---
title: "Install Syncthing on PocketBook"
slug: syncthing-on-pocketbook
description: "Install Syncthing on your PocketBook e-reader."
date: 2020-11-17T22:57:28+01:00
type: posts
draft: false
tags:
- Syncthing
- PocketBook
comtodon: A1J4iIO2gJhoLjICoK
---

:source-highlighter: pygments

:abbr-gui: pass:[<abbr title='Graphical User Interface'>GUI</abbr>]
:abbr-tls: pass:[<abbr title='Transport Layer Security'>TLS</abbr>]
:abbr-mac: pass:[<abbr title='Shenzhen YITOA Digital Appliance Co.'>94:99:01</abbr>]

:url-syncthing-dl: https://syncthing.net/downloads/
:url-pbterm: http://users.physik.fu-berlin.de/~jtt/PB/
:url-syncthing-doc: https://docs.syncthing.net/
:url-wp-fat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32

Installing Syncthing on a PocketBook is fairly easy, but it requires a bit more
setup than on PCs. I've tested this with a PB632 (PocketBook Touch HD 3), but it
should work on any PocketBook device.

Connect your e-reader via USB in “PC link” mode. Create the directory
`applications/syncthing` in the storage device that shows up. Get the latest ARM
32 bit version of Syncthing from <{url-syncthing-dl}> and extract the binary
“syncthing” to the directory you just created. Now create the following files:

.`applications/syncthing.app`
[source,shell]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#!/bin/sh

SYNCTHING_DIR="/mnt/ext1/applications/syncthing"
${SYNCTHING_DIR}/syncthing -home="${SYNCTHING_DIR}"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.`applications/syncthing/config.xml`
[source,xml]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<configuration version="35">
    <gui enabled="true" tls="false" debugging="false">
        <address>0.0.0.0:8384</address>
    </gui>
    <options>
        <startBrowser>false</startBrowser>
    </options>
</configuration>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[NOTE]
PocketBooks don't seem to have an address assigned to the loopback interface. If
you try to listen on 127.0.0.1 Syncthing will exit with an error message.

[TIP]
If you want to see the output of Syncthing, download “pbterm.zip” from
<{url-pbterm}>, install it and start `syncthing.app` from there.

Disconnect the e-reader, enable wireless LAN and start Syncthing. It should show
up in “Apps” as “@syncthing”. Open a browser on your PC and connect to the IP of
your PocketBook (see <<How to find the IP address of your PocketBook,below>> if
you don't know it) on port 8384. Now link:{url-syncthing-doc}[configure
Syncthing] as normal. Make sure to put in the folder path as absolute path, like
`/mnt/ext1/synced_books`. There is no window showing up if you start Syncthing,
the screen appears to freeze. You can get back to your start screen with the
home key. Syncthing will continue to run in the background. You can close
Syncthing with the “Task Manager”.

Make sure that the Wi-Fi icon has black bars before starting Syncthing. When you
don't use the network for a short while, it goes into a sleep-mode and the Wi-Fi
icon turns light-grey. Syncthing isn't able to wake up the device, because (I
assume) it would have to send a special command to the PocketBook-firmware and
Syncthing doesn't know it runs on a PocketBook. You have to turn the Wi-Fi off
and on again, or do something that will wake it up like pressing the “Sync”
button in the top menu, and then start Syncthing immediately. As long as an
active connection is established, the Wi-Fi won't go into sleep mode.

[IMPORTANT]
PocketBooks use link:{url-wp-fat}[FAT] as file system, which can't store
permissions. Make sure to check “Ignore Permissions” in the advanced tab for
each shared folder or set `ignorePerms="true"` in `config.xml`. Otherwise the
files will not be created. You will still get messages like “chmod […]:
operation not permitted”. You can ignore them.

[CAUTION]
We configured Syncthing to accept connections to the configuration interface
from everywhere without a password and we disabled encryption. Make sure to
disable the {abbr-gui} or set a password and enable {abbr-tls} if you want to
configure it in insecure networks.

Newly synced files will not be visible immediately. I found that restarting
added them to my library and to the list of recent additions, others report that
they had to add the book(s) to some collection (in Library → Folders →
synced_books → long tap on the book → add to collection).

== How to find the IP address of your PocketBook

Connect the e-reader to your wireless LAN. If you've installed pbterm, open it
and type `ifconfig`. The IP address comes after “inet addr:” in the
output. Alternatively, open a terminal (also known as command prompt) on another
computer on your network and type `arp`. In the “HWaddress” (“Physical Address”
on Windows) column look for an address starting with *{abbr-mac}* (the Windows
command uses dashes instead of colons). The IP address is on the left.

[NOTE]
Different PocketBook models may use network chipsets from other vendors with
different hardware addresses.



//  LocalWords:  loopback Syncthing PocketBooks PocketBook
