How to install Dropbox on CentOS 6 from source

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Dropbox-LogoBeing the sport that I am I thought I’d install Dropbox from source on my NC10. Even though an rpm installer package is available, I do enjoy a challenge.

My laptop is cunnrently running CentOS 6.5 (32bit) and has GNOME installed.

Turns out I needed a couple of packages – and before I forget, here’s how I did it. We’ll do all this from the command line (you have to be root for this):

Pick the latest .tar file from here https://linux.dropbox.com/packages/, then download it with

wget https://linux.dropbox.com/packages/nautilus-dropbox-1.6.2.tar.bz2

Extract and enter the directory it produces:

tar -xjf nautilus*
cd nautilus-dropbox-1.6.2

At this point the following sequence of commands should build the project:

./configure
make
make install

However on my system I received an error message after ./configure, letting me know that I needed the libnautilus-extension and docutils packages. I installed them with

yum install docutils nautilus-devel

Once installed, make and make install worked fine. If you run into issues, make sure you’re logged in as root, or prefix every command with sudo (as in “sudo make install”).

Now Dropbox is installed but it’s not running or configured. Let’s do that next:

dropox start -i

This will start the daemon and prompt you to download the desktop client from the GUI which will allow you to login and sync your content, just like on Windows and Mac.



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6 thoughts on “How to install Dropbox on CentOS 6 from source”

  1. I guess it’s the challenge to do the non rpm installation, and you enjoy it.

    I just downloaded the Fedora version and subsequently did sudo yum install ./nautilus…. .

    Yum resolved the “Need to have issue”

    In doing the setup, did you find a way to delay dropbox startup after a user logs in to his computer account? I frequent hot spots with my laptop, where the laptop needs wi-fi access before any communication can occur. Dropbox, in this situation, gets in the way, impeding the webbrowser logon to the wifi network. Of course, once the wifi security is resolved, dropbox is able to work.

  2. Indeed, at times and in moderation. 90% of the time I’m a yum man myself 😉

    Yes I know what you mean about the immediate Dropbox connection, I have this problem myself. I don’t know of a way to delay the initial connection, I usually just right-click on the Dropbox symbol in the top bar and select “quit Dropbox” which stops the syncing process unti I reboot or manually start Dropbox again.

    Likewise, I have machines on which I’ve disabled the Dropbox auto start (in the same dialogue box), usually when I know this machine won’t be connected to a fast connection for long and otherwise would interfere with quick sessions. This approach works well on all platforms and is identical on Windows and Mac.

    Not the answer you’re looking for I know – but an easy workaround.

  3. When I run:
    dropbox start -i
    It reads:
    Starting Dropbox…Dropbox isn’t running!
    Done!

    But then nothing happens….

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