Grive2-Google Drive on Linux

After a long time I have finally decided to write about whatever I do, so that I can have a copy of whatever awesome things that I usually come across. So here it is, In Ubuntu 13.04, I had used Google Drive using grive. But since then I have changed my environment to Pantheon which is usually shipped with [elementary os], and i would say it has blown my mind off. But still it has took a heavy toll on me for installing all the packages and everything, the experience was awesome and i enjoyed it.

The last hurdle I faced was using the Google Drive through grive, after lot of searching on internet pages I finally found what I wanted. The problem with the grive was that it was not maintained and there were no updates and Google had started using Google Drive REST API to talk to Google Drive service. So the solution which i found on one of the Git Issue solution was to use Grive2, which is a great command line utility for sync to Gogle Drive.(Don’t Dishearten yourself because its command line).

So let’s get started its harldy 23MBytes(dependencies), here I am using debian/ubuntu environment.

First make sure you have all the dependencies installed and ready.

sudo apt-get install git cmake build-essential libgcrypt11-dev 
sudo apt-get libyajl-dev libboost-all-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev 
sudo apt-get libexpat1-dev libcppunit-dev binutils-dev

A known problem you may face is for libboost-all-dev which can be downloaded separately from here. After downloading and installing libboost-all-dev manualy, make sure you execute the above successfully.

Second, clone the grive2

git clone https://github.com/vitalif/grive2

Change the directory to grive2. Now that you are in the source code’s “grive2” subdirectory (after ‘cd /path/to/yourGriveSourceCodeDir/grive2’), at the prompt type:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..

1. note the double period (..) as the argument to cmake, to denote the parent directory.
2. You should get a success message like: ”– Build files have been written to: /your/dir”
3. Don’t run it with sudo - root access is not needed for building.

Third, At the prompt type:

make -j4

You’ll get lots of messages & hopefully a success message: ”[100%] Built target grive_executable”. The executable file itself (called “grive”) will be placed in the “grive” subdirectory. Then install it to the system binary directory (/usr/local/bin by default) by running:

sudo make install

First run

Change to your google drive sync directory, and run grive -a:

cd /home/you/yourGoogleDrive/
grive -a

-The «-a» option is only needed the very first time you run grive. Visit the URL that comes up, then post the auth code given (you must have been logged into Google). You should get some messages including «Synchronizing files» … now you are running. Note: Donot Close the Window of the browser, otherwise the sync will stop.

Syncs

To sync, you must run the program manually (there is no «real-time watching» yet, but there is a tweak afterall its Linux). At the prompt, type:

cd /home/you/yourGoogleDrive/
grive

Scheduled Syncs

For Scheduled Syncs/ Automatic Syncs a corn job can be written, which is nothing but an effective way to schedule a routine background job at a specific time and/or day on an on-going basis. It is written in one these folders: /etc/cron.daily, /etc/cron.hourly, /etc/cron.monthly or /etc/cron.weekly. But access of these folder is easily done using the below command.

crontab -e

After that only one line is required for creating a schedule for automatic sync after 30 min that is,

*/30 * * * * cd /home/you/yourGoogleDrive/ && grive # JOB_ID_1

the format is

MIN HOUR DOM MON DOW CMD

If it is difficult to edit the contab file an alternative is to gnome-schedule. It will provide a powerful GUI to add cron tasks.

sudo apt-get install gnome-schedule

thats it, after that your Google Drive will happily Sync with your Linux Box. Now I have started looking for creating an indicator which can be used to provide a visual aid on my panel itself.