Link to share files

hi guys!

so far I bought a little vserver package to use syncthing for syncing my mp3s :smile:

BUT!

I’m using mega.co.nz too in order to share my uploaded files… Is there a easy to use possibility to share my uploaded files? Some year ago, I developed a php-sharescript (share2.mailify.de) but honestly: It would be to difficult to change it for sharing files…

greetings!

This was already discussed at github and in this forum. TLDR: syncthing probaply wont’t get that feature. To share the files via URL, use a web server and a webapp. https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-you-share-your-files/?source_topic_id=2825

I think this feature could be essentiel and make the difference between a nerdy sync-tool and a useful cloud solution. what should I install owncloud for, when using syncthing?

To get functionality not provided by Syncthing, for one. :wink:

(Yes, tongue-in-cheek, sorry, but as noted this is not exactly at the top of the todo list.)

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that’s sad :sob:

My user level is a bit more advanced than the every day joe. I came across Syncthing while looking for a Dropbox alternative. Syncthing does half of the job (syncing), but not (sharing).

Then, I came upon Resilio. Resilio can share an individual file with strangers, but it requires those strangers to install Resilio Sync, which is not what I am looking for.

I also came upon Seafile. But due to my current setup, I am prevented by macOS from installing VMware remotely on a mac mini, which has local access to the files.

So, I returned to Syncthing.

At the moment, Syncthing works like iCloud… as a syncing tool for all your devices. However, this also means that it shares iCloud’s biggest weaknesses. In particular, I cannot easily share one file with a stranger.

Since the files synced with Syncthing are already available outside (technically) and they require a computer to always be on to do this (like a server), a feature to share individual files fits naturally into this kind of software.

I would be able to share a file from the drive without having to keep my laptop open (if I were using a web browser). And the stranger could download the file at his/her convenience (since there is a computer always on).

I use syncthing on a nas which is the only “read only” device of my cluster. Every night, I sync my nas directory to a file server on internet. There from I get the link whenever I need to share one file or subdirectory. It’s a way to backup Syncthing too.

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Given that this only works if a user has an always on computer, and given that Syncthing does not require an always on computer for any other reason, this seems like it would be a problem that the main Syncthing project is not suitable for solving on its own.

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I think the issue is not really that the computers are not always on, its that you can’t easily share the stack with someone else.

What I think would be nice, would be a separate but complimentary web server that could source from a syncthing sync, and prompt/ease installation on a user device.

In the case that you have a web-server available, you would install this and, like any other syncthing instance, connect it. Then you could share a link from that instance with other users, but use the “syncthing” web interface and provide (possibly permissioned) urls (and provide relevant install information to android users via store links and intents).

This is not that far off from the current “state of the art” which is to install a 3rd-party file share solution (I went with pydio and manually uploaded files from a sync), I don’t see a good reason for this not to be a part of the ecosystem (other than additional feature set/work to maintain by the community).

@smaudet If such a server existed, we could share files using URLs like this: https://files.syncthing.net/machine_id/folder_name/file_name

Then the server would receive the file from a Syncthing client when the URL was loaded. Since Syncthing does not have this feature, I needed to set up my own server in order to share a link to a file.