[Android] CC Dropbox broken connection *WORKAROUND*

[chaley]

Originally Posted by bookmonster

I've seen some articles about upcoming changes Google is making regarding Gmail access:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019...rting-july-15/

Do you think this will prevent us from using the current *workaround*?

I doubt it. When authenticating with Dropbox CC doesn't use anything from Google. Instead Dropbox contacts Google to verify the credentials then assuming they are correct gives CC access to Dropbox. I would be astonished if Google cut off Dropbox identity federation (OAUTH), or alternatively that Dropbox has not already done what they need to do.

It could be that CC's Google Drive connection will suffer, but Google hasn't said anything to us to that effect.

[bookmonster]

Originally Posted by chaley

I doubt it. When authenticating with Dropbox CC doesn't use anything from Google. Instead Dropbox contacts Google to verify the credentials then assuming they are correct gives CC access to Dropbox. I would be astonished if Google cut off Dropbox identity federation (OAUTH), or alternatively that Dropbox has not already done what they need to do.

It could be that CC's Google Drive connection will suffer, but Google hasn't said anything to us to that effect.

Awesome!

[kaufman]

Originally Posted by chaley

Dropbox changed their system in a way that broke CC authentication. There is no workaround. I must change CC to use a different authentication scheme, which will take me some time.

No pressure, just checking in.

Are you still thinking about implementing this update?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

No pressure, just checking in.

Are you still thinking about implementing this update?

As I have passed the baton to Sam, he will now choose what gets done, and when.

[stumped]

help please. I am stuck on doing the workwround instructions to link CC to my dropbox on a new device
my dropbox does not use a Gmail address . and when I try to conenct , CCC hands at authenticating
that prompted me to come here & re-read how to do the workaround, but that seems to involce changing my dropbox email. Surely, if I have to change my dropbox email to a new gmail will that mess up how all my other existing devices log into dropbox ?
and also - don't want to shake any trees that will lose me my 3 device limit exemption for devices that are already logged in

i have about 15 devices logged into the same free dropbox, on a non gmail address. i have had this dropbox fro many years and have grown it to ~15Gb with referrals.

what are my options please with pros and cons
i could mirror my calibre library into G drive, but I really don't want to do that, as it has known issues. But is it safe, if I only put a backup of the local folder into G drive and only use it for CC to access when local PC is OFF ?
I could copy it into ploud but pcloud support is not here yet...

[stumped]

update. so I am looking inot a worst case setup
I already have free file sync setup to mirror calibre library from documents into dropbox
I can tweak that to use an additional destination folder and mirror to a local google drive also
I have installed google backup and sync ( which I really don't trust!) as it seems I will have to leave that continuously running also, to copy from local google drive to cloud google drive. I carefully configured it not to backup anything else, jsut what I put in the local google drive- on default settings it wants to run amok and backup everything in documents or on desktop, including anything it ever sees on a USB drive/
once all those parts are working and have caught up I can link the new tablet to g drive
i need 3.5 Gb for my library and I do have that much spare in google drive. it s a horrible waste though to be sending it to two clouds, but I don't trust google sync enough to stop sending it to dropbox
so my documents -> one way mirror -> local dropbox folder AND local google drive folder -> google cloud via google backup and sync.
i just hope that while FFS is doing its thing, it does not break google backup and sync. I know that it does not break dropbox, and it only locks its destination folders for a couple of minutes each time

[kaufman]

FWIW, I've been using Google Backup and Sync for a long time with no issues.

I also set it up to only backup certain folders (pictures until now) and it hasn't tried to grab anything else.

I like your idea of syncing the library from dropbox to google drive. Can't believe I never thought of doing that. Its a great bandaid until until Dropbox support is fixed.

Thanks for the idea.

[stumped]

g drive is so slow - 3.5 gb for backup and sync to process, tits been runnign fo 4 hours on a fast connect and its still only half way though.
to clarify - i don't copy dropbox to g drive, I mirror from my docs to dropbox and from same my docs location to g drive - 2 x mirrors
then dropbox app does its thing to update cloud and google back up and sync shoulddo the same
in free file sync you can mirror one source to multiple destinations

a assume that dropbox but supporting cc authentication on new devices iis a separate issue from dropbox having a 3 device limit i.e. if i paid for dropbox pro or business tier, it still would not let cc authenticate, unless via a google auth workaround?

what i might do, for speed and to save space, is to add a filter to FFS, so that it excludes mirroring any original_epub formats.I have no need to be grabbing those from cloud backups

[stumped]

..and here comes the next problem
google drive copy is built. it has metadata.db etc. but CC is not finding it
I get through authenticate with google. CC shows me all the folders in G drive cloud, but it does not place a green mark against calibre library. i force choose it anyway, and I just get a spinning wait indicator in the app. I cannot see how to get CC to see the calibre library in google drive, and i know that others have had this issue. I guess I have to search for their threads, but I dont recall reading of a fix ?
i do recall something about android 8 users have to grab a direct download of CC and I am using the one from play store- so I need to track that down also ? this version sees the local content server OK, just not the cloud ones

[stumped]

so- state of play with my new tablet:
connect to existing ( not gmail) dropbox is looking impossible
use google drive was a disaster ( other thread)
support for amaon drive has gone
box has no free tier
one drive needs microsoft account on pc ( that's a NO )
no eta on pcloud support

I plan to work through all the apps in google store with calibre in the name
there is one called calibrebox where reviews as at june 2019 claim " works perfectly with dropbox"...
will report back
it will be a shame to abandon cc - it has served me well for many years on many devices, but needs must...

[stumped]

update: well calibre box just works . installed to new tablet & it immediately found my dropbox library - I did not even need to go through any auth process!. ( and the dropbox app is not installed on this device ).

on the one hand, this is good as it shows that 3rd party apps CAN still get at dropbox.
but ion the other hand - whatever happened to dropbox security though- maybe its read only and calibre library only but still ? how did it know which of my several dropbox accounts has the library. it not linked to my gmail which is all the tablet shoudl be aware of- i had already linked moon to dropbox thouh so maybe it is piggy backing on that ( but I thoguht dropbox auth was per app, not for any app on a device ? )
anyway, I have nothing to hide in there so I will not fret too much. I might put calibrebox onto my phone, which has no reader apps and has never linked to to dropbox, just to re-observe the auth - or lack of auth process again.

calibrebox is a one trick pony though - it will connect to cloud storage options but not to calibre content server, so I guess I run this and CC side by side for now and point them both at same folder to download to

i bought the pro version to support the developer

[stumped]

dropbox security - lack of
i am putting this here as a new opbservation but happy for it to be moved to other forums as its not a CC specific comment
i only just discovered that moon reader has FULL access to my dropbox, AND has a handy browser under its my files tab that will navigate to any file in any folder of dropbox, and let me read it or even delete it
I had assumed that its access was restricted to what its been asked to do - i.e. sync last page read to a specific dropbox sub folder that it creates for tha purposet, and to make app preferences backups. I am somewhat horrified that everything in all of dropbox can be seen by anyone who opens moon reader on any of my tablets. OK - I am sort of safe in that the tablets never leave the house but I may need to rethink the whole area
i looked through all of my connected apps permissions at dropbox.com, I saw that a couple had restricted permissions e.g. mantano had a file type restirction, and something else had a folder restriction, but I could not see how to downscale moon reader's permissions from full to something more sensible.
I guess that CC, where it still works, also has FULL permission, though its not quite to easy to view other dropbox folders in CC
also, the connected apps permissions list is just apps, it is not apps+device combinations, so if moon reader on device A has full permission, does that also grant same permission to Moon reader on devices B, C D...

and finally, if apps such as Moon, Mantano/Bookari, CalibreBox can so easily still get full access permissions for dropbox, why is it so hard for CC do do the same ?
the moon reader app with full permissions was only installed yesterday

[chaley]

Originally Posted by stumped

and finally, if apps such as Moon, Mantano/Bookari, CalibreBox can so easily still get full access permissions for dropbox, why is it so hard for CC do do the same ?
the moon reader app with full permissions was only installed yesterday

This problem happens because of a decision I made 5 years ago: to use web-based OAUTH to authenticate instead of the service's program library API. My decision made it much easier for me to support multiple cloud vendors, but it also made it susceptible to arbitrary changes by the vendor. In this case Dropbox decided to stop allowing apps (perhaps only Android) to use web authentication except for gmail addresses. Google did the same thing but permitted a work-around, which I used. Fixing this requires switching to using the program libraries for all of the cloud services, which is a non-trivial (!) change. I suspect that Sam wants to make the changes, but I don't know that and must not speak for him.

[stumped]

that makes sense. thanks for explaining.

as for dropbox privacy being wide open to abuse via apps, i have been moving some of my non-book stuff back out of dropbox to other locations - better safe than sorry.

i have put another copy of my calibre library into pcloud put the app on the new tablet, to see if there's anyway to access it from other apps. it might be there as a " virtual drive" in android. pcloud on pc uses a virtual drive - its not clear what it uses on android,yet.

a quick look at box tells me there is no free tier, cheapest is $4 per month which does not suit me.

and dropbox paid is no longer of interest even if they introduce a cheaper tier, I would not pay without there being a way to limit app access to designated folders

By prodding icons at random I discovered that calibrebox can send a downloaded book into moon reader - probably it pushes it to whatever android says is the default handler for that format, as the icon for that is a right arrow in a box; but it has no proper written help. i still don't know what its " import books " doe., I downloaded 9 books, tapped that, and am told that 9 books have been imported but to what/where is still a mystery. They are not on shelves in moon.
For the record, calibrebox also lacks a big part of CC ( but it's the part that I don't use - all the "librarian" functionality for viewing and managing the device's books.
CB just does one thing very well - show all, or a filtered view, of what's in calibre in cloud, and download it on demand. £1.49 for the pro ( = no ads) version

[stumped]

Originally Posted by chaley

...This problem happens because of a decision I made 5 years ago: to use web-based OAUTH to authenticate instead of the service's program library API. .

so riddle me this please>
i re installed an app called folder sync pro, which can connect to cloud, to my new device.
when I went into cloud connections, a help screen said that it would be using OAUTH.
I told it to connect to dropbox, gave my credentials when asked, and it connected. via OAUTH apparently. so why does OAUTH work for that app but not for yours, with dropbox ?

PS there is a a free version. folder sync - if you want to see its auth process in action
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....lite&hl=en_GB

same app basically, the pro version has a few extra bells & whistles.