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

Preamble

• On this OS, some advanced features of kDrive 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 higher versions)
  • Desktop environments: GNOME or KDE
• The application may work on other Linux distributions (Debian, Fedora, etc.) or with other desktop environments, but Infomaniak provides no technical assistance for installation or use outside the configurations mentioned above.

Installing kDrive on Linux

Prerequisites

• Download the kDrive application for Linux (this is a .AppImage format file).
• D-Bus (internal communication system present on most versions).
• Gnome-keyring or KWallet (password managers generally included, 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, select Properties then the Permissions tab.
3. Check the box "Allow executing the file as a program".

To have kDrive start automatically when you turn on your computer, add this file to yourApplication startup preferences (or equivalent menu depending on your system).

Known issues and solutions

Synchronization stuck or "Inotify watches" error

If 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 limits 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 (for example, 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 feature may block 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

Icon or window display issues

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

Error saving credentials (Keyring)

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

• Make sure a password manager (Gnome Keyring or KWallet) is installed and unlocked when you log in.
• 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 integration fails, make sure you are using at least version 3.0.0 (beta 2) to support kDrive's compression format.

Diagnostic assistance in case of 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 with this command:
journalctl -r -n 1000 > kdrive_syslog.txt