop etc. This would at least allow me to do this workaround since following of symlinks is not working on these servers. Anyway. You can sense the passion and investment I have in this software and this problem... :-) Original frustrated post below (written before I knew syncing symlinks worked at least in newer versions of linux)...
I'm very frustrated that Mega doesn't support symlinks to backup my files as I need, the way Dropbox backed them up for YEARS until they JUST recently made a change in the last 6 months to ruin it (which is why I left Dropbox).
MEGA absolutely HAS to get this fixed. I want Mega to follow the symlinks and backup my files to Mega. As it is, my files are NOT getting backed up. If mega isn't supporting this it indicates bigger problems internally, and I'm going elsewhere.
It seems as though people are having different positions on the way Mega should handle symlinks. Well them abstract the choice to settings and allow the users to make the choice!
- Ignore symlinks (current default).
- Follow Symlinks.
- Treat symlinks as a file. (symbolic link file)
Personally I need to have #2 and nothing else is an option for me. I'm not going to be forced to restructure my files to accommodate the syncing platform. The files are on servers and the structure can't change. The sync client needs to accommodate the file structure that exists on the user's machine, not REQUIRE them to change their file structure to accommodate the sync client.
And just to illustrate the scenario I have:
I have a folder that is synced with Mega. It's also shared with other servers that sync with that folder as well. Inside the synced folder on a particular server, there is a symbolic link that points to a directory located on another folder somewhere else on the server.
Currently Mega syncs NOTHING in regards to symbolic link which points to that external directory. It only syncs the other real files in the directory that are not symbolic links...
Mega suggests the workaround of creating multiple sync pairs to sync these folders. What a terrible solution! So now I have to go and setup separate sync pairs for EVERY SINGLE one of my symlink folders I want to sync. What a nightmare hassle, error prone procedure! I have dozens!
But wait... it doesn't even work! When I try to add a sync pair for the folder I have located somewhere else that I have the symlink for inside of the already synced directory.. it gives me an error and tells me that I already have the folder synced. That's bullshit! It's probably because I'm trying to sync a folder to a location inside a an already synced folder.
So now that's 2 bugs with Mega! It should allow this also! There's no reason it shouldn't allow me to sync an outside folder to a folder within an already established sync... And don't give me a BULLSHIT reason based on some "what if" "circular syncing" edge case bullshit.... You should make the software accommodate the user don't make the user accommodate the software! Program a solution that detects for this edge case or freaking make it available for paid users only, even. Don't make the option simply unavailable because of some theoretical edge case situation that you're just to lazy to program a clever solution to detect and stop... Don't let edgecase misuse scenarios dictate the abilities of the sofware... That's what DROPBOX does.... DROPBOX: The cloudshare platform designed for CATTLE. Don't be like them!!!! MEGA is supposed to be different!
So back to my case, not only would I have to create tons of sync folder pairs for all these symlink folders in order to back them up (not going to happen) but I would also have to restructure my files my moving the folders OUTSIDE of the already synced directory I want to have them in just so your syncing agent will allow me to create the folder sync pairs. Do you see how you're requiring me to go to extreme measures to accommodate you to backup my files? RUINS MY DAY. Not going to happen with the number of folders I have to sync and how I do things. I'll sooner move to a platform that supports it correctly as DROPBOX did for over 10 years and only change it recently because they're brainless.
I'm praying that the software team at Mega hasn't lost it's head... I have a glimmer of hope remaining... Please confirm...
Mattimus
This is already released!
Where? It's not working on any of my servers.
I have ubuntu 18.04 installed. Mega has been supporting symbolic links for a long time. Version 4.2.5
Incorrect. Please spam elsewhere @KOT040188 ... This is a real issue @polmr please update... :-(
Incorrect. Please spam elsewhere @KOT040188 ... This is a real issue @polmr please update... :-(
I do not spam. I describe the real situation. Support for symbolic links appeared last year. In autumn or even in summer. I do not remember exactly.
Sorry @KOT040188 It usually helps to provide a little more information or substance in a post otherwise it doesn't offer much in terms of progress and just clutters the situation...
But indeed you're correct I did just try this on an Ubuntu 18.04 machine and it is in fact working as I would like... I feel at least 50% better... Faith 50% restored... in Mega...
However it's still definitely NOT working on my servers that have Ubuntu 14.04. When I was syncing with Dropbox on these servers it was definitely working correctly and following symlinks correctly... Any reason why Mega isn't syncing symlink folders correctly on Ubuntu 14.04 but Dropbox was...?
Unfortunately upgrading isn't going to be an option anytime soon... Sigh.