2015-04-01

Google Drive App for Linux (and Mac)

I hate desktop-cloud synchronization applications.
Google's Drive Sync application is only available for Mac and Windows.  I don't care.

I have about two terabytes of files in cloud storage.  I have several different machines with very different purposes—desktops, laptops, servers, mobile devices—and I only want to store files locally if I'm actually going to use them for something.

Automatic sync, as in Dropbox or the official Google Drive app for Windows or Mac, is the absolute worst.  I don't want to waste bandwidth syncing incremental changes.  I want control over sync prioritization—often a huge .iso can wait, but I need that 50kb text file as soon as I get home.  Most of all, and especially important with the proliferation of online cloud editing tools, I can NEVER tolerate the possibility of a race condition if it's autosyncing while I'm editing online.

I'm a power user.  I hate graphical interfaces.  As Google Drive and Dropbox add features and accumulate more and more of my files, the GUIs slow down.  As my folder structures get deeper and deeper, it takes longer and longer to dig down to the files I need.  File management from the graphical interface is slow and can't be scripted.  If I'm pushing stuff to Drive from a remote machine, I DEFINITELY don't want to mess with a GUI.

I need a command line tool.  Google, through unofficial channels, has delivered.