ownCloud client fails to sync compressed files

I recently added a few new files (.tar.gz archives) to the ownCloud folder on my desktop PC. The next morning I discovered that my laptop couldn’t sync them. The ownCloud client (Csync) displayed:

Csync processing step propagate failed

Starting the client with “owncloud --logwindow” produced this message:

03-18 06:36:43:712 _csync_propagation_file_visitor: FAIL NEW: Documents/stuff.tgz
03-18 06:36:43:712 csync_propagate: Propagation for remote replica took 15.26 seconds visiting 497 files.
03-18 06:36:43:712  #### ERROR during  cysnc_reconcile :  "CSync processing step propagate failed.
Backend Message: Could not read response body: connection was closed by server"

After some digging, I discovered:

  1. It only happens with Apache, and not with Nginx.
  2. It happens with Csync 1.2.0 and up, but not Csync 1.1.x.
  3. It happens after upgrading to ownCloud 4.5, and may not affect ownCloud 4.1.
  4. It only happens if you add compressed files, including at least zip and tar.gz.

Possible solutions include downgrading Csync or switching web servers, but you don’t really want to do that. The easy workaround is to disable the “Archive support” plugin and force ownCloud to recalculate the file cache.

  1. Disable Archive support
    1. Login to the ownCloud web interface
    2. Click “Settings” -> “Apps”
    3. Select “Archive support”
    4. Press “Disable”
  2. Force ownCloud to regenerate the file cache
    1. In ownCloud, click “Files”
    2. In Firefox, go to the Firefox or Tools Menu
    3. Select “Web Developer” -> “Web Console” to open a Javascript console
    4. Type “scanFiles(true)” and hit Enter

After that, Csync should synchronise your compressed files correctly.

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