README.md
1# Android File Transfer For Linux (FreeBSD and Mac OS X!)
2
3[](https://github.com/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux/blob/master/LICENSE)
4[](https://github.com/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux)
5[](https://travis-ci.org/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux)
6[](https://snapcraft.io/android-file-transfer-linux)
7
8Android File Transfer for Linux — reliable MTP client with minimalistic UI similar to [Android File Transfer for Mac](https://www.android.com/intl/en_us/filetransfer/).
9
10It just works™.
11
12## Do I need it?
13
14If you're happy with `gmtp`/`gvfs`/`mtpfs` or any other mtp software, you might not need this software (but give it a try!).
15
16If you're suffering from crashes, missing tags, album covers, usb freezes and corrupted files, this software is right for you.
17
18## Pre-built Packages
19
20If your distribution does not provide `android-file-transfer-linux` package, you can still install it in your system.
21There's quite a few packages available:
22- Snapcraft: https://snapcraft.io/android-file-transfer-linux
23- AppImage: https://github.com/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux/releases
24- MacOSX DMG image: https://github.com/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux/releases
25- MacOSX Homebrew: `brew cask install whoozle-android-file-transfer` or `brew cask install whoozle-android-file-transfer-nightly`
26
27## Support me
28If you want to help me with development, click on the link below and follow the instructions. I'm developing AFTL in my spare time and try to fix everything as fast as possible, sometimes adding features in realtime (more than 100 tickes closed by now).
29Any amount would help relieving pain of using MTP. :D
30
31https://www.paypal.me/whoozle
32
33## Features
34
35* Simple Qt UI with progress dialogs.
36* FUSE wrapper (If you'd prefer mounting your device), supporting partial read/writes, allowing instant access to your files.
37* No file size limits.
38* Automatically renames album cover to make it visible from media player.
39* Supports Zune/Zune HD.
40* USB 'Zerocopy' support found in recent Linux kernel (no user/kernel data copying)
41* No extra dependencies (e.g. `libptp`/`libmtp`).
42* Available as static/shared library.
43* Command line tool (aft-mtp-cli)
44
45## FAQ
46[Please take a look at FAQ if you have issues with your operating system](FAQ.md). It's not that big, but those are the questions asked very often.
47
48## Building instructions
49
50### Gentoo
51
52 AFT for Linux is now included in Gentoo, you don't have to build anything, just run
53 ```
54 sudo emerge -av sys-fs/android-file-transfer-linux
55 ```
56
57 If you need fuse mount helper to mount MTP filesystem, you have to enable fuse use flag, e.g. adding the following in /etc/portage/package.use (which can either be a directory or a file)
58 ```
59 sys-fs/android-file-transfer-linux fuse
60 ```
61
62 You can use ```sys-fs/android-file-transfer-linux-9999``` ebuild if you want the latest git-version by adding the following entry into /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords (which can either be a directory or a file)
63 ```
64 =sys-fs/android-file-transfer-linux-9999 **
65 ```
66
67### Prerequisites
68
69* You will need Qt libraries for building ui program. If you're planning to use only library (*Qt is not needed*), you could turn the option ```BUILD_QT_UI``` off.
70* For ubuntu and other debian-based distros use the following command:
71
72 ```shell
73 sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake qt5-default ninja-build libfuse-dev libreadline-dev
74 ```
75
76 For Fedora:
77 ```
78 dnf install make automake gcc gcc-c++ kernel-devel cmake fuse fuse-devel qt-devel readline-devel
79 ```
80
81* Basically, you need `libqtX-dev` for UI, `libfuse-dev` for FUSE interface, `cmake`, `ninja` or `make` for building the project. You could use libqt5-dev as well.
82
83### Building with ninja
84
85```shell
86mkdir build
87cd build
88cmake -G Ninja ..
89ninja
90
91./qt/android-file-transfer
92```
93
94### Building with make
95
96```shell
97mkdir build
98cd build
99cmake ..
100make
101
102./qt/android-file-transfer
103```
104
105### Installing binary package on OS X / macOS
106There is a binary package that can be installed via Homebrew:
107 * First [install brew](https://brew.sh) if you don't have it already installed.
108 * Then the stable package may be installed via:
109
110 ```shell
111brew install homebrew/cask/whoozle-android-file-transfer
112 ```
113 * Nighlty build may be installed via;
114
115 ```shell
116brew install homebrew/cask-versions/whoozle-android-file-transfer-nightly
117 ```
118
119 * Please note: they are in conflict, so please make sure to uninstall it when you want switch between stable and nightly.
120
121### Building app package on OS X / macOS
122
123You'll need Qt installed to build the GUI app. Here are the build instructions with qt5 from homebrew (`brew install qt5`):
124
125```shell
126mkdir build
127cd build
128cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/Applications -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/local/opt/qt5
129make
130make install
131
132open ~/Applications/android-file-transfer.app
133```
134
135### Installation
136
137`sudo ninja install` or `sudo make install` will install program into cmake prefix/bin directory (usually /usr/local/bin)
138
139
140## How to use
141
142### FUSE interface
143
144```shell
145mkdir ~/my-device
146./aft-mtp-mount ~/my-device
147```
148Remember, if you want album art to be displayed, it must be named 'albumart.xxx' and placed *first* in the destination folder. Then copy other files.
149Also, note that fuse could be 7-8 times slower than ui/cli file transfer.
150
151### Qt user interface
152
1531. Start application, choose destination folder and click any button on toolbar.
154
1552. The options available there are: `Upload Album`, `Upload Directory` and `Upload Files`.
156 The latter two are self-explanatory. `Upload album` tries searching source directory for album cover and sets best available cover.
157
1583. You could drop any files or folders right into application window, the transfer will start automatically.
159
160### Known problems
161
162* Samsung removed android extensions from MTP, so fuse will be available readonly, sorry. Feel free to post your complaints to http://developer.samsung.com/forum/en
163* Sometimes downloading fails with usb timeout, then phone becomes unresponsive. [Android bug #75259](https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=75259)
164* Objects created in UI will not show up in FUSE filesystem. [Android bug #169547](https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=169547)
165
166Up to date list of all known problems and bugs available [here](https://github.com/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux/issues)
167
168## Contacts
169Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions, my email address is <vladimir.menshakov@gmail.com>.
170
171## Special thanks
172* All who filed bugs on github and wrote emails, many features appeared only because of your feedback. Thanks!
173* Alexey [gazay](https://github.com/gazay) Gaziev for useful suggestions, support and invaluable help with MacBook and MacOSX port.
174* @ssnjrthegr8 for the new logo!
175
176## License
177
178Android File Transfer for Linux is released under [GNU LGPLv2.1 License](https://github.com/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux/blob/master/LICENSE).
179
180Copyright © 2015-2020 Vladimir Menshakov
181
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