This guide details the installation of the kDrive desktop application from Infomaniak on a computer running the Linux operating system. This application allows you to automatically synchronize files from your computer with your online kDrive storage.

Introduction

• On this OS, some advanced kDrive features are not available, such as the Lite Sync option (which allows you to view your files without physically storing them on the disk) or the context menu via right-click (to quickly share a link, for example).
• The kDrive application is officially supported by Infomaniak only on the following configurations:
  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (and later versions)
  • Desktop environments: GNOME or KDE
• The application may run on other Linux distributions (Debian, Fedora, etc.) or with other desktop environments, but Infomaniak provides no technical support for installation or use outside of the configurations mentioned above.

Installing kDrive on Linux

Prerequisites

• Download the kDrive application for Linux (this is a file in .AppImage format).
• D-Bus (internal communication system present in most versions).
• Gnome-keyring or KWallet (password managers that are usually integrated, except on very lightweight Linux versions).

Next:

1. Place the downloaded file in a folder of your choice, for example, a folder named "Applications" in your personal directory.
2. Right-click on the file, choose Properties, then the Permissions tab.
3. Check the box "Allow the file to be executed as a program".

To have kDrive launch automatically when your computer starts, add this file to your "Startup Applications" (or equivalent menu, depending on your system).

Known issues and solutions

Synchronization blocked or "Inotify watches" error

If the synchronization seems to be stuck (e.g., step 1/10) or if the logs indicate the error Out of memory or limit number of inotify watches reached!, this means that your system is limiting the number of files it can monitor simultaneously.

• Check the current limit: type the command cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches in a terminal.
• Increase the limit: to double the value (e.g., to 131072), run:
  echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=131072 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
  Then apply the change with: sudo sysctl -p

The application closes upon opening (AppArmor / Wayland)

On some recent versions of Ubuntu (24.04+) or Debian, the AppArmor security system may prevent the login window from opening.

• AppArmor Solution: Install the necessary tools: sudo apt install apparmor-utils. Then, create a rule for kDrive: sudo aa-autodep /path/to/kDrive.AppImage and restart the service: sudo service apparmor restart.
• Wayland Conflict: If the application crashes under Wayland, try forcing the classic display (X11) by launching the application via the terminal with the following command:
  export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb && ./kDrive.AppImage

Display issues with the icon or window

• Invisible icon (Gnome): install the AppIndicator Support extension. Note that the Dash to Panel extension may make the application menus invisible and is not recommended.
• Window cannot be opened: check that the libfuse2 and libdbus-1-dev software libraries are installed on your system.
• KDE Wayland: if the interface is not displayed correctly, add these lines to your ~/.config/kdeglobals configuration file:
  [QtQuickRendererSettings]
RenderLoop=basic
SceneGraphBackend=opengl

Error saving credentials (Keychain)

If kDrive asks for your credentials each time it starts or displays the error Failed to save authentication info to keychain:

• Make sure that a password manager (Gnome Keyring or KWallet) is installed and unlocked when you open your session.
• Check that the D-Bus service org.freedesktop.secrets is configured. If you are using KWallet, the file /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.secrets.service must contain:
  [D-BUS Service]
Name=org.freedesktop.secrets
Exec=/usr/bin/kwalletd5

Using AppImageLauncher

If you are using the AppImageLauncher tool and the integration fails, make sure you are using at least version 3.0.0 (beta 2) to support the kDrive compression format.

Troubleshooting in case of a crash

If the application closes without an error message, you can generate a report for technical analysis by extracting the latest activities from your system using this command:
journalctl -r -n 1000 > kdrive_syslog.txt