We’re pleased to release Seafile client 9.0.7 today. A major change to our way to release the official Linux client is that it’ll be in AppImage format only. This format allows us to release a single package that can be run on most recent Linux distributions. This not only reduces the work to maintain packages, but also avoids breaking the client after an OS upgrade. The community maintained Debian/Fedora repositories are not affected and will still be available for users prefer installers.
The Linux clients in AppImage format can be downloaded from Download - Seafile . Please give us feedback.
Change logs for 9.0.7:
Checkout files directly without writing to cache folder first
Use user name when creating conflict files
Display user name in shared library list
Fix “Copy move is already in progress” error in cloud file browser
Support server addresses with special characters
Fix help links
[mac] Fix crash on first run for Apple Silicon CPUs
[linux] Use AppImage format for release
[linux] Disable deletion confirmation for CLI client
honestly, this is a huge downer for me. there are good use cases for AppImages, but one of the great strengths of various linux distributions was system wide software management. with each additional software that is only available as AppImage, snap, flatpak or whatever additional way peaople come up with for distributing their products, it gets harder to keep everything up-to-date, and i’m not even talking about the waste of disk space or new dependency problems introduced. am i supposed to manually update each program i use individually in the future now? when i think of remote machines that i maintain it really gives me a headache. it will make us reconsider infrastructure decisions, for sure.
this step makes a lot of sense from a development standpoint, but i consider it a disservice to users who want to do more than quickly test the client.
this would make a nice addition to packages for the large distros, but not a replacement.
The main advantage for AppImage, from user’s point of view, is that you don’t need to wait for us to support a new OS when you upgrade to a new OS. There have been many threads in this forum asking about support for a new OS. Due to our limited capacity, it’s hard to update Linux clients for all the latest OS in a timely manner. The Linux clients are always a few versions behind Windows and macOS. And we usually don’t have time to update the clients for a new OS even after it’s released for a few months. After switching to AppImage, we streamlined our workflow so that they can be released at the same time as Windows and macOS.
Based on our observations, users of Seafile actually don’t upgrade the clients frequently. As Seafile clients are quite stable already, the users don’t have to upgrade it unless there is something new they want or for security reasons.
For remote machines, they usually use the CLI client. This client is almost unchanged every version. So I think using the one comes from community maintained repositories should be enough.
For those who really prefer repositories, the community maintained repositories are still available. For example, Seafile client is included in Debian’s official repository.
We understand AppImage is not perfect and not everyone like it. But we think it works better for many users. And you’re right it reduces our work but it also make us more efficient and timely to release new versions to the users.
i was actually talking about updating remote desktop machines. and yes, especially for security reasons. i don’t want to have to check for updates for each of the many programs i use individually. it’s the windowsification of what used to be linux software management. it’s not just seafile, it’s happening all over the place. snap and flatpak are driving me crazy already, and now this
It seems that the CLI version no longer works without running the GUI? Is this correct?
I followed the instructions about renaming the .AppImage file to “seaf-cli”, but when I try to run it it’s no longer headless, and says it requires an x server.
Is there any way to keep using the newest versions on a headless machine with no x server?
