Cloud Davfs Encfs, README

Introduction

Your cloud data, synced with WebDAV and encoded with EncFs.

cloud-davfs-encfs makes it easy create and manage your cloud connections for your encoded files.

The command cloud-davfs-encfs, encrypts your data using Encfs and uses a WebDAV connection to your cloud provider for uploading and syncing the encrypted data to the encoded directory. Only you have the encfs password.

By using an easy to remember unique identifier, multiple cloud instances and cloud providers can be used, independently. But the mechanics and operations remain the same. Cloud-davfs-enfs will create a new tree structure for each identifier.

You can upload and keep un-encoded data on your cloud anywhere outside of the encoded directory.

Since it is probably a good idea to keep a local copy of the cloud data, sync functionality is encouraged (with some setup). Unison is a good bidirectional file synchronizer, recommended. A unison sample template is provided. Of course, you may use another file synchronization tool of your choice.

This is a bash shell-script that coordinates the needed actions to handle your encrypted cloud data.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites are provided by most Linux distributions. Nothing fancy here. These are:

• bash shell.
• util-linux for mountpoint.
• sudo.
• davfs2.
• encfs.
• unison, optional. You may use another tool of your choice for file synchronization.

Install the needed libraries using your distribution’s package manager or directly from source.

To configure davfs2, make sure to:

• add your user to the davfs2 group. You may have to first create the davfs2 group.
• check your http proxy configuration, if needed. The system will work with correct proxy setup.
• add the cloud mount-point, cloud-username and password to the ~/.davfs2/secrets file. See below section on layout for the cloud mount point.

Installation

Download and uncompress the archive file or clone the repository. Make sure the cloud-davfs-encfs.sh is executable and create a link to it, with a name like cdectl. The link should be within the shell path.

chmod +x cloud-davfs-encfs.sh

# cd to your local path, such as ~/.local/bin or ~/bin
cd ~/bin

# create symbolic link, cdectl
ln -s path/to/executable/cloud-davfs-encfs.sh cdectl

Usage

The general command follows a systemd style pattern of:

cdectl action [cloudname]

where:

• cdectl : the command name from the installation.
• action : specifies action to be taken.
• cloudname : usually the identifier for the cloud instance, with some exceptions:
  • some actions do not need it
  • has a different meaning for the create action.

The cloudname identifier should be easy to memorize, but characteristic enough to clearly distinguish your cloud instances. Perhaps, as a decent rule-of-thumb, should be between 3-4 characters long. Avoid, using things like: cloud01, cloud02, nextcloudofficenew, etc. which have no meaning or are too long. Prefer (short) cloudnames that make sense to you. Should also be good for use as a directory names.

Layout

A diagram showing the layout will be provided soon, here. Sorry.

All the cloud instances, are mounted under a common directory root, the CLOUD_ROOT by default ~/cloud. Each cloud instance is set under the CLOUD_ROOT using a unique cloudname identifier. For a cloudname of exam, using the defaults the directory DIR_CLOUDNAME would be ~/cloud/exam.

The remote cloud directory, usually named FILES or similar, is mounted at the webdav mount-point as $DIR_CLOUDNAME/webdav. Under the webdav mount-point, a directory is set for the encoded files as $DIR_CLOUDNAME/webdav/encoded. The encoded files are mounted, using EncFs, to $DIR_CLOUDNAME/cloudfiles.

Actions

Defined actions are:

1. createb
2. status
3. start
4. stop
5. list or ls
6. sync

Create

The create action will create the configuration and directory layout for a new cloud instance. The format of the create action is:

cdectl create file.config

where file.config is the full or relative path to the configuration file. The path of this file is not important. See configuration file section for details on file.config.

The create action will:

1. check the provided cloudname is not already used.
2. place a new configuration file in the proper location.
3. add an entry to /etc/fstab for mounting the wedbav instance. This requires root privileges with sudo.

Start

The start action mounts the webdav and encfs directories for the cloud instance provided. The format is:

cdectl start cloudname

This action connects the cloud files, decodes them and mounts them to the $DIR_CLOUDNAME/cloudfiles directory.

Stop

The stop action un-mounts the webdav and encfs directories for the cloud instance provided. The format is:

cdectl stop cloudname

As the name implies, this action is the opposite of the start action.

Status

The status action will check and report on the webdav and encfs status. The format is:

cdectl status cloudname

Note, the davfs2 backend will:

1. refuse to close the connection when the webdav is active.
2. wait for cache synchronization when closing the webdav connection.

List

The list action will report on the known cloudnames. The format is:

cdectl list
cdectl ls        # short format

It will not do any checks, such as check if the cloud instances are active, have the correct layout, etc.

Config-show

The config-show action will print the contents of the configuration file. The format is:

cdectl config-show cloudname

Sync

The sync action will run the file synchronization command given in the configuration file. The format is:

cdectl sync cloudname

The file synchronization should take place between the decoded files at $DIR_CLOUDNAME/cloudfiles and a local location.

By default, this action is disabled as it requires to be set-up by the user.

The configuration file

The configuration file uses a simple shell-syntax for setting shell variables:

# Use Unix shell syntax.
# Change the value assignd to the variables as needed.

# The webdav remote path depends on your cloud provider.
# Consult the cloud provider documentation.
WEBDAV_REMOTE_PATH=https://server/remote.php/dav/files/user@example.com/

# provide an identifier
CLOUDNAME=exam

# Command for bi-directional syncing with the local files.
# See example using the unison synchronizer, with the synchronization
# details in the .prf file.
# By default this command is disabled, as it requires setup by the user.
# SYNC_CMD='unison example.prf'
SYNC_CMD='echo "Sync disabled"; exit'

The above sample is available in sample.conf.

License

GPLv3 or later. No warranties made.

Emacs