GNOME User Share

GNOME User Share (gnome-user-share) is an open source and tiny package distributed along with the GNOME Project and designed from the ground up to help users easily and effortlessly share files to the masses when using the GNOME desktop environment.

The gnome-user-share program comprises of various free file-sharing technologies, which will provide GNOME users with user-level file sharing functionality that works. It is automatically distributed with each new installation of the GNOME desktop environment.

How does it work?

GNOME User Share is a non-interactive daemon, which runs in the background and starts automatically when the user logs into the GNOME desktop environment. However, it won’t work out of the box, as the file sharing functionality is not enabled by default in GNOME.

The user must enable file sharing from the GNOME Control Center application. Immediately after file sharing is enabled, a WebDav server is started in the background, sharing the generic Public folder from the user’s Home directory to all the computers on the LAN (Local Network Area) using mDNS/rendezvous.

Under the hood and requirements

The WebDav server used by the GNOME User Share program is powered by the world’s most powerful free web server, Apache, which must be installed on your GNU/Linux distribution before trying to install this package. In addition, in order for the mDNS/rendezvous functionality to work properly, you will have to install Avahi or Howl, and then run mDNSResolver.

Installing GNOME User Share

While the package is automatically distributed to GNOME users along with each fresh installation of the GNOME desktop environment, it can also be installed manually using the universal source package. By executing the “./configure && make && make install” command (without quotes) in a terminal window, you will configure, compile and install the gnome-user-share package system wide on your GNU/Linux computer.

What is new in this release:

• Translation updates.

What is new in version :

• Fix possible unexpanded path in .desktop file.

What is new in version 3.14.2 / 3.18 Beta 1:

• Remove ObexPush support, it's now available directly in the gnome-bluetooth Settings widget.
• Better explanation when in Public folder

What is new in version 3.14.2:

• Fix crasher in gsettings-data-convert
• Updated translations

What is new in version 3.14.1:

• Always hide the info bar in Downloads
• Don't talk of "sharing over Bluetooth" since ObexFTP support was removed
• Make sure obexd daemon is launched when ObexPUSH is enabled
• Make sure that Bluetooth notifications don't time out
• Fix launching obexpush and webdav sharing at the same time
• Updated translations

What is new in version 3.14.0:

• Updated translations

What is new in version 3.10.2:

• Fix race condition when moving to Downloads dir
• Fix notifications not working
• Reject transfers in one place
• Remove temp files when rejecting transfers
• Enable notifications by default
• Use FileManager1 XDG API to reveal file
• Fix launch context leak
• Use correct desktop-entry hint
• Use Bluetooth icon for notifications
• Fix agent not working when restarting obexd
• Remove the status icon
• Updated translations

What is new in version 3.14 Beta 2:

• Fix compilation with Bluetooth disabled
• Updated translations

What is new in version 3.10.1:

• Fix share bar bugs that could make nautilus crash
• Update share bar labels to match new Sharing panel
• Remove unimplemented OBEX FTP support code
• Remove dbus-glib dependency
• Fix failure to receive files through OBEX Push
• Fix crash when switching VTs
• Fix use-after-free bug
• Fix a few memory leaks
• Re-enable Bluetooth support by default

What is new in version 3.10 Beta 2:

• Port to Bluez 5
• Update translations

What is new in version 3.8.3:

• Fix the servers not starting when enabled in System Settings's sharing panel
• Fix race condition for the personal files sharing on OpenBSD

What is new in version 3.8.0:

• Updated translations.

Requirements:

• GNOME