[pCloud] permissions missing to copy bigger files (e.g .backup files from Signal)

[carlocastoldi]

• I have read the above note

What version of Round Sync are you using (About -> App version)?

• v2.5.6 (from F-Droid)
• compiled from master (2025-09-14)

I noticed this problem happening since ~1 month. Had no issues previously.

What is your Android version, phone model and manufacturer?

Android 11, Asus Zenfone 10

Which steps are required to reproduce this issue?

1. Enable local backups with Signal (e.g. to /local/Signal/backup/)
2. Add pCloud remote on Round-Sync
3. Add task to sync /local/Signal/backup/ to remote /pCloud/Signal/backup/
4. Run the task
5. none of the .backup file from Signal was synced (i.e. Nothing to do).

I tried to run this operation with Android Studio (with an without checksum). This is the command used by Round-Sync.
This is it:

/data/app/~~dfoUIMsb16rgZKj9xGOZrg==/de.felixnuesse.extract.debug-szLy7nHq_kOmxKVw-3EKdA==/lib/arm64/librclone.so --cache-chunk-path /data/user/0/de.felixnuesse.extract.debug/cache --cache-db-path /data/user/0/de.felixnuesse.extract.debug/cache --config /data/user/0/de.felixnuesse.extract.debug/files/rclone.conf -vvv sync /storage/emulated/0/Backups/Automatic pCloud:/Automatic Back-ups --transfers 1 --stats=1s --stats-log-level NOTICE --use-json-log --checksum

From Android Studio I see that the rclone process exited with error. This wasn't apparent from the notification in the app.
The error message is the following:

"msg":"Failed to copy: multi-thread copy: failed to open chunk writer: open file: open new file descriptor: pcloud error: Access denied. You do not have permissions to perform this operation. (2003)"
"object":"Signal/signal-2025-09-14-15-18-25.backup
"objectType":"*local.Object"
"source":"operations/copy.go:335

What is your configuration (rclone.conf)?

[pCloud]
type = pcloud
hostname = eapi.pcloud.com
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"bearer","expiry":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"}

[5d44cd8d-397c-4107-b79b-17f2b6a071e8]
type = alias
remote = /storage/emulated/0

Does the same issue also occur when using the same configuration on a PC or in Termux?

On both the computer and Termux, it works.

On Termux, with rclone==1.71.0 (like master):

• simple:

rclone --config /storage/emulated/0/Backups/rclone.conf sync /storage/emulated/0/Backups/Automatic pCloud:"/Automatic Back-ups"

• derived from Round-Sync:

rclone --cache-chunk-path /data/user/0/com.termux/cache --cache-db-path /data/user/0/com.termux/cache --config /storage/emulated/0/Backups/rclone.conf sync /storage/emulated/0/Backups/Automatic pCloud:"/Automatic Back-ups" --transfers 1 --stats=1s --stats-log-level NOTICE

On the computer:

• derived from Round-Sync:

rclone --cache-chunk-path /home/carlo/rclone-debug/cache --cache-db-path /home/carlo/rclone-debug/cache --config /home/carlo/rclone-debug/rclone.conf sync /home/carlo/Backup "pCloud:/Automatic Back-ups" --transfers 1 --stats=1s --stats-log-level NOTICE --use-json-log --checksum

[carlocastoldi]

I am afraid the issue is the version of rclone being old. For some reason, the build i created with Android Studio didn't have 1.71.0, but still used 1.68.0.

My debugging process meant that I placed breakpoint here:

Round-Sync/app/src/main/java/ca/pkay/rcloneexplorer/workmanager/SyncWorker.kt

Line 93 in bda00f8

prepareNotifications()

This allowed me to run rsync --version with the in-app rsync executable. All I had to do was to run any task on my phone, and then execute this kotlin command in debug mode on Android Studio:

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(mRclone.rclone+" --config /data/user/0/de.felixnuesse.extract.debug/files/rclone.conf --version", mRclone.getRcloneEnv()).errorStream.bufferedReader().use(BufferedReader::readText)

which finally outputs, after a cleanup of the build files:

rclone 1.71.0-extract
- os/version: unknown
- os/kernel: 5.15.167-android13-8-00019-g16f76b9f892d-ab13551703 (aarch64)
- os/type: android
- os/arch: arm64 (ARMv8 compatible)
- go/version: go1.24.7
- go/linking: dynamic
- go/tags: noselfupdate

This also means that the following command kicks a successful sync:

Runtime.getRuntime().exec(mRclone.rclone+" --config /data/user/0/de.felixnuesse.extract.debug/files/rclone.conf sync /storage/emulated/0/Backups/Automatic \"pCloud:/AutomaticBack-ups\"", mRclone.getRcloneEnv()).errorStream.bufferedReader().use(BufferedReader::readText)

[carlocastoldi]

This was fixed in these commits of rclone 1.70.0: rclone/rclone@40111ba rclone/rclone@f226d12

The problem was discussed over at rclone/rclone#8147.
Essentially, pCloud no longer accepts multi-threaded uploads. The workaround (above commits) forces single-threaded connections. The implication is that the bigger the file, the more probable it is that a connection failure would force the entirety of file to be sent again.
This means that pCloud connections with rclone are prone to use more bandwidth than they should.
A discussion for a workaround is taking place rclone/rclone#8225

Given this pretty nasty and hidden problem, could you please backport the version bump of rclone to Round-Sync in a quick point release?
Thank you!

[carlocastoldi]

Oh, with master version, Round-Sync still reports that "There was nothing to do." even if it clearly synced successfully the big files with pCloud.

[MM502]

I have just tried to do the same thing on a new Android install (syncing Signal backups to pCloud via WebDAV using Round Sync). The App incorrectly informs me of a successful backup and that there was nothing to back up).

From the above I understand it's down to rclone's threading and has been fixed in v. 1.7x - how would I get that version into Round Sync?

[carlocastoldi]

I ended up building the APK from master myself following the instructions.

As I said earlier, it still says "There was nothing to do", but that's a problem with the notification because it actually sync'd successfully with pCloud

[newhinton]

I am not entirely sure how reliable the notifications are at times. I suspect they are sometimes wrong.

There also won't be any release for the current version.
I am in the process of rewriting the app from scratch, hopefully fixing any jankiness with the notifications.

[MM502]

I ended up building the APK from master myself following the instructions.

As I said earlier, it still says "There was nothing to do", but that's a problem with the notification because it actually sync'd successfully with pCloud

I will try building I have now built the app from source with rclone 1.71 using the help of chatGPT (as I have never compiled anything from source before).
@carlocastoldi thank you for the tip
@newhinton: amazing news about you re-writing the app!