As spotted in the latest beta build of Dropbox, the support for ZFS, XFS, Btrfs and eCryptFS is coming back to Linux. It was dropped from Dropbox on Linux in late 2018.
Dropbox is one of the most popular Cloud storage service providers with native Linux client.
If you are a Dropbox user, chances are that you were furious about the development for Linux so far. Maybe, it is about the 3 device sync limit or ending the sync support for all filesystems except ext4 on Linux.
The decision to drop support for all filesystems except ext4 did create an uproar. Perhaps the Dropbox team has listened to the feedback. In one of the latest beta builds, it seems like they have again added support for zfs, eCryptFS, xfs, and btrfs filesystems in Linux.
Dropbox beta build adds support for ZFS, XFS, Btrfs, and eCryptFS filesystems
The added support was spotted in the changelog of a beta build in their official forum. Along with Windows and Mac, you will be able to download the offline installer for Linux as well.
In case you are curious about the changelog, here it is:
- Show the amount of space saved by Smarter Smart Sync on the Sync Tab in Preferences.
- Add support for zfs (on 64-bit systems only), eCryptFS, xfs (on 64-bit systems only), and btrfs filesystems in Linux.
- Fix issue where the share modal sometimes wouldn’t let you change the visibility of a document.
- Fix issue that was preventing “Open Dropbox Folder” from working on Ubuntu 19.04.
- Fix issue where Windows drive icons (e.g. C:\) show a red X in Explorer.
- Fix the majority of “error 2” installation issues on Windows.
- Fix issue where sync status labels are stuck at “Starting…” after Dropbox has restarted even though sync is working.
Now, the support has been added to the stable build of Dropbox as well – which happens to be “77.4.131“. So, if you are using the beta builds, you can continue using that or simply get the stable build installed to get started.
Definitely a good news
While most Linux users stick to the ext4 filesystem, I know that a few advanced Linux users prefer ZFS or other filesystems. Dropbox bringing back support for these filesystems is certainly a good news, isn’t it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
