The Command Line Client

Introduction

The ownCloud Client packages contain a command line client, owncloudcmd, that can be used to synchronize ownCloud files to client machines.

Command Description

owncloudcmd performs a single sync run and then exits the synchronization process. In this manner, owncloudcmd processes the differences between client and server directories and propagates the files to bring both repositories to the same state. Contrary to the GUI-based client, owncloudcmd does not repeat synchronizations on its own. It also does not monitor for file system changes.

To invoke owncloudcmd, you must provide the local and the remote repository URL using the following command:

owncloudcmd [options] source_dir server_url remote_folder.

  • sourcedir is the local directory,

  • owncloudurl is the server URL and

  • remote_folder is a remote folder.

Other command line switches supported by owncloudcmd include the following:

Switch Description

-s, --silent

Don’t be so verbose.

--httpproxy http://server:port

Specify a HTTP proxy to use.

--trust

Trust the SSL certification

--exclude <file>

Path to an exclude list [file]

--unsyncedfolders <file>

File containing the list of unsynced remote folders (selective sync)

--server <url>

Use [url] as the location of the server. Infinite Scale only (server location and spaces URL can differ)

-u, --user <name>

Use [name] as the login name

-p, --password <password>

Use [pass] as password

-n

Use netrc (5) for login

--non-interactive

Do not block execution with interaction

--max-sync-retries <n>

Retries maximum n times (default to 3)

--uplimit <n>

Limit the upload speed of files to n KB/s

--downlimit <n>

Limit the download speed of files to n KB/s

--logdebug

More verbose logging

-h, --help

Displays help on commandline options.

--help-all

Displays help including Qt specific options.

-v, --version

Displays version information.

Credential Handling

owncloudcmd requires the user to specify the username and password using the standard URL pattern, for example:

$ owncloudcmd /home/user/my_sync_folder https://carla:secret@server/owncloud/remote.php/dav/files/carla/

To synchronize the ownCloud directory Music to the local directory media/music, through a proxy listening on port 8080, and on a gateway machine using IP address 192.168.178.1, the command line would be:

$ owncloudcmd --httpproxy http://192.168.178.1:8080 \
              $HOME/media/music \
              https://server/owncloud/remote.php/dav/files/carla/Music.

owncloudcmd will prompt for the username and password, unless they have been specified on the command line or -n has been passed.

Exclude List

owncloudcmd requires access to an exclude list file. It must either be installed along with owncloudcmd and thus be available in a system location, be placed next to the binary as sync-exclude.lst or be explicitly specified with the --exclude switch.