launch FFS from Linux Mint Cinnamon command line

[JohnHaggerty]

Hi folks,

I've been running FFS manually for a couple of months now since I switched from Windows to Linux - and very pleased with it I am too. I created a desktop shortcut as part of the installation and have been using that to launch.

Following on from an earlier Forum post (variables in filenames) I'm in the process of creating a script to run FFS with specific output filenames. I am running FreeFileSync 10.14 (Build: 16/07/19 – Unicode x64) but have been unable to launch it from the command line so far.

Trying to run the desktop icon command entry manually fails whether run as the default user (john), FreeFileSync or root:

john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~$ cd Desktop
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~/Desktop$ ls -al
<snip>
-rwxr-xr-x 1 john john 404 Jun 28 11:30 org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync.desktop
<snip>
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~/Desktop$ cat org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=FreeFileSync
GenericName=Folder Synchronization
Comment=Visual folder comparison and synchronization
Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=FreeFileSync --file-forwarding org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync @@ %F @@
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync
Categories=Utility;
StartupNotify=true
X-Flatpak=org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync

john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~/Desktop$ /usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=FreeFileSync --file-forwarding org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync @@ %F @@
Gtk-Message: 10:34:59.878: Failed to load module "atk-bridge"
FreeFileSync – Error – Cannot find file "/home/john/Desktop/%F".

john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~/Desktop$ su FreeFileSync
No passwd entry for user 'FreeFileSync'
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~/Desktop$ /usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=FreeFileSync --file-forwarding org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync @@ %F @@
Gtk-Message: 10:35:16.435: Failed to load module "atk-bridge"
FreeFileSync – Error – Cannot find file "/home/john/Desktop/%F".

john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~/Desktop$ sudo /usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=FreeFileSync --file-forwarding org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync @@ %F @@
[sudo] password for john:
/usr/bin/flatpak run: Can't get document portal: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed: Can't mount fuse fs
^Z
<snip>
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~/Desktop$

I've checked the (Cannot run FreeFileSync) thread. My copy of FFS isn't called FreeFileSync_x86_64 and doesn't live where expected:

john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~$ sudo find / -type f -name 'FreeFileSync_x86_64'
<snip>
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~$

john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~$ sudo find / -type d -name 'FreeFileSync'
/home/john/.var/app/org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync/config/FreeFileSync {log files}
/home/john/live_files/backups/FreeFileSync {.ffs_gui files}
/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync/x86_64/stable/0ec66af7e595033705a6097e83572a6dd1e0a5ce8df8dd91298607d31465a546/files/FreeFileSync {executables}
<snip>
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~$

FFS appears to live under flatpack, but I can't get it to run:
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:~$ cd /var/lib/flatpak/app/org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync/x86_64/stable/0ec66af7e595033705a6097e83572a6dd1e0a5ce8df8dd91298607d31465a546/files/FreeFileSync
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:<snip>$ ls -al
<snip>
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 1 14:39 Bin
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 349 Jan 1 1970 FreeFileSync.desktop
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 332 Jan 1 1970 RealTimeSync.desktop
<snip>

john@john-K30BF-M32BF:<snip>$ cd Bin
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:<snip>/Bin$ ls -al
<snip>
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 11146696 Jan 1 1970 FreeFileSync
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 1 14:39 ''$'\001\200\252''O@'$'\210\r\252''@8'$'\f''@!'
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 6479816 Jan 1 1970 RealTimeSync

john@john-K30BF-M32BF:<snip>/Bin$ FreeFileSync
FreeFileSync: command not found
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:<snip>/Bin$ ./FreeFileSync
./FreeFileSync: error while loading shared libraries: libjpeg.so.62: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
john@john-K30BF-M32BF:<snip>$

Any ideas?

Regards,

John

[Zenju]

This should probably be reported to whoever is maintaining your flatpack package. The official FreeFileSync Linux build should not have the "libjpeg.so.62" dependency.

[JohnHaggerty]

Thanks Zenju.

I did a 'flatpak uninstall' to get rid of it.

After a bit of experimenting I worked out that installing FFS via the Mint Software Manager sets it up as a flatpak. It then shows in All Applications so you can create a Desktop icon with the double arrow logo. Uninstalling it leaves the ffs_gui files and log files intact irrespective of whether you use the Mint Software Manager or 'flatpak uninstall'.

I downloaded the tar from the website and extracted it. I re-loaded the ffs_gui files and everything worked OK. Although I can't see any reason to have both versions installed, the extracted version works OK whether the flatpak version is installed or not.

I wanted to have the proper double arrow logo on the Desktop shortcut - hence the following.

The extracted version doesn't appear in All Applications so I created a Desktop icon via Make Link. The resulting icon was a shortcut to a settings cog rather than the double arrow logo. A bit more experimenting usually ended up with the 'cog' icon or a 'text file' icon, although loading FFS via the Desktop icon sometimes caused it to change to the double arrow logo. And sometimes the double arrow logo changed to a 'text file' icon.

I did a download via the Mint Software Manager and Added to desktop. I replaced Command with the path to the FreeFileSync program file in the extracted directory before uninstalling FFS again. All works as expected, including the proper Desktop icon (and I made a back-up of the icon just in case it plays up again).

Regards,

John