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ownCloud

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ownCloud
Developer(s)ownCloud GmbH, Community
Stable release4.0.0 [±][1]
Repository
Written inPHP, Javascript, Go
Operating systemServer: Linux
Clients: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
TypeOnline storage, data synchronization
LicenceServer: AGPL-3.0-or-later
Enterprise: Proprietary
Websiteowncloud.com

ownCloud, a Kiteworks Company, is a free and open-source software project for content collaboration and sharing and syncing of files in distributed and federated enterprise scenarios.[2] It allows companies and remote end-users to organize their documents on servers, computers, and mobile devices and work with them collaboratively while keeping a centrally organized and synchronized state.

ownCloud supports extensions for online document editing such as Collabora, OnlyOffice, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Online Office, as well as synchronization of calendars and contacts. Users can access data and documents through a web browser on a computer or mobile device and on a variety of client apps on operating systems like Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Most of ownCloud is published under AGPL and GPL licenses, except for some enterprise extensions.

ownCloud is available in two versions: ownCloud 10 and Infinite Scale. While the classic ownCloud 10 is still written in PHP (ownCloud maintains and hardens its own version of the no longer officially supported PHP version 7.4 [3]) and is based on the LAMP stack, the newer version "Infinite Scale", created in the scientific environment of the European nuclear research center CERN, is written in Google's Go programming language and uses an architecture with microservices, cloud-native technologies and a frontend in Vue.js.[4] While ownCloud 10 uses PHP scripts to access an SQLite, MySQL or PostgreSQL database installed on the server, Infinite Scale works without a database. The new Infinite Scale version was developed to ensure more file actions in less time and immediate access to scientific data, for example, even in scenarios where this is no longer possible with PHP and LAMP or security issues prohibit these setups.

History

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The ownCloud project was launched in 2010 by Frank Karlitschek,[5][6][7] who shortly afterward founded the company of the same name together with Markus Rex and Holger Dyroff. In 2016, ownCloud CTO Karlitschek left the company[8] and founded the fork Nextcloud.[9] ownCloud GmbH continued with Tobias Gerlinger as the new CEO, and Holger Dyroff the new COO.[10]

At the end of 2023, ownCloud merged with Silicon Valley–based Kiteworks, which unifies, tracks, controls, and secures sensitive content communications within a Private Content Network, with ownCloud's open-source code remaining free software in the long term.[11] At the beginning of 2024, the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN,[12] the European Science Cloud,[13] Sciebo – the North Rhine-Westphalia science network with 22 universities, [14] and the Bavarian municipalities in the "Bayernbox" of the Bavarian State Office for Digitization, Broadband and Surveying[15] used ownCloud. In the "BayernCloud Schule" (ByCS), Infinite Scale provides 4.7 million users (pupils, teachers, parents, administration) with a GDPR-compliant and secure learning platform.[16]

Versions

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While ownCloud 10 server is built on PHP and still is fully supported, ownCloud published its new version "Infinite Scale" in 2021. Infinite Scale was developed with the help of the CERN, and is a complete rewrite in Go. CERN uses ownCloud with its EOS filesystem to handle (as of 2021) "12 petabytes of data in 1.4 billion files".[17]

In its third version, ownCloud Infinite Scale brings GDPR data export, compliance with accessibility standards of the WCAG, a file firewall that allows admins to block content from uploading, and an Antivirus API to the ICAP standard. Version 4, released in August 2023, improved the built-in full text search and introduced new tagging and filtering functions.

ownCloud Infinite Scale addresses large scale-deployments, many of them in the education or scientific domains. It is being used by millions of concurrent users in the Bavarian school cloud,[18] with a planned total of 4.7 million users. ownCloud Infinite Scale is also the backend of the SCIEBO[19] platform, where thousands of students and professors of universities in North-Rhine-Westfalia share files and collaborate on documents. The European Science Cloud[20] is also using ownCloud Infinite Scale for file sharing, syncing and collaboration.

Releases of ownCloud Infinite Scale

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Version[21] Date New Features
Old version, yet still maintained: Infinite Scale 2.0.0 November 30, 2022 Complete overhaul of the backend, rewritten in Go and Vue.js, in cooperation with CERN. Spaces for file sharing.
Old version, yet still maintained: Infinite Scale 3.0.0 June 7, 2023 File Firewall, Antivirus (ICAP), Accessibility (WCAP), Tags, Full text Search, Spaces Templates, Custom User Roles
Old version, yet still maintained: Infinite Scale 4.0.0 August 25, 2023 Cloud Importer, Drag and Drop to breadcrumbs; Tags, Filter and Highlighting in Full text Search; Improved Link sharing; Copy and Paste for Upload from Keyboard
Current stable version: Infinite Scale 5.0.0 March 18, 2024

Releases of ownCloud 10

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Old version, yet still maintained: 10.0 April 27, 2017 File integrity checks, guest accounts, custom groups, multiple link sharing, new app marketplace
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.1 February 7, 2019 Microsoft Office Online Integration, File Locking, Semantic Versioning, OpenCloudMesh 1.0 compliance
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.2 May 16, 2019 Advanced Sharing Permissions, SecureView, Improved Public Links, Storage Encryption with HSMs
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.3 October 15, 2019 New Media Viewer, improved OAuth2 session handling, improved User/group sharing UI
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.4 March 5, 2020 Expiration dates for user and group shares, supports MariaDB up to 10.4, PostgreSQL up to 10, share indicator on webUI
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.5 August 3, 2020 Official support for PHP 7.4, manual file locking in the web interface, improved background process for metadata of federated shares
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.6 December 16, 2020
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.7 March 26, 2021 Preparations for upcoming workstream integrations, UI improvements, improved encryption efficiency
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.8 July 21, 2021 New ownCloud Web browser frontend, new login UI, better caching for external storages like Windows Network Drives
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.9 December 23, 2021 Initial sync faster, more detailed file locking, version control and public sharing
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.9.1 January 13, 2022 Prevent encrypted files from being corrupted when overwriting them, Marketplace not working after upgrade from 10.8 to 10.9, Fixes for the newly introduced feature to store the author of versions
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.10.0 May 14, 2022 Many bugfixes, improved management of migrations, session handling and storage.
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.11.0 September 20, 2022 Many bugfixes, edit permission for public links on single files, sharing with multiple users at once, inviting new guests to Custom Groups.
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.12.0 March 12, 2023 Dropped support for PHP 7.3, changed workflow for persistent major versions (added checkbox to select versions to keep), added support for login policies, extended trashbin, mounts, shares and checksum functions.
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.12.1 April 18, 2023 Fix Permission Bits when Enforcing Passwords on Public Links, Prevent 507 Insufficient Storage on 32-Bit Systems, Fix quota for 32-Bit Systems, Add RewriteBase to .htaccess, Updated text editor and metrics apps.
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.13.0 August 24, 2023 Kerberos authentication; enforceable 2-Factor-Authentication via Time-based One-Time Passwords (TOTP); iOS (version 12.0.3+) or Desktop client (version 4.0+) now allow to directly open a file in the Office Suite on the ownCloud server; update Symfony 4.4 -> 4-5;
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.13.1 September 06, 2023 Improvements to "Open in Web"; Avoid Loading 3rd-party Resources; Fix: disallow pre-signed url access if the signing key is not initialized; dismiss invalid settings of the redirection endpoint URI as seen in the OAuth2 protocol, according to RFC#7636; updated apps for Graph API, Guests, OAuth2;
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.13.2 October 10, 2023 Several bugfixes (e.g. Delete all files from object store when user is deleted), fixed view on users page for subadmins, updated PHP dependencies (phpseclib, symfony, ...), remove "Fill E-Tags" repair-step (a legacy step that took very long to run during an upgrade of a large system and didn't repair anything anymore), upgraded Microsoft Office Online app to version 1.8.1., Media Viewer now plays also HEIC and HEIF-files.
Old version, yet still maintained: 10.13.3 November 17, 2023 Fix potential issue with the PreviewCleanup job in postgresql. Reverting Pull request 41059 because of performance problems for large installations. Users can only delete their own external storage configurations, and comments in config.apps.sample.php describing the configuration variables related to kerberos and windows_network_drive are now updated and in sync with published online documentation.
Latest preview version of a future release: 10.13.4 December 13, 2023 A Bugfix to Check 2FA on controllers which are accessible publicly and authenticated, a new feature to prompt the admins of licensed instances to run the IoC-Scanner. The prompt appears in the admin menu and after an upgrade on the CLI.
Current stable version: 10.14.0 February 26, 2024 Fix issues where log conditions could break uploads, share expiration was wrong in the web UI, and previews were generated from last page instead of first. Release enables Files->Office menu to work with rich documents 4.1.0 and makes several enhancements to lDAP user and group handling related to external storages and deleting attributes. Performance also improved with version metadata handling. Finally, Google Chrome no longer auto-translates filenames.

Operating systems and clients

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Desktop clients for ownCloud are available for Windows, macOS, FreeBSD and Linux, as well as mobile clients for iOS and Android devices. Source code to ownCloud is fully available on Github, except for some enterprise extensions (e.g. the third-party Virtual File System). Files and other data (such as calendars, contacts or bookmarks) can also be accessed, managed, and uploaded using a web browser. Updates are pushed to all computers and mobile devices connected to an account. Encryption of files may be enforced by the server administrator.[22]

Features

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ownCloud files are stored in conventional directory structures and can be accessed via WebDAV if necessary. User files are encrypted both at rest and during transit. ownCloud can synchronize with local clients running Windows, macOS and various Linux distributions. ownCloud users can manage calendars (CalDAV), contacts (CardDAV), scheduled tasks and streaming media (Ampache) from within the platform. Online document editing is supported via Collabora Online, OnlyOffice, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office Online.

ownCloud permits user and group administration, via OpenID or LDAP) Content can be shared by granular read/write permissions between users or groups. Alternatively, ownCloud users can create public URLs for sharing files. Furthermore, users can interact with the browser-based ODF-format word processor,[23] bookmarking service, URL shortening suite, gallery, RSS feed reader and document viewer tools from within ownCloud. ownCloud can be augmented with "one-click" applications and connection to Dropbox, Google Drive and Amazon S3.

Enterprise customers have access to apps with additional functionality, which are intended for organizations with more than 500 users. An Enterprise subscription includes support services. Commercial features include end-to-end encryption, ransomware and antivirus protection, branding, document classification, and single sign-on via OpenID.

Implementation

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All versions up to ownCloud 10 are built using PHP and the LAMP stack. The current "ownCloud Infinite Scale" is written in Google's Go programming language, with an architecture of microservices and cloud-native technologies, and can be downloaded (e.g., as a Docker container, manageable through Kubernetes, as a single binary or daily updated images from continuous deployment).[24][25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Maintenance and Release Schedule". Retrieved 2021-12-23 – via GitHub.
  2. ^ "Kiteworks Acquires ownCloud". 23 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Announcement: ownCloud 10 and PHP Versions". ownCloud Central. 2022-12-02. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  4. ^ online, heise (2021-01-19). "ownCloud Infinite Scale: Go statt PHP, Microservices statt LAMP". iX Magazin (in German). Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  5. ^ Camp KDE 2010 - Keynote - Frank Karlitschek - KDE and the Cloud Part 2, March 2010, retrieved 2024-01-24
  6. ^ "commiting ownCloud 1.0 beta 1 · owncloud/core@16f3bd4". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  7. ^ "Camp KDE 2010 Continues with More Talks". KDE.news. 2010-01-21. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  8. ^ "Owncloud vs. Nextcloud: Wie ein Projekt-Fork zwei Firmen und ihre Produkte prägt". Linux-Magazin (in German). Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  9. ^ "big changes: I am leaving ownCloud, Inc. today". karlitschek.de. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  10. ^ Redaktion (2016-07-14). "Millionen-Finanzierung: ownCloud ist wieder da". silicon.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  11. ^ "ownCloud becomes part of Kiteworks - ownCloud". owncloud.com. 2023-11-21. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  12. ^ "CERNBox". cernbox.cern.ch. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  13. ^ "The Commission announces winners of the EOSC Procurement | Shaping Europe's digital future". digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu. 2023-11-24. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  14. ^ "Sciebo Reaches 100,000 User Mark! - ownCloud". owncloud.com. 2017-11-28. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  15. ^ "DAP (Datenaustauschplattformen) im IT-DLZ des Freistaats Bayern - Landesamt für Digitalisierung, Breitband und Vermessung - IT-DLZ". www.dap.bayern.de. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  16. ^ "How to Build an Open Source School Cloud for 5 Million Users". fosdem.org. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  17. ^ "ownCloud Infinite Scale geht am CERN live". OSB-Alliance.de. OSB Alliance Bundesverband für Digitale Souveränität. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Bayern Cloud Schule (BYCS)". ByCS - Bavarian Cloud for Schools (in German). Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  19. ^ hochschulcloud.nrw https://hochschulcloud.nrw/en/index.html. Retrieved 2023-12-20. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. ^ "EOSC Portal". Portal of the European Science Cloud. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  21. ^ "Download Server Packages". ownCloud.com. 5 January 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  22. ^ Scott Gilbertson (2014-09-08). "OwnCloud: Fiddly but secure host-from-home sync 'n' share". The Register. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  23. ^ Neil Bothwick (2014-02-27). "OwnCloud: Work together online". APC. Archived from the original on 2017-11-23. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  24. ^ "Prerequisites :: ownCloud Documentation". Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  25. ^ "Continuous Deployment". ownCloud. 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
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