After boughtonp's helpful pointer to rcopy I've been trying to get to grips with it & particularly why it deletes all existing files in the dropbox before copying. The web-copy function actually does the same, but the whole point of rcopy was to avoid that. Finally, a month afterwards, I've both found out why & how to fix it.

tl:dr: use --dropbox-batch-mode sync

After stargate's link for Ralph Minderhoud's blog I switched to try rclone sync but got the following error during uplift:

The reference for that is in rclone.org/dropbox/:

The info on the page appears to be misleading:-

• It never mentions that all the existing files are first deleted and thus *all* files in the mirror have to be re-uplifted

• --dropbox-batch-mode off was the default before rclone v1.55
  (mine is rclone v1.60.1-DEV)

Well, whatever. I took another chance, and the following actually works, and only uplifts changed files:
(the following need to be set before (see also rclone sync commands):
$LOCAL_DIR
$DROPBOX_PROFILE # this is the dropbox name within the local dropbox profile
$REMOTE_DIR
$LOCAL_EXCLUDE_TXT_FILE):

$ rclone sync $LOCAL_DIR $DROPBOX_PROFILE:$REMOTE_DIR -P \
  --exclude-from $LOCAL_EXCLUDE_TXT_FILE --dropbox-batch-mode sync

I used this just now and, instead of replacing every single one of the 3,433 files it just added 4 new documents.

Here is $LOCAL_EXCLUDE_TXT_FILE:

@golinux:
Your comment is out of order. My remark carries zero disrespect, zero condescension & zero antagonism towards oui. The man is not a native English-speaker & I'm attempting a slight nudge to assist him in realising a linguistic error. I'm trying to help.

I'm sorry that your mind has been poisoned by other folks in these fora. I'm innocent of their claims.

PS

It is "Command-Line Interpreter".

'Commando' is also a word in English, and completely different to your intention.

Ah! Now I understand some of the differences between us:-

• USA: Uses humor to humiliate other people

• UK: Uses humour to highlight some of the absurdities of being alive

OK, got it.

I sure am glad that I am me & not you.

This memory is from years ago... server hack via the internet. Discovery tool dropped to report back distro details. Then binary compiled by attack server to match profile discovered by discovery tool. Finally, attack binary dropped to carry out hack.

...and sorry, cannot recall any further details to allow you to read further. I think it may have been to expand net of compromised servers.

Oh wow.

Debian truly has lost it's way.

+1

Er, yes (though not for a website)

$ apt search php | fgrep -i installed

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

php-cli/stable,now 2:8.2+93 all [installed]
php-common/stable,now 2:93 all [installed,automatic]
php-mbstring/stable,now 2:8.2+93 all [installed]
php8.2-cli/stable,stable-security,now 8.2.7-1~deb12u1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
php8.2-common/stable,stable-security,now 8.2.7-1~deb12u1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
php8.2-mbstring/stable,stable-security,now 8.2.7-1~deb12u1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
php8.2-opcache/stable,stable-security,now 8.2.7-1~deb12u1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
php8.2-readline/stable,stable-security,now 8.2.7-1~deb12u1 amd64 [installed,automatic]

Hi koala, welcome to Devuan.

I'm going to refer you to the command line from a terminal. The main complication may be that you may need to install and/or setup sudo. If so, how to do that is standard stuff for both Debian & Devuan.

Try the following to see your current repository setup:

$ grep ^[^#] /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus                  main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-updates          main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-security         main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-proposed-updates main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-backports        main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/josm.list:deb https://josm.openstreetmap.de/apt/ alldist universe
$ la /etc/apt/sources.list
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2535 Aug 17 17:25 /etc/apt/sources.list

That will then inform you on which places in which file you may need to change. I hope that it goes without saying that most repository files require root to change them.

You are correct. It does & that means that I can sync a dir quite easily by dropping it into the DB page. It then re-uploads the entire dir (2GB; even if only one file - or none - have been changed). Coming across the debian app for desktop was part of my search to avoid that.

It is my first time using a remote hearing for any purpose and my instinct is to rock their boat as little as possible. I've invested ridiculously large amounts of my time in instigating this case and will run along their train-tracks, thanks.

You will be indifferent to know that I got the suet/fat balls up for the birds last night and, so far, they have ignored it. It was so cold last night that they may all be dead again (in 2018 the Beast From the East killed every song-bird in the acre behind my house; only magpies & pidgeons survived; it is only in the last 2 years that some have visited again).

There was one feature only that had me concerned: would trying to install it pull in some of the systemD virus? It looks like I'm going to have to give it a miss 'til later.

@emanym: many thanks for taking a quick look.

I've got *very* little time available to me: Having got my head up inside of a CPV webpage (for remote hearings) & installing my very first webcam I'm trying to finish off a huge set of commentaries on dodgy ASV CCTV, whilst simultaneously setting up suet & fat-ball feeders to try to help local songbird migrants survive forthcoming -14℃ weather.

Sorry if my request that someone else consider connecting with DropBox & asking that they consider Devuan as another OS to align their Apps to was so outrageous.