Connecting to OneDrive from Linux

🧩 1. Overview of Options

Method	Description	Sync / Mount	API Access
rclone	Universal cloud storage sync tool supporting OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.	✅ Sync	✅ Uses Microsoft Graph API
onedrive (abraunegg)	Native Linux OneDrive client written in D	✅ Sync	✅ Uses Microsoft Graph API
mount via rclone	Mount OneDrive as a local folder using FUSE	✅ Mount	✅ Uses Graph API
Graph API (manual)	Access OneDrive directly via HTTPS REST API	❌	✅ Full programmable control

⚙️ 2. Option 1 — Using `rclone` (Recommended)

🔧 Installation

sudo apt install rclone -y

or from source:

curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

🔐 Configure for OneDrive

Run the configuration wizard:

rclone config

Then:

n) New remote
name> onedrive
storage> onedrive
client_id> (leave empty unless using your own Azure app)
client_secret> (leave empty unless using your own)
region> global
edit advanced config? n
use auto config? y

This will open your browser → log in to your Microsoft account → authorize rclone.

When finished, you can test:

rclone lsd onedrive:

🗂️ Sync or Mount Commands

Sync local folder → OneDrive:

rclone sync ~/Documents onedrive:Documents --progress

Mount OneDrive as local folder (via FUSE):

mkdir ~/OneDrive
rclone mount onedrive: ~/OneDrive --vfs-cache-mode full &

Unmount:

fusermount -u ~/OneDrive

⚙️ 3. Option 2 — Using Native Linux Client (`onedrive` by abraunegg)

This client is written in D language and supports:

Background sync (systemd)
Differential uploads
Multiple account support

🔧 Install

sudo apt install onedrive
# Or latest release:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yann1ck/onedrive
sudo apt update
sudo apt install onedrive

🔐 Authenticate

onedrive

You’ll get a link → open it in your browser → login → paste the response URL.

🌀 Sync Files

onedrive --synchronize

⚙️ Continuous Sync (Daemon)

onedrive --monitor

🧠 4. Option 3 — Direct API Access (Microsoft Graph)

If you want low-level control (like building tools or integrating into a script), you can directly call the Microsoft Graph API.

Authentication

Register an app in Azure Portal → “App registrations”.
Add API permissions:
- Files.ReadWrite, offline_access, User.Read
Get client_id, client_secret, tenant_id.

Obtain OAuth2 Token

curl -X POST https://login.microsoftonline.com/<tenant_id>/oauth2/v2.0/token \
  -d "client_id=<client_id>" \
  -d "scope=https://graph.microsoft.com/.default offline_access" \
  -d "client_secret=<client_secret>" \
  -d "grant_type=client_credentials"

List OneDrive Files

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>" \
     https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/drive/root/children

Upload a File

curl -X PUT -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>" \
     -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
     --data-binary @localfile.txt \
     https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/drive/root:/Documents/localfile.txt:/content

🧩 5. Under the Hood — Protocol & Code Path

rclone and onedrive (abraunegg) both use Microsoft Graph REST API underneath:

Auth flow: OAuth2 Authorization Code → Refresh token → Access token
Endpoints: https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/drive/*
Transport: HTTPS + JSON over HTTP 1.1
Files transmitted as multipart or PUT binary streams.

Example (from rclone/backend/onedrive/onedrive.go):

// upload small file
url := fmt.Sprintf("%s/root:/%s:/content", apiURL, path)
resp, err := httpClient.Put(url, body)

From onedrive/src/onedrive.d:

auto request = new HTTPRequest("PUT", endpoint ~ "/content");
request.setRequestHeader("Authorization", "Bearer " ~ accessToken);
request.send(fileData);

So fundamentally both tools are just wrappers over Microsoft Graph, automating token refresh, delta queries (/delta endpoint for change tracking), and FUSE mounting.

🧩 6. Verify Connectivity

To verify your OneDrive mount or sync:

rclone about onedrive:
rclone ls onedrive:

Check network logs:

sudo lsof -i | grep rclone

If mounted via FUSE:

mount | grep OneDrive

🧠 Summary

Goal	Recommended Method
Mount OneDrive like a local disk	`rclone mount`
Auto-sync in background	`onedrive --monitor`
Programmatic access	Microsoft Graph API
Lightweight CLI access	`rclone`

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