pCloud Console Client (undead)

This is a simple linux console client for pCloud cloud storage, derived from the console-client developed by pCloud.

Braaaaaains (Fork, please)

This version of pcloudcc is independently maintained by me, whose only affiliation with pCloud is as a user of their services. As of June 2024, the console-client repo (https://github.com/pcloudcom/console-client) seems to have been inactive for several years. This was an attractive alternative for myself and other like-minded weirdos who don't enjoy unneeded GUIs, and it is a shame to see it abandoned.

Security Notice

While security enhancements are currently being planned, you should be aware that this program currently stores your password and crypto password as an unencrypted string in memory (see: pclsync_lib.cpp. Advise running this program only on a host that you trust and do not share with anyone else.

Validating Your Device

pCloud requires "first time" validation for all devices. In the standard use case, where the user is running pcloudcc on the same host s/he normally works on, this can be completed by simply logging into pcloud.com using the web browser (and often, it already has been). Non-standard use cases (e.g., running pcloudcc on a remote server) require a different approach.

Tested Workarounds

Props to @tieum, @ebouda333, @CorvusCorax, and @tomash for suggesting the following workarounds:

Dockerized Carbonyl. Requires Docker or Podman on the host.. Run carbonyl in a container on the target host to complete the validation.

docker run --network host --rm -ti fathyb/carbonyl https://my.pcloud.com

SOCKS proxy over SSH Requires TCP port forwarding over SSH. Log in to the remote host using the command ssh -D <port> to enable a SOCKS proxy on localhost:<port>. Configure your local web browser to use localhost:<port> as its proxy, then log in to pcloud.com and validate the device. Do not forget to remove the proxy from your browser configuration when done.

Untested Workarounds

Fundamentally, the workaround is to log in to pcloud.com using a web browser from the target device. Therefore the following (untested) workarounds may also work.

SSH/X11 forwarding. Requires web browser, X11 forwarding over SSH on host. Requires X11 client on local machine.. If a sufficiently capable web browser and X11 forwarding are available on the host, login to SSH with X11 forwarding enabled (ssh -X <targethost>) and run the web browser from the SSH session to log in and validate the device.

Remote Desktop / VNC. Requires a sufficiently capable web browser and RDP/VNC capabilities on host. Run the web browser in a remote desktop session to log in and validate the device.

Supported Distributions & Packages

pcloudcc-lneely seeks to support as many Linux distributions as possible and has been tested on recent versions of Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, and Artix.

I use Artix and maintain an AUR package. I do not plan on providing or maintaining any other packages, but encourage anyone interested in doing so for their own distributions.

Due Credit

• Anton Titov
• Ivan Stoev
• pCloud

Dependencies

• zlib (-lz)
• boost (-lboost_system, -lboost_program_options)
• pthread (lpthread)
• udev (-ludev)
• libfuse (-lfuse)
• libsqlite (-lsqlite3)
• libmbedtls (-l:libmbedtls.so.14, -l:libmbedx509.so.1, -l:libmbedcrypto.so.7)

Building

make

It's really that easy. Use make install to install, and make uninstall to uninstall. Specify DESTDIR if desired (see Make Options).

Make Options

make BUILD=debug            # include debug symbols, ASan instrumentation. (default: release)
make STATIC=0               # dynamically link libpcloudcc_lib.so. (default: 1)
make SCAN=1                 # run code analysis; recommend CC=clang and CXX=clang++. (default: 0)
make CC=clang CXX=clang++   # use clang instead of gcc (default: gcc,g++)
make DESTDIR=/prefix        # installation prefix (default: /usr/local/bin)

Usage

Getting Help

Terminal command is pcloudcc and -h option prints short options description.

pcloudcc -h

First Use

Start the service in the foreground using the -p switch to enter your password, and the -s switch to save the password to the database. Verify that file system starts and mounts normally after the

pcloudcc -u [email protected] -p -s

Registration

If you don't have existing user use -n switch to register new user:

pcloudcc -u [email protected] -p -s -n

Notice that a new user may take a while to mount. Please, be patient.

Run as Daemon

If you have saved your password, then you can run pcloudcc as a background daemon. Verify the filesystem is mounted when the daemon starts.

pcloudcc -u [email protected] -d

Command Prompt

Use the command prompt to interact with a running daemon.

pcloudcc -k

Command Reference:

  help(?): Show this help message
  crypto(c):
    start <crypto pass>: Unlock crypto folder
    stop: Lock crypto folder
  sync(s):
    list(ls): List sync folders
    add <localpath> <remotepath>: Add sync folder
    remove(rm) <folderid>: Remove sync folder
  finalize(f): Kill daemon and quit
  quit(q): Exit this program

Note. Command line arguments that include special characters (e.g., the crypto start password or paths with spaces) must now be quoted or escaped. In other words, instead of:

startcrypto Str0ng p4$$word 4 great jUSTicE!

One must now type, for example:

c start 'Str0ng p4$$word 4 great jUSTicE!'

If the password includes quotes for some reason, then those characters must be escaped properly.

Warning

Stopping daemon will break pending background transfers! pcloudcc does not currently provide a command to check for pending transfers. You can currently check this by ensuring there is only one file named cached in ~/.pcloud/Cache. Usually this is a large file.