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Uploading

Table of Contents

1. At a glance

  • There are two upload clients, one for browsers and one for CLI;

  • Both need a secret to connect to the server;

  • The Web interface:

    • Is simple but "just enough";

    • Can upload single files;

    • Single page written in HTML5 and Javascript;

    • Can show a QR code for easier download from mobile devices;

    • And a 'share' button, where supported;

  • The CLI interface:

    • Pure Python 3[1], no dependencies;

    • Can zip multiple files or directories to a temporary zip, before uploading it;

    • Can save the secret to the user’s home.

2. The Web UI

You can access it by opening the base address in a reasonably modern browser. It should work on the desktop and on mobile.

Something like this should be shown:

A screenshot of the Web UI
Figure 1. A screenshot of the Web UI

Simply provide the secret, and either choose a file or input a text to share. Then click "Upload".

3. The CLI script

3.1. Obtaining it

The script can be downloaded from the main fileway page, from the link at the bottom.

Also, it can be downloaded appending /fileway_ul.py to the base URL.

You’ll probably want to set the executable flag on it.

curl -O https://fileway.example.com/fileway_ul.py
chmod +x fileway_ul.py
Note

The downloaded script is tailor-made for your installation; the URL of the service gets substituted in it. If you need to change this, look at the variable BASE_URL

3.2. Using it

3.2.1. For files

As simple as possible: just run it with a file as the only argument.

./fileway_ul.py myfile.bin

It look for the secret: * in a env variable named FILEWAY_SECRET; * in a file in the user’s home directory, called .fileway-creds; * prompting for user input.

In all cases, the secret can be saved to avoid asking for it; see the relevant section.

After setting up the upload, it prints the information for the download. Something of the sort:

All set up! Download your file using:
- a browser, from https://fileway.example.com/dl/I5zeoJIId1d10FAvnsJrp4q6I2f2F3v7j
- a shell, with $> curl -OJ https://fileway.example.com/dl/I5zeoJIId1d10FAvnsJrp4q6I2f2F3v7j

Keep the script open until the upload is done. It exits automatically when it’s finished.

3.2.2. For text

If you want to share a text, use the --txt commandline arguments, with the text as the other argument.

3.3. Advanced usage

== Fileway vX.Y.Z ==

usage: fileway_ul.py [-h] [--save] [--zip] [files ...]

Uploader for Fileway

positional arguments:
  files       List of files if --zip, just one if not

options:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  --save      Save the secret to user home
  --zip       Enable zip mode

The options are explained in the next sections.

3.3.1. --zip: Zipping multiple files

If you want to upload multiple files, the script will happily zip them to a temporary file, upload that file and delete it.

./fileway_ul.py --zip myfile.bin mydir/ myfile2.bin

Please note that:

  • The recipient will download a zip file;

  • Your temp directory must have enough free space to hold the temp file;

  • The script uses Python’s features to delete the file, but there may be some cases in which it’s not possible to do it (e.g. if the OS halts abruptly);

    • In this case, check in the temp directory for any file named fileway_*.zip.

3.3.2. --save: Save the secret

If --save is specified, the secret (obtained via env var or asking to the user) is saved to a file in the user home directory, called .fileway-creds.

0400 permissions are set to it, when in Unix; this attempts to make it read only, just for the owner.

Warning

The secret is obfuscated, but must still be considered as plain text.
1. Python is not my "first language", so while it’s simple enough, feel free to read the code and tell me if something’s amiss!