Tuxdrive – A Commandline Google Drive Client For Linux

There are plenty of Graphical Google drive clients out there. But, the commandline clients are so few. Today, we will be discussing about a commandline google drive client called Tuxdrive. This utility will be helpful for those who stay in Terminal mostly. Tuxdrive is a free console-based Google drive client for Unix-like operating systems. Using Tuxdrive, we can access google drive from Terminal, and also we can download/upload, manage all our stuffs in Google drive. It is completely free and open source.

Tuxdrive - A Commandline Google Drive Client For Linux

Installing Tuxdrive On Ubuntu

First, we need to install the required prerequisites pip3, and then install google-api-python-client which is used to authenticate with your Google drive.

First, let us install pip3.

On Ubuntu and derivatives like Linux Mint, run the following command to install pip3.

$ sudo apt-get install python3-pip

After installing pip3, install google-api-python-client using command:

$ sudo pip3 install google-api-python-client

Finally, download the latest Tuxdrive .deb package from here and install it as shown below. As of writing this guide, the latest version was 1.0.10.

$ wget https://github.com/prahladyeri/tuxdrive/releases/download/v1.0.10/tuxdrive.deb

$ sudo apt-get install gdebi

$ sudo gdebi tuxdrive.deb

Configure

Once installed, open Tuxdrive by running the following command:

$ tuxdrive

If your browser is on a different machine then exit and re-run this application with the command-line parameter --noauth_local_webserver.

$ tuxdrive --noauth_local_webserver

When you run tuxdrive the first time, it will open up the browser window and ask for permissions to access your google drive on your behalf. Click Allow.

Google drive authentication

Copy the verification code:

Google drive authentication

And, paste it in your Terminal and hit ENTER.

Once the authentication process is successful, you will be landed in tuxdirve prompt.

Now, you can start accessing your Google Drive using Tuxdrive client from the Terminal.

Usage

To list all files and directories in the google drive, run:

$ ls

Or,

$ dir

Sample output:

tux_drive> ls
Credentials fetched successfully.

DIRECTORY Technology
DIRECTORY Books
DIRECTORY Information Security 2
DIRECTORY OSTechNix
DIRECTORY Linux
DIRECTORY Ultimate IQ Tests - Philip Carter & Ken Russell
DIRECTORY Malware
DIRECTORY Kodaikanal Trip
DIRECTORY Office
DIRECTORY ESSN Training Session
DIRECTORY ..

FILE tuxlogo
FILE END
FILE END.docx
FILE END.docx
FILE Technical notes
FILE Create USB bootable disk
FILE Install Kali Linux Tools
FILE How can one become part of the 1%?
FILE Cloud Authentication1.docx
FILE Cloud Authentication1.docx

20 items found.

To list all files and folders in current local working directory in google drive, run either !dir or !ls.

tux_drive> !dir
FILE .bash_logout
FILE .wget-hsts
DIRECTORY Public
DIRECTORY .shutter
DIRECTORY .config
DIRECTORY .local
DIRECTORY .gconf
DIRECTORY .gnome2
FILE .bashrc
FILE .sudo_as_admin_successful
FILE 208_374679378.pdf
DIRECTORY Downloads
FILE .profile
DIRECTORY Videos
DIRECTORY Documents
DIRECTORY .mozilla
DIRECTORY .thumbnails
FILE .xsession-errors.old
FILE .Xauthority
DIRECTORY .cache
DIRECTORY .gnupg
DIRECTORY Pictures
FILE .dmrc
FILE examples.desktop
FILE .ICEauthority
FILE tuxdrive.deb
FILE .xsession-errors
DIRECTORY Music
FILE .bash_history
DIRECTORY Desktop
DIRECTORY .dbus
DIRECTORY Templates
DIRECTORY .gnome2_private

33 items found.

Local Working Directory is /home/ostechnix
tux_drive>

To change the current local working directory:

tux_drive> lcd Downloads/
Directory changed to Downloads/

To print current working directory in your drive, run:

tux_drive> pwd
Remote Working Directory is /(root)
tux_drive>

Similarly, to print the local working directory, use "lpwd" command:.

tux_drive> lpwd
Local Working Directory is /home/ostechnix/Downloads

To download a file from Google drive, use "pull" command like below.

tux_drive> pull 208_374679378.pdf
File found: /208_374679378.pdf
Credentials fetched successfully.
Downloading: 0B88FP2CC57vMc2sxR01aVGEwUDZtX0xpMW9nazBLM0VDdS0w(208_374679378.pdf)
Downloaded successfully to /home/ostechnix/208_374679378.pdf

All files will be downloaded in the current working directory i.e $HOME directory.

To upload files to google drive, use "push" command like below.

tux_drive> push tuxdrive.deb
Uploading tuxdrive.deb
Credentials fetched successfully.
Upload successful
Credentials fetched successfully.
tux_drive>

To create a new directory in your drive, run the following command in the tuxdrive console.

tux_drive> mkdir senthilkumar
Uploading senthilkumar
Credentials fetched successfully.
Upload successful
Credentials fetched successfully.
tux_drive>

The above command will create a directory named "senthilkumar" in the Google drive.

To change to the newly created directory, run:

tux_drive> cd senthilkumar
Credentials fetched successfully.
Remote directory changed to /senthilkumar (0B88FP2CC57vMbWp6YXlCNnQ3aWM)
tux_drive>

To check where we are now, use "pwd" command:

tux_drive> pwd
Remote Working Directory is /senthilkumar(0B88FP2CC57vMbWp6YXlCNnQ3aWM)

To go back to the root directory in google drive, run:

tux_drive> cd /
Credentials fetched successfully.
Remote directory changed to / (root)

To remove a file or directory in drive, run:

tux_drive> rm senthilkumar
senthilkumar is a directory. Are you sure you want to delete it? (Y/n)y
Credentials fetched successfully.
Item 0B88FP2CC57vMbWp6YXlCNnQ3aWM deleted.

To view the help section, run "help".

tux_drive> help
Commands:

help (or ?): Shows this help facility.
dir (or ls): Lists all files and folders on drive.
!dir (or !ls): Lists all files and folders in current directory.
pull <item>: Pulls the named file/folder from drive to current working directory.
push <item>: Pushes the named file/folder from current working directory to drive.
rm <item>: Delete the named file/folder on remote path.
pwd: Print working directory (remote/drive)
cd: Change working directory (remote/drive)
lpwd: Print working directory (local)
lcd: Change working directory (local)
rdcache: Show remote directory mapping of id and folder paths.
rfcache: Show remote files mapping of id and folder paths.
mkdir: Create a directory on remote path.
exit: Exits this program.

tux_drive>

Since Tuxdrive is very new and under active development, there will be bugs. If you find any bugs, notify to the developer in the GitHub page given below.

Cheers!

Resource:

• Tuxdrive GitHub Repository