[nmglug] Fwd: Google Contacts (from Re: Will curiosity kill my cat? What is this?); Linux and Android 8.0

[Akkana Peck]

Tom Ashcraft writes:
> Another annoyance is that between Kubuntu 18.04 laptop and Android 8,0
> phone, file transfers seem to go only one way, i.e. from the phone to the
> laptop but not from the laptop to the phone.

The only reliable way I've found to move files bidirectionally since
they removed usb-storage in KitKat is adb push and pull. You still
can't access everywhere on the phone (for instance, there's no
reliable way to back up things like contacts or calendar entries),
but it works for most files I need to sync, like music, maps and
books. Since there's no way to run rsync over adb I wrote an
elaborate python script to keep local and phone directories in
sync via adb (not posting a link here since it isn't well tested,
but if you want to live dangerously, ask).

If you have root on your phone, there are lots of other options:
backup and sync apps, ssh daemons, rsync daemons, etc. My phone
isn't rooted so none of those help, since a non-root Android app
can't write outside its own directory.

        ...Akkana