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On Windows, Microsoft offers their Cloud Filter API (parts of which are implemented in the Windows Kernel as the CldFlt Windows Cloud Files Mini Filter Driver), which provides for an interface for cloud storage integration with features similar to Microsoft's OneDrive. AFAIK, Linux doesn't offer anything quite like that (StackOverflow).

One of the most useful features of the Cloud Filter API are the placeholder files, which allow the local file system to display files that will be downloaded from the cloud storage on access. This is a huge usability improvement over having to select specific folders to fully sync and download. It also enables space saving by removing unused files from local storage.

Are there any cloud storage clients on Linux that implement such a feature and if so, how do they do that? To be clear, I am not looking for a specific piece of software, but I would like to understand how such a mechanism is implemented on Linux.

Using libfuse might be an option, but it seems less than ideal, since it would require hiding the actual local storage folder from the user and serving a full 'fake' filesystem instead. (What if the daemon isn't running? Can the user access the locally stored files, or see the placeholders and be notified that the daemon is down?)

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  • Many mainstream cloud storage services offer selective sync'ing and at least Ubuntu also does what you're asking with Google Drive integration. That said, I suggest editing of the question and making it more about the issue you're trying to solve and much less about software recommendations. Also you first paragraph seems to equate "Microsoft" with "Linux"... Linux is the kernel, that's it. Commented Jul 3 at 23:05
  • Fair enough, I clarified that Microsoft implements the feature as a kernel driver so that the comparison to Linux is more obvious. And I also made it clear that I'm looking to understand how such a feature can be implemented, not so much which specific software does it. If I can find open source code that does it, I can study that. Commented Jul 4 at 7:31
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    FUSE would let you implement - in user space - anything you liked, and present it as a filesystem Commented Jul 4 at 7:46
  • "Using libfuse might be an option" - indeed. Consider a variation of overlayfs with cloudy links in the lower layer and downloaded files in the upper. Or v.v.. And I really don't see a problem with a user failing to benefit from this filesystem if the dæmon isn't running - just declare it to be a mandatory feature even if you're running offline Commented Jul 4 at 21:40

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