One redditor asked about it on the most recent AMA:

Hi, is there a plan to release protondrive for linux?

Proton CEO’s answer:

We’re currently looking at options for how to fund this. It’s an expensive development because Linux has so many different flavors and we need deep integration with the filesystem, and it is not yet clear if there are enough Linux users that would allow us to offset the cost of this development. Like many things Linux, it may eventually just have to subsidized from Proton’s reserve budget. That doesn’t mean it won’t get done, it will just take longer since we are also subsidizing several other efforts at this time, such as the Proton VPN free servers for elections campaign: https://protonvpn.com/blog/free-servers-before-elections

-Andy

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1ff211y/comment/lmrdepr

41 points

It’s unclear that they need to handle a specific flavor when they could release a Flatpak. I think the community wouldn’t have any problem tweaking the dependencies for particular distros.

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4 points

I agree, the reasoning seems rather outdated. Flatpaks are pretty good.

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29 points

It wouldn’t be the distribution method that is challenging, it’s the complicated task of monitoring your filesystem for changes, and working with a dozen or so different file systems to do it (the way it’s accomplished on an ext4 partition might not work on btrfs, for example).

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9 points

I’m not skilled enough to be able to speak to that.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but all I need is a fuse plugin. I don’t need specific syncing like a OneDrive/Google Drive app.

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2 points

Why not use rclone? It can mount proton drive.

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1 point

Flatpak is not the answer here. For example, flatpak version of codium doesn’t recognise terminal settings out of the box. Since such trivial thing is a problem, image how difficult it would be to use it with various file systems, sync options, etc.

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4 points
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@abobla

I kinda struggle to believe it’s that difficult. I mean, Tresorit has a pretty good and functional Linux client. What have they done which makes it sustainable for them?

Filen.io also has a pure sync-client, which is distributed as an AppImage. This also works, but the FUSE integration Tresorit provides is quite awesome and performing quite decently.

I would actually recommend Proton to start the development on an older Linux distro. Like RHEL/Alma/Rocky 9 or Debian 11 (which is EOL, though) and make it run there. Moving from that distro to newer distros will then go smother and you’ll get other distros supported quicker.

The mistake too many Linux efforts does is to take the “latest and greatest” distro version - often coupled with what a single Linux developer considers the “most used distro” and then hits lots of challenging when needing to support older distros. That’s going to be painful.

@protonprivacy Please take note and forward to Andy and other managers.

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3 points

Synology also has a functional Linux client.

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9 points

Huh, as a Linux user who puts up with Proton’s unwillingness to support Linux, to me this seems to he saying “Stop paying for Proton until they make Linux clients”

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30 points

I always see people asking for it, but I guess we’re actually the vocal minority in this situation.

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5 points
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Deleted by creator
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10 points
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lemmy usually asks more in proportion to it’s userbase, but I saw a lot of people asking for Standard Notes on reddit during the AMA.

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9 points

6 months ago he said: “We want to, but we can’t find Linux developers.”

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14 points

Well maybe they found them and they told him what he’s saying now?

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4 points

Seems like they would first look if there is enough money and enough users to make it worthwhile, and then go looking for developers.

Don’t get me wrong, i have been a paying client for many years and really love the products and the company, but everything they say about linux… I don’t know, this just sounds like an excuse to continue to prioritize other things and get the linux users off their backs for a while longer.

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1 point

Not sure what’s the chicken and what’s the egg here but maybe they didn’t know how much work would have to be done and thus how much money it would cost.

But it’s all just speculation and neither am I trying to defend them nor do I have a use case for this particular feature. I just wanted to interject a different possible scenario.

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Proton

!protonprivacy@lemmy.world

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Empowering you to choose a better internet where privacy is the default. Protect yourself online with Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive. Proton Pass and SimpleLogin.

Proton Mail is the world’s largest secure email provider. Swiss, end-to-end encrypted, private, and free.

Proton VPN is the world’s only open-source, publicly audited, unlimited and free VPN. Swiss-based, no-ads, and no-logs.

Proton Calendar is the world’s first end-to-end encrypted calendar that allows you to keep your life private.

Proton Drive is a free end-to-end encrypted cloud storage that allows you to securely backup and share your files. It’s open source, publicly audited, and Swiss-based.

Proton Pass Proton Pass is a free and open-source password manager which brings a higher level of security with rigorous end-to-end encryption of all data (including usernames, URLs, notes, and more) and email alias support.

SimpleLogin lets you send and receive emails anonymously via easily-generated unique email aliases.

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