How to install Dropbox in Kubuntu 15.10

So did you install Kubuntu 15.10 recently (high five) and wants to touch the cloud with your fingers? Here goes:

The easiest way is to headless install the daemon from your Konsole. Depending on your system architecture, choose the right option:

32-bit:

cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86" | tar xzf -

64-bit:

cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf -

Now just run from a Konsole window

~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

This will start an interface the first time around for you to login. Once you have logged in the files will be retrieved in the background. Once you are done, close the konsole.

Now to control Dropbox, we make use of this Python Script. Go on and download it somewhere like ~/Downloads. Now start another konsole window and enter the following:

sudo mv ~/Downloads/dropbox.py /usr/local/bin
echo 'alias dropbox="python /usr/local/bin/dropbox.py"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Now try `dropbox ` in a console window and you can see the list of commands you can try out. There’s one that you can use to ensure that dropbox automatically starts running whenever you login.

dropbox autostart y

If you attempt to start dropbox using this script, you would find that the Konsole window can’t be used until you close and stop Dropbox Service. So try this instead then

nohup dropbox start </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1 &
dropbox status

That’s it! Dropbox is fully integrated into your Kubuntu Installation. If you have folders you wish to back up in dropbox, simply create a symbolic link using `ln -s` command to that folder in the Dropbox directory in your home.