Rclone sync reports error instead of deleting files on remote

Suspected Bug
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

I use rclone to sync my home directory on a linux PC to a pcloud account. I have a directory that I’ve deleted locally, but rather than delete the directory on the remote, I get errors like the following (run with dump headers):

2026/01/27 10:37:32 DEBUG : HTTP RESPONSE (req 0xc0015e9900)
2026/01/27 10:37:32 DEBUG : Error: dial tcp: lookup ``api.pcloud.com``: no such host
2026/01/27 10:37:32 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2026/01/27 10:37:32 ERROR : Canon/BJPrinter/PMs/Canon194PM.plugin/Contents/PlugIns/QualityMedia194.pde: error reading
destination directory: couldn't list files: Get "``https://api.pcloud.com/listfolder?folderid=1758901493``": dial tcp: loo
kup ``api.pcloud.com``: no such host
2026/01/27 10:37:32 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
(The Canon directory doesn’t exist in my local filesystem.)

I initially figured I was having network issues given the error message, but it only happens with the missing files and it happens every time. Seems bizarre. Here is an example of an existing file that went through okay:

2026/01/27 11:11:25 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2026/01/27 11:11:25 DEBUG : netbeans/system/Templates/AWTForms/Panel.java.974b9bd8.partial: size = 672 OK
2026/01/27 11:11:25 DEBUG : netbeans/system/Templates/AWTForms/Panel.java: md5 = 4d873fe867cbfa9b6828fa4106d07a61 OK
2026/01/27 11:11:25 DEBUG : >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2026/01/27 11:11:25 DEBUG : HTTP REQUEST (req 0xc0015fe280)
2026/01/27 11:11:25 DEBUG : POST /renamefile?fileid=83549686762&tofolderid=1804774096&toname=Panel.java HTTP/1.1
Host: ``api.pcloud.com``
User-Agent: rclone/v1.72.1
Content-Length: 0
Authorization: XXXX
Accept-Encoding: gzip

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

<rclone v1.72.1

  • os/version: fedora 43 (64 bit)
  • os/kernel: 6.18.4-200.fc43.x86_64 (x86_64)
  • os/type: linux
  • os/arch: amd64
  • go/version: go1.25.5 X:nodwarf5
  • go/linking: dynamic
  • go/tags: none

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

pcloud

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

```
rclone sync -vv --progress --stats=60s --track-renames --dump=headers --modify-window=3s --buffer-size=32M --use-mmap --transfers=6 --checkers=15 --delete-excluded --delete-during --exclude-from /home/reid/bin/backup-rclone-excludes.txt --backup-dir=pcloud:rclone_root/deleted_backups/old_2026-01-27_11:14:49 --log-file=/home/reid/rclone_logs/rclone_2026-01-27_11:14:49.log /home/reid/rox pcloud:rclone_root/current_backup/rox
```

The rclone config contents with secrets removed.

[pcloud]
type = pcloud
client_id =
client_secret =
token =
2

I had deleted that Canon directory locally months ago and have my backup set to run daily, so whatever was broken had been broken for awhile. But today (of course) it seems to be wanting to work finally. Running rclone manually, I see this output (without verbose) :

Checking: 
*            Office50/config/symbol/sc14785.bmp: deleting 
* Canon/BJPrinter/PMs/BJ…oj/Localizable.strings:  0% /2.186Ki, 0/s, -, moving

(Office50 was deleted, too.) It’s very, very slow, though. Maybe pcloud saw my post and is fixing things behind the scenes…..