Framadrop used to be in the file sharing category but was removed after it was discontinued.
However, the underlying file sharing system (Lufi) still exists. Could another instance of Lufi be recommended as part of PG’s file sharing options? Maybe the Disroot instance?
I’m definitely favourable towards Disroot’s instance. Lufi is a really nice system to use, as well.
The fact that it hasn’t been updated in about 6 months (Fiat Tux / Hat softwares / Lufi · GitLab) gives me pause.
Are we certain that development is still fully active?
Furthermore, if we were to recommend Lufi, we wouldn’t recommend a specific instance, in all likelihood. We’d highlight the software and provide a link to an instance list, if it exists.
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As you prefer. But both Lufi and still existing forks for Firefox Send (send.vis.ee) are very useful, and the file sharing sections is severely limited in its offering.
@droggydo Please feel free to reach out to the Lufi development team and let us know what you find!
In the meantime, if that’s okay with you, I’ll adjust the title of this post to something a bit more general on the topic of file sharing and how the page can be improved overall, instead of focusing solely on Lufi. Agreed?
EDIT: I have split off the general File Sharing page discussion into a new thread to keep things clean: Improvements to the File Sharing and Sync Section
Let’s keep this topic on Lufi specifically.
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Regarding Lufi, seeing as development seems to have halted for over half a year now, I think we’ll go ahead and reject it.
If development picks up again, we can re-evaluate it.
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Reply from the dev of Lufi:
“The development is not active, but the project is in maintenance. I
planned to do a massive redesign, but I don’t have the time to do it,
so… just maintenance.
I need to find time to review the awaiting MR and issues, but it’s
hard. I promise I’ll try to be more regular on this reviews in the
future.”
So… still in maintenance? glass half-full?
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It is difficult to know exactly what that means. I’m hoping that it means that the project is still looked at and anything that requires security updates is updated, but it does not inspire enough confidence to be something that we can recommend at this time.
I think it would be more preferable to recommend something similar to Lufi that is in active development, as file sharing is a potentially sensitive task.
Thank you for taking the time to reach out to them, though, I really appreciate it!
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Of course, happy to. I actually understand it the same way: no new updates at this point (though supposedly in the future), but anything important is still addressed. In the absence of any (many) other options, I would support including it with a disclaimer. Otherwise, we leave users with really not much (or nothing at all until Send it added).
This is potentially straying off-topic, so I’ll be careful of not having a full blown debate about this in this particular thread, however I strongly believe that it may in some cases be better for us to list nothing rather than something if the available choices are not ideal.
While other file sharing alternatives require other criteria to be met (such as requiring an account (Proton Drive, Bitwarden Send) or the Tor Browser to receive the files (Onionshare)), there are other ways to ensure that you’re transferring files in a privacy respecting way, regardless of the service you’re using.
We recommend a variety of encryption tools which can help you encrypt files before sharing them, and therefore minimizing or even eradicating any concern regarding the medium you’re using to share them.
All of that is to say, the situation with regards to file sharing is not so dire and pressing that we need a recommend a tool if we don’t feel 100% comfortable with it at this time.
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Fair point, although using encryption tools also adds another criteria to be met: for the recipient of the file to have those tools and be able to use them. This can easily be arranged with friends and family members, but almost never when it comes with third-party services.
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