rclone: notes and tips

This note was created on 2024-05-14
This note was last edited on 2024-05-14

rclone is a command-line program to manage files on cloud storage. It is a feature-rich alternative to cloud vendors' web storage interfaces. Over 70 cloud storage products support rclone including S3 object stores, business & consumer file storage services, as well as standard transfer protocols.

=== Installation on macOS ===
1. Download binary for your architecture from https://rclone.org/downloads/
2. Prepare a local directory for rclone binary:
   $ mkdir -p /Users/$USER/.local/bin
3. Make sure ".local/bin" is included in your path by checking ".zshrc" configuration file:
   $ less ~/.local/bin
   ~~~
   ...
   path+=('/Users/*MYUSERNAME*/.local/bin')
   export PATH
   ...
   ~~~
4. Unzip the downloaded binary to "~/.local/bin":
   $ unzip -j Downloads/rclone-*-osx-*.zip "*/rclone" -d $HOME/.local/bin/
5. Remove binary from macOS quarantine:
   $ xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine $HOME/.local/bin/rclone
6. Done.

=== Configuring rclone to backup/store files in encryted format ===
Note: in this example:
- rclone configuration - will be encrypted with custom password.
- "crypt remote" will be created locally and encrypted with salt.
- file and directory names will be encrypted.

0. Launch interactive configuration session:
   $ rclone config
1. Set configuration password, as your password and salt will be stored there "lightly obscured":
   > s
   > a
2. After setting a configuration password, quit to main menu:
   > q
3. Create a new "crypt remote":
   > n
4. Set a name for a new "crypt remote":
   name> myremotename
5. Choose type of storage to configure (use "crypt or "13" to create it locally):
   Storage> crypt
6. Choose a path to your local "crypt remote":
   remote> /home/myusername/vaults/myremotename
7. Enable encryption for file names:
   filename_encryption> 1
8. Enable encryption for directory names: 
   directory_name_encryption> 1
9. Set a password for your "crypt remote":
   > y
10. Set a password2/salt for your "crypt remote":
    > y
11. Don't change advanced settings:
    > n
12. Confirm the changes to create a new "crypt remote" called "myremotename" in "/home/myusername/vaults/myremotename":
    > y
13. Done. You can quit interactive configuration session:
    > q

=== rclone basics ===
Enter an interactive configuration session:
$ rclone config edit

Show path of configuration file in use:
$ rclone config file
Note: By default, configuration file stored at "$HOME/.config/rclone/rclone.conf".

Print (decrypted) config file, or the config for a single remote:
$ rclone config show

List all the remotes in the config file and defined in environment variables:
$ rclone listremotes

Check the integrity of an encrypted remote:
$ rclone cryptcheck /path/to/files encryptedremote:path

Make the path if it doesn't already exist on remote:
$ rclone mkdir remote:path

Remove the empty directory at path:
$ rclone rmdir remote:path

Checks the files if the source and destination match. It compares sizes and hashes (MD5 or SHA1) and logs a report of files that don't match:
$ rclone check source:path dest:path

List the objects in the path. Use one of the following subcommands:
- "ls" to list size and path of objects only.
- "lsl" to list modification time, size and path of objects only.
- "lsd" to list directories only.
- "lsf" to list objects and directories in easy to parse format.
- "lsjson" to list objects and directories in JSON format.
For example:
$ rclone lsd remote:path

Prints the total size and number of objects in remote:path:
$ rclone size remote:path

Clean up the remote if possible. Empty the trash or delete old file versions:
$ rclone cleanup remote:path
Note: Not supported by all remotes.

Concatenate a file in remote and send them to stdout:
$ rclone cat remote:path/to/file

Copy file(s) to remote:
$ rclone copy /local/path/file.txt remote:/notes/

Sync directory content to the remote:
$ rclone sync --interactive /local/path remote:path

Mount encrypted local "crypt remote":
$ rclone mount myremotename:/ .local/mnt/
Note: Use ^C to unmount.

Dry run: delete file in remote:
$ rclone --dry-run delete remote:/notes/test.txt

Delete file in remote:
$ rclone delete remote:/notes/test.txt