Cannot run FreeFileSync

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Posts: 3
Joined: 26 Feb 2019

JamesZE

I have recently transitioned from Windows 10 on my PC to Linux Mint (19).
On the Windows computer I used a paid for version of AllwaySync, and was very happy with it, but it does not work under Linux, so I have downloaded FreeFileSync
I wish to donate, but I cannot get FreeFileSync to run.
I can see all the files I have downloaded in the newly created FreeFileSync folder, but there appears to be no
executable files
no installation file
no set-up file?

If someone here could tell me what to do to install and run FreeFileSync I would be very much obliged.

Kind regards,
James
Posts: 305
Joined: 7 Jan 2018

bgstack15

In Linux (including Linux Mint), a file is considered executable if it has a permission flag set. Linux filesystems use a vastly different way to grant access for users to files.
$ ls -l /usr/bin/FreeFileSync
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4861384 Feb 14 10:46 /usr/bin/FreeFileSync
In my example above, FreeFileSync has [permission] mode rwxr-xr-x, which is user rwx (read-write-execute), group read-execute, and other [world] read-execute. So everyone has the ability to execute /usr/bin/FreeFileSync.
If for some reason you cannot find the FreeFileSync_x86_64 with an other r-x flags set, you can change the permissions on the file (assuming you are the owner of the file) with chmod a+rx FreeFileSync_x86_64 where a represents all (so, user, group, and other).
To execute a file/program in the current directory in a terminal, you need to include the dot-slash at the beginning, that represents current directory. The dollar sign here represents the prompt.
$ ./FreeFileSync
Wherever your FreeFileSync_x86_64 file is located (I think that's how Zenju sends out the pre-built application), you can run it from anywhere by calling the full path.
$ /home/JamesZE/Downloads/FreeFileSync/FreeFileSync_x86_64
Installing programs in Linux is done differently from on Windows. Linux Mint uses apt-get on the command line, and probably some graphical tool whose name would be searchable I'm sure but I'm too lazy to research that part for you at this time. If the Linux Mint team packages up FreeFileSync, that's news to me but that would be simply fantastic! I know of a fellow who used to build the application in a private repository (https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/home:stevenpusser:FreeFileSync/freefilesync) but it appears out of date and I don't presently know how you'd hook that into Linux Mint (related to Ubuntu Linux) so tinker with that at your own risk.

If you want to make an icon to your extracted FreeFileSync in the Cinnamon menu (Linux Mint uses Cinnamon desktop environment by default; you'd know if you picked a different release of Mint), or any xdg-compliant desktop environment really, you can make a .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/. If you want to just make the change for your own user, use ~/.local/share/applications/ directory (tilde is usually interpreted by the shell as your home directory).

So, use your preferred text editor to modify /home/JamesZE/.local/share/applications/FreeFileSync.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=FreeFileSync
Comment=Keep files and folders synchronized
Exec=/home/JamesZE/Downloads/FreeFileSync/FreeFileSync_x86_64 %f
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=/home/JamesZE/Downloads/FreeFileSync/freefilesync.png
MimeType=application/x-freefilesync-ffs;application/x-freefilesync-batch
Categories=Utility;FileTools;GTK;
StartupWMClass=FreeFileSync
StartupNotify=true
X-Desktop-File-Install-Version=0.23
You can obviously change the values here to what matches your situation.

I do use Cinnamon desktop environment myself, and it catches on to the updated desktop files right away.
Posts: 3
Joined: 26 Feb 2019

JamesZE

Thanks for your prompt reply.

I opened a terminal window and tried all the commands you suggested, but all i got was a "no such file exists", or "no such command exists"?

James
Posts: 3
Joined: 26 Feb 2019

JamesZE

I have since been able to open and run FreeFileSync - thanks very much indeed,
James