I’m not too proud to beg - Stablebit software on Linux?

[hammy]

I know the chance of this is near zero, but the most recent Windows screenshotting AI shenanigans is the last straw for me.  
 

The incredible suite of Stablebit tools is the ONLY thing that has kept me using Windows (seriously, it’s the best software ever - I don’t even think that’s an exaggeration). 
 

I will pay for the entire suite again, or hell Stablebit can double the price for Linux, I’ll pay it. Is there ANY chance a Linux version of DrivePool/Scanner would be developed?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

As I've been using linux more and more, the main/only thing keeping me on Windows is our software (and well, gaming, but even then ... valve has made that so much easier)... so I feel you.

However, it's a complex issue.  And that's not even counting distribution of the software...   But at this time, no. Sorry. 

[zim2323]

Resurrecting this.  I've been a loyal Stablebit Suite user for MANY years now.

It's 2026, and... the year of Linux.  I NEED a Linux version to share drive pools between dual boot Win11 and Linux.  Please, please, please!!!!

Can you speak to the difficulties of doing this?  If possible, what kind of timeline?  If you've already got things rolling, how about an alpha/beta (NDA?) group to help you test.  I keep regular backups and complete corruption of my pool would not worry me.  I'm ready to make this happen!

 

Thanks!

[Christopher (Drashna)]

The biggest issue is that the linux kernel is completely different from Windows.  That is a simple statement, but there is that, and everything that goes with it.  

Driver support, kernel support, file system support, and more.  There are a whole bunch of Linux distros, with different packages, and support and kernel versions.  And there is BSD, which is very much different from Linux. 

So it would have to be completely rewritten from scratch.  Build from the ground up.  And that's not a small task.

 

That said, I've been using linux a lot more lately, and yeah, there isn't anything quite like the StableBit software.  You can get close, but it's a lot of work to do so. Not the dead simple setup of the stableBit software. And it would be nice. 

That said, the beta version of StableBit Cloud has "Disk Scanner" which is a very scaled back version of StableBit Scanner.
https://covecube.download/Changes/CloudDiskScanner/beta

 

 

[zim2323]

I would agree with the setup part.  I used mergerfs and mergerfs-tools to build out my working dual boot test environment.  After almost 8 hours "conversing" with AI I have a fully working mergerfs script using mergerfs.dup and mergerfs.dedup.  The only thing lacking is the GUI front-end to do this for me, and include more specific options like balancing at % or time intervals beyond just setting a daily, hourly, etc schedule.  For the test env, I just choose to balance at login and restart/shutdown.  I've also integrated the ability to isolate folders AND sub-folders from a global copy count in order to maintain separately identifiable copy counts.

Any chance that you could just work through the process of building a GUI with mergerfs as the base, rather than trying to build out what Windows has at the kernel level?

 

Thanks!

[zim2323]

@Christopher (Drashna)

I hope this helps.

Here are the very basics of what I did to install and configure mergerfs.  Not all steps are there to install services, timers, and other system related functions that I had to troubleshoot to fill in the gaps.  Ultimately the IMPORTANT files are attached.  This test environment was done with a CachyOS guest in Vmware Workstation Pro 26H1u1 on Windows 11 25H2 host.  2 separate vmdk's for win11 and cachyos, and 3 separate vmdk's for disk1, disk2, and disk3.  5 disks total in a dual boot configuration.

mergerfs.txt = basic notes

/etc/fuse.conf = sets permissions

/etc/fstab = drive mounting and access related configs, set to make the pool-duplicator.sh file work

/usr/local/bin/pool-duplicate.sh = script when ran that duplicates using mergerfs.dup, prunes using mergerfs.dedup, ignores single copy directories, logs, and ignores while Vmware is running.  This will be required when I do actually install on my primary PC.

/etc/systemd/system/pool-duplicate.service = service that fires the script at first boot and shutdown/restart

/etc/systemd/system/pool-duplicate.timer = server that fires hourly, unless vmware is running

mergerfs.txt pool-duplicate.service pool-duplicate.sh pool-duplicate.timer fuse.conf fstab

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Ultimately, it's up to Alex, as he's the developer, for what he'd want to do.

 

[zim2323]

Makes sense.  I'm going to make an attempt to build my own Python+PyQt6 GUI for managing mergerfs.