Best Free File Sharing Script?

June 11, 2008 5:52 PM

Four years ago, Aaorn asked after "free software that will let me set up a document dropbox on my web server. Basically I want to upload files and then have them be available -- through a nice-looking interface -- to users of my choosing." TooManyGadgets recently posted a question that brought DropBox to my attention, and after littleme was kind enough to share a DropBox beta invite, I wanted to revisit the original question. Obviously, there are lots of free scripts that offer the ability to do server-based file-sharing, but which is the best (security + ease of use, with free preferred but not necessary)?

I remove the estimable DropBox from consideration because of the reliance on an desktop app and the fact that some of the data I need to share is proprietary - I'd like something I can install and exclusively administer. But a web interface of that quality would be a lovely thing.

posted by boombot to computers & internet (5 comments total)

JungleDisk uses Amazon's S3 storage engine
posted by Static Vagabond at 6:16 PM on June 11, 2008

Actually, I take that back-- I scanned your question too quickly. JungleDisk is perfect for a single user or number of users accessing the same info.
I'd certainly stick around the S3 framework, but look for another front-end that gives you the security levels you require.
posted by Static Vagabond at 6:30 PM on June 11, 2008

Sorry, to clarify - I'm looking for something I could install on my own web server.
posted by boombot at 6:30 PM on June 11, 2008

There are a bunch of PHPish file or directory managers -- Relay, for instance, has a nice AJAXy interface, but hasn't been updated in a while. The problem with most of them is that they require either separate directory trees for each user, or whole-share access for admin/root users, which makes it tricky if you want a system where you want to limit access on a per-user / per-file basis.

FileChucker looks nice and usable, and has more versatile security / user-access controls. Ain't free, though.
posted by holgate at 11:17 PM on June 11, 2008

Coincidentally, I just used this one this week for a project I'm working on. Suffers from the kind of limitations holgate mentions, but is simple, styleable and as secure as I need it to be.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:15 AM on June 12, 2008