@dan this is smoke and mirrors by the Dropbox team, we feel. Apple allows for this just fine.
The actual problem is that Dropbox’s file propagation is simply too slow for this to work properly, as FCP libs are a bundle of files which all need to be in sync. It’s the same for an Avid project for instance, and not limited to Apple pro apps.
@dan yeah man. The way to do it now is to zip the file and upload. If you leave a logic or Final Cut project in Dropbox it gets terrible on the other end
@dan@imyke I have sympathy for this move by Apple. Package-format documents/projects (basically folders) are magically handled by iCloud to make sure updates are atomic on the receiving end, not one file here and there updating as the sync progresses. iCloud even has magic for large zipped file formats now where it can update only the files inside it that change. Other cloud providers don’t seem to have this (?) and so dealing with large files is a nightmare, and folder based docs a disaster.
@dan@imyke the problem is I don’t believe there is a way for arbitrary sync services to safely sync multi-file projects. They don’t have atomicity so if you copy such a project or have it open mid-sync of 53 of 89 changed files inside it you get data corruption and maybe crashes. I’ve dealt with this in detail in two apps. You need extra smarts communicating between sync service and the app to solve these problems. iCloud has that.
@dan@imyke You can argue Apple’s 3rd party interface for this (File Providers) is inadequate because nobody (except Working Copy probably) is implementing it properly. Google Drive’s implementation of it is a shit show.
@dan@imyke To be specific, Apple platforms have File Coordination to help deal with this (NSFilePresenter, NSFileCoordinator) and even implementing that is non-trivial if you’re not doing things the Applle way. Apple are clearly doing it that way in the apps but the sync services don’t properly participate I imagine and so things likely go bad.
@marcpalmer@dan ultimately, this was not a problem before Apple forced this change. That’s all I care about. All I know is I now have a worst end user experience
@dan Any idea when this change happened? I have (had?) Logic Pro projects synced. They’ve been fine and I get that bundle syncing is hard, but… wow. What a choice. 🤪
@marcedwards They've been talking about this change for a while. I got forced into it yesterday. It's a super slow roll out because it breaks so many things. I think our work account is being forced to migrate in about a month. We'll keep delaying if we're able.
@marcedwards They've been emailing about the work account changes, but this change, the File Provider API version was a banner at the top of the menu bar app where they stick those little offers like “want us to back up your mac? click here!”. My laptop was refusing to connect and sync so I thought the update might get me back on track. Not only will it still not sync but now it's this new, extra terrible version.
@marcedwards Bottom line, click that "not now” button as long as you're able. Eventually (supposedly) Apple is going to force them into using it for everyone, but while you have a choice, stay away from it.
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