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ownCloud App

About

ownCloud is a suite of client–server software for creating and using file hosting services.

Installing ownCloud client on Ubuntu

The ownCloud client on Ubuntu is outdated. The client will display an error:

Error downloading https://SERVERNAME/owncloud/remote.php/webdav/ - server replied: Forbidden (Unsupported client version.)".

To resolve the problem, install the ownCloud client by following the instructions here:

sudo wget -nv https://download.owncloud.com/repositories/desktop/Ubuntu_16.04/Release.key -O Release.key
sudo apt-key add - < Release.key
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.owncloud.com/repositories/desktop/Ubuntu_16.04/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/owncloud.list"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install owncloud-client

Warning

As of this writing, the ownCloud website links to the opensuse website for installing the owncloud client. The packages in the opensuse website do not work. See the forum and GitHub issue for more information.

Running occ tool

The occ tool can be used for ownCloud administrative tasks.

The occ command can be run using the Web terminal. For example, to list the users:

    sudo -u www-data php -f /app/code/occ app:list

Managing deleted files

When you delete a file in ownCloud, it is not immediately deleted permanently. Instead, it is moved into the trash bin. It is not permanently deleted until you manually delete it, or when the Deleted Files app deletes it to make room for new files.

To change permanent deletion policy configure the trashbin_retention_obligation parameter.

The parameter can be edited using the Web terminal and editing the file /app/data/config/config.php.

Max upload size

The app is configured to allow maximum uploads of up to 5GB.

Attaching external storage

Many VPS providers like Digital Ocean, Linode allow attaching external block storage to the server. ownCloud has a feature that allows mounting additional directories on the server as external storage.

Mounting an existing server directory as 'external storage' on ownCloud is currently not supported.

If the intent is to simply increase the amount of storage available to ownCLoud (since you have run out of disk space in the default data partition), there are two options:

  • Configure ownCloud to use an external object storage like Digital Ocean Spaces, AWS S3 etc.

  • Configure Cloudron to store all of ownCloud's data in the external block storage. To achieve this, follow the guide for moving a single app's data directory to another location.

Moving ownCloud's directory entirely has the advantage that the iOS/Android app's Instant Upload feature uses this new disk.

Rescan files

ownCloud will not pick up files if they are added directly in the data directory of the user on the server. To make it rescan, open a Web terminal and run the following command:

sudo -u www-data php -f /app/code/occ files:scan <username>

To rescan external storage, use the --path parameter.

sudo -u www-data php -f /app/code/occ files:scan <username> --path=/<username>/files/externaltest

Fixing a broken install

The ownCloud Marketplace has a wide variety of apps that can be installed on top of ownCloud. ownCloud has no native sandboxing mechanism for plugins - if a plugin fails, it will bring down the whole installation. Plugins might also break an installation after a ownCloud upgrade. For this reason, we encourage carefully reviewing apps before using them.

To fix a broken installation, open a Web terminal and repair the app. Then run the following commands:

sudo -u www-data php -f /app/code/occ app:list            # this lists the apps
sudo -u www-data php -f /app/code/occ app:disable <app>   # use this to disable the faulty app
sudo -u www-data php /app/code/occ maintenance:mode --off

After running the commands, end the repair for the app to come up.