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Feature/macos nsfp fileprovider#848

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mj-obs wants to merge 5 commits intoopencloud-eu:mainfrom
mj-obs:feature/macos-nsfp-fileprovider
Open

Feature/macos nsfp fileprovider#848
mj-obs wants to merge 5 commits intoopencloud-eu:mainfrom
mj-obs:feature/macos-nsfp-fileprovider

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@mj-obs
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@mj-obs mj-obs commented Mar 18, 2026

Summary

This PR adds a native macOS File Provider extension as a new Virtual File System (VFS) backend.
Apple's NSFileProvider framework is the
modern, sandboxed approach to on-demand sync (similar to iCloud Drive) available on macOS 12+.


Key Components

Area Description
src/extensions/fileprovider/ The macOS App Extension (Obj-C++) — OpenCloudFileProviderExtension, enumerator, item model, thumbnail provider, and XPC service
src/plugins/vfs/fileprovider/ New Qt VFS plugin (vfs_fileprovider) integrating the extension into OpenCloud's VFS abstraction layer
src/cmd/nsfpdiagnostic.mm CLI diagnostic tool for opencloudcmd to inspect File Provider domain state
src/OpenCloud.entitlements New entitlements required by the File Provider framework
Build (CMakeLists.txt) Enables OBJCXX on Apple, wires up the extension target and new fileprovider VFS plugin
Libsync tweaks Minor adjustments to SyncJournalDB, discovery.cpp, and vfs.h/cpp to support the new backend

Architecture

The File Provider extension runs out-of-process as a macOS app extension, communicating with
the main app via XPC (FileProviderXPCService). It implements Apple's NSFileProviderExtension
protocol with three sub-components:

  • FileProviderEnumerator — tells macOS which files/folders exist (drives on-demand hydration)
  • FileProviderItem — maps OpenCloud SyncFileItem metadata to NSFileProviderItem
  • FileProviderThumbnails — generates thumbnails on demand

Notable Changes to Existing Code

  • src/libsync/vfs/vfs.h/.cpp — new hook points for the file provider backend
  • src/libsync/discovery.cpp — discovery adjustments for file provider semantics
  • src/libsync/common/syncjournaldb.cpp — journal DB changes to track provider state
  • src/libsync/creds/httpcredentials.h — minor credential surfacing for XPC use

mj-obs added 2 commits March 18, 2026 09:46
Implement a new VFS backend (mode: MacOSNSFileProvider/nsfp) that uses
Apple's NSFileProvider framework to provide native Files on Demand
support on macOS 12+.

Architecture:
- VfsNSFP plugin: manages NSFileProvider domain lifecycle, syncs file
  metadata and access tokens to the App Group shared container, and
  triggers periodic sync cycles via a 30-second poll timer.
- FileProvider extension (appex): runs as a separate sandboxed process,
  enumerates items from a shared plist, downloads files via direct
  WebDAV requests, and uploads new files via HTTP PUT/MKCOL.
- NsfpDomainManager: handles async domain registration/removal with
  fileproviderd, including stale domain cleanup and fallback recovery.
- NsfpXpcHandler: anonymous NSXPCListener for future bidirectional
  communication between the main app and the extension.

Key features:
- Transparent file hydration with real download progress in Finder
- Direct WebDAV upload for files dragged into the virtual folder
- Automatic metadata refresh after each sync cycle
- Server-side deletion detection for NSFP-managed files in discovery
- Stale item cleanup on HTTP 404 during fetch
- Change tracking with didDeleteItemsWithIdentifiers for Finder updates
- User-friendly localized error messages
- Token refresh handling with race condition prevention

Changes to existing code:
- vfs.h/cpp: add MacOSNSFileProvider mode enum and VfsSetupParams
  constructor with spaceId/displayName/syncEngine
- discovery.cpp: handle NSFP files during remote deletion detection
- syncjournaldb.cpp: add getFileRecordsByFileId helper
- httpcredentials.h: expose accessToken for shared container config
- CMakeLists.txt: wire up extension and plugin build targets
Replace hardcoded Team ID (P4D766R5ZA) with the CMake cache variable
APPLE_DEVELOPMENT_TEAM so any developer can build and sign the app
with their own Apple Developer account.

The App Group identifier is now derived at configure time as
${APPLE_DEVELOPMENT_TEAM}.${APPLICATION_REV_DOMAIN} and passed to:
- Entitlements (via configure_file)
- Info.plist (via CMake variable expansion)
- ObjC sources (via compile definition APP_GROUP_IDENTIFIER)
- Xcode build attributes (DEVELOPMENT_TEAM)

Usage: cmake -DAPPLE_DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=XXXXXXXXXX ..
@sh4tteredd
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sh4tteredd commented Mar 22, 2026

That's a very cool feature, but I'm not able to try it out

/Users/lolo/Downloads/opencloud-desktop-feature-macos-nsfp-fileprovider/CMakeLists.txt:15: error: Cannot find source file:

  nsfpdiagnostic.mm

Tried extensions .c .C .c++ .cc .cpp .cxx .cu .mpp .m .M .mm .ixx .cppm
.ccm .cxxm .c++m .h .hh .h++ .hm .hpp .hxx .in .txx .f .F .for .f77 .f90
.f95 .f03 .hip .ispc

Am I missing something?

mj-obs and others added 3 commits March 26, 2026 10:39
Implement direct WebDAV operations (upload, delete, move) in the
FileProvider extension to eliminate XPC dependency. Fix multi-account
and multi-space support by using per-domain config and metadata plists.
Fix deletion detection by using per-domain prevFileIds caches to prevent
race conditions between concurrent extension processes. Add content
staging for uploads, configurable App Group entitlements for both main
app and extension, and automatic legacy file cleanup.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
These files are referenced in src/cmd/CMakeLists.txt but were not
tracked in git, causing build failures on other machines.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Alternative VFS plugin using extended attributes for placeholder
tracking. Not enabled by default (not in VIRTUAL_FILE_SYSTEM_PLUGINS)
but available for builds that prefer xattr-based dehydration over the
NSFileProvider approach.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mj-obs
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mj-obs commented Mar 26, 2026

@sh4tteredd I forgot to push some files. Everything should now be in Git. I have also made some improvements.

@dragotin
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Hey, thanks for this PR. Obviously this is a big one, and it will take time to land. Maybe there is a chance to split it down to smaller PRs that are easier to grasp?

I added the analysis of what Copilot thinks of it to the description, maybe that helps others to understand what is the intention.

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3 participants