Tool to convert uid and gid between mac and linux defaults when syncing files via cloud storage using rclone sync.

rclone sync source:path dest:path --metadata-mapper /path/to/rclone-permissions-mapper

or, to see input and output:

rclone sync source:path dest:path --metadata-mapper /path/to/rclone-permissions-mapper -v --dump mapper

The default UID of the first regular user on macOS is 501. On Linux, it is usually 1000. If you rclone sync a file created on one to the other (by way of a cloud storage remote) and use the --metadata flag (without using sudo), by default you will probably get an error like this one:

ERROR : file.txt: Failed to copy: failed to set metadata: failed to change ownership: chown /testing/file.txt.fekayen6.partial: operation not permitted

This is because it is trying to chown 1000:1000 /testing/file.txt when actually it should be 501:20 (or vice versa.)

This tool uses rclone's new --metadata-mapper feature to automatically detect and correct this during the sync. It does so by simply omitting the uid and gid (when necessary) in the metadata blob it passes back to rclone, so that the default values are kept.

Download and unzip (or build from source with go build), and then move the executable to your $PATH:

sudo rclone moveto /Users/yourusername/Downloads/rclone-permissions-mapper-1.0-osx-arm64/rclone-permissions-mapper /usr/local/bin/rclone-permissions-mapper -v

Test if it's working:

echo '{"Metadata": {"hello": "world"}}' | rclone-permissions-mapper

should output: {"Metadata":{"hello":"world"}}

You can test what it will do by giving it different uid and gid values:

echo '{"Metadata":{"gid":"20","uid":"501"}}' | rclone-permissions-mapper
// on mac: {"Metadata":{"gid":"20","uid":"501"}}
// on linux: {"Metadata":{}}

echo '{"Metadata":{"gid":"1000","uid":"1000"}}' | rclone-permissions-mapper
// on mac: {"Metadata":{}}
// on linux: {"Metadata":{"gid":"20","uid":"501"}}

• --metadata-mapper docs
• rclone's handling of uid and gid
• Downloads
• Rclone Forum