[PLUG] GUI Rename Oddity

[Dick Steffens]

Ubuntu MATE 18.04, Compiz. From time to time, when I try to rename a
file using Caja, when I right-click on the file, the filename and the
extension are highlighted, but typing something has no effect, and so I
can't rename the file. If I move the file to the desktop I can rename
the file. When I move it back to the directory open in Caja, I can now
rename other files. Then, later on, the issue comes back.

Any ideas on what's causing this?

[Richard Owlett]

Post by Dick Steffens
Ubuntu MATE 18.04, Compiz. From time to time, when I try to rename a
file using Caja, when I right-click on the file, the filename and the
extension are highlighted, but typing something has no effect, and so I
can't rename the file. If I move the file to the desktop I can rename
the file. When I move it back to the directory open in Caja, I can now
rename other files. Then, later on, the issue comes back.
Any ideas on what's causing this?

File ownership?
Check Properties->Permissions

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Richard Owlett

Post by Dick Steffens
Ubuntu MATE 18.04, Compiz. From time to time, when I try to rename a
file using Caja, when I right-click on the file, the filename and the
extension are highlighted, but typing something has no effect, and so
I can't rename the file. If I move the file to the desktop I can
rename the file. When I move it back to the directory open in Caja, I
can now rename other files. Then, later on, the issue comes back.
Any ideas on what's causing this?

File ownership?
Check Properties->Permissions

It's intermittent. Sometimes it works fine. Other times not. The files
are copies of template files I use, which I created, and which I never
changed any properties on.

Thanks for the thought, though.

[John Jason Jordan]

On Wed, 14 Nov 2018 14:49:50 -0800

Post by Dick Steffens
It's intermittent. Sometimes it works fine. Other times not. The files
are copies of template files I use, which I created, and which I never
changed any properties on.

I use Xfce which comes with Thunar for its default file manager. I like
Thunar, but it has a bug that drives me nuts - when I delete a file the
view suddenly jumps up to the middle of the folder so you have scroll
all the way back to where you were. Because of this a few months ago I
moved to Nautilus, which doesn't have the same bug, but does have a lot
of other limitations. And as a result of those limitations I just moved
to PCFileMan, which is what I am using now. I think PCFileMan is a
keeper.

My point is that there are a lot of different GUI file managers, and
sometimes problems with moving/renaming/deleting are because of bugs in
the file manager, not because of something you are doing wrong. Don't
be afraid to try something else.

[Dick Steffens]

Post by John Jason Jordan
On Wed, 14 Nov 2018 14:49:50 -0800

Post by Dick Steffens
It's intermittent. Sometimes it works fine. Other times not. The files
are copies of template files I use, which I created, and which I never
changed any properties on.

I use Xfce which comes with Thunar for its default file manager. I like
Thunar, but it has a bug that drives me nuts - when I delete a file the
view suddenly jumps up to the middle of the folder so you have scroll
all the way back to where you were. Because of this a few months ago I
moved to Nautilus, which doesn't have the same bug, but does have a lot
of other limitations. And as a result of those limitations I just moved
to PCFileMan, which is what I am using now. I think PCFileMan is a
keeper.
My point is that there are a lot of different GUI file managers, and
sometimes problems with moving/renaming/deleting are because of bugs in
the file manager, not because of something you are doing wrong. Don't
be afraid to try something else.

Good point. I have various problems with different parts of Ubuntu MATE
18.04, Compiz or Marco, and with Linux Mint 19 MATE. When I get some
free time I'm going to give Rich's favorite distro, Slackware, and see
how it does with my occasional odd use cases.

For example, I recently put Linux Mint 19 MATE on my Lenovo X200 laptop.
I modified the setup and selected "do nothing" when the lid is closed.
However, it goes into suspend mode, and won't come out of it when the
lid is opened and I move the track point (and a separate mouse didn't
help). I tried adding in Ubuntu MATE 18.04 on the same drive as dual
boot. I gave it the same setting of "do nothing" when the lid is closed.
It did leave itself in a condition where I could talk to it from another
machine. But when I opened the lid, the screen went unstable. It was
hard to find the icons to push to shut it down.

Sometimes I think I'm in a situation where some cool new features or bug
fixes were done to a version that introduced new ones, and I'll just
have to wait for the next release for them to go away. Sigh.

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Dick Steffens
Good point. I have various problems with different parts of Ubuntu MATE
18.04, Compiz or Marco, and with Linux Mint 19 MATE. When I get some free
time I'm going to give Rich's favorite distro, Slackware, and see how it
does with my occasional odd use cases.

Dick,

I'm asking you the same question I asked John: have you looked at mc
(midnight commander)? It uses either screen or ncurses so it's a text-based
"GUI" file manager that is quite popular and very robust. If you want to
know about tweaking its configuration I'm sure Ed Koenig will be happy to
educate you. :-)

Post by Dick Steffens
Sometimes I think I'm in a situation where some cool new features or bug
fixes were done to a version that introduced new ones, and I'll just have
to wait for the next release for them to go away. Sigh.

I'm not specifically advocating for Slackware but sharing information
relevant to your issue. The core developers stay well back from the bleeding
edges of applications and tools. The supplemental SlackBuilds.org package
maintainers add several hundred (thousands?) of additional packages that are
not in the core distribution. When a SBo package has a bug or build error an
e-mail to the package maintainer almost always gets a helpful response
within a day. Many of them are in Europe, Asia, and Australia so there's
always a time zone difference that makes communications fun.

Best regards,

Rich

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dick Steffens
Good point. I have various problems with different parts of Ubuntu MATE
18.04, Compiz or Marco, and with Linux Mint 19 MATE. When I get some free
time I'm going to give Rich's favorite distro, Slackware, and see how it
does with my occasional odd use cases.

Dick,
  I'm asking you the same question I asked John: have you looked at mc
(midnight commander)? It uses either screen or ncurses so it's a text-based
"GUI" file manager that is quite popular and very robust. If you want to
know about tweaking its configuration I'm sure Ed Koenig will be happy to
educate you. :-)

I'll give it some thought.

Post by Dick Steffens
Sometimes I think I'm in a situation where some cool new features or bug
fixes were done to a version that introduced new ones, and I'll just have
to wait for the next release for them to go away. Sigh.

  I'm not specifically advocating for Slackware but sharing information
relevant to your issue. The core developers stay well back from the bleeding
edges of applications and tools. The supplemental SlackBuilds.org package
maintainers add several hundred (thousands?) of additional packages that are
not in the core distribution. When a SBo package has a bug or build error an
e-mail to the package maintainer almost always gets a helpful response
within a day. Many of them are in Europe, Asia, and Australia so there's
always a time zone difference that makes communications fun.

Stable sounds great to me. I really will give it a try when I have the time.

[Dick Steffens]

More details. The problem appears when I copy two files at once, and
then try to rename them. (One at a time, of course.) If I copy one file
and rename it, and then copy the other file and rename it, it works
okay. But if I copy the two files in one move, and then try to rename
them, one at a time, rename doesn't work.

[Ben Koenig]

I feel like I've seen something like that before.

That said GUI bugs are notoriously difficult to identify via email. The G
stands for Graphical, so the only way to see and understand it is to look
at the problem with your own eyes.
I would not be surprised if your GUI is doing something funky, but you
gotta isolate it:

1) consistently reproduce the problem on MATE (so break it on purpose)
2) reproduce it on a different desktop (or not, maybe its MATE specific)
3) Isolate any configuration options or third party utilities that may be
the cause.

If you show off this problem at a PLUG clinic it might become more obvious
to other people what is actually happening.

One of my favorite things about Slackware is that it ships with both XFCE
and KDE. Whenever I encounter GUI bugs I hop over into the other desktop to
see if the problem persists.
-Ben

Post by Dick Steffens
More details. The problem appears when I copy two files at once, and
then try to rename them. (One at a time, of course.) If I copy one file
and rename it, and then copy the other file and rename it, it works
okay. But if I copy the two files in one move, and then try to rename
them, one at a time, rename doesn't work.
--
Regards,
Dick Steffens
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Ben Koenig
I feel like I've seen something like that before.
That said GUI bugs are notoriously difficult to identify via email. The G
stands for Graphical, so the only way to see and understand it is to look
at the problem with your own eyes.
I would not be surprised if your GUI is doing something funky, but you
1) consistently reproduce the problem on MATE (so break it on purpose)
2) reproduce it on a different desktop (or not, maybe its MATE specific)
3) Isolate any configuration options or third party utilities that may be
the cause.
If you show off this problem at a PLUG clinic it might become more obvious
to other people what is actually happening.
One of my favorite things about Slackware is that it ships with both XFCE
and KDE. Whenever I encounter GUI bugs I hop over into the other desktop to
see if the problem persists.

There are a few more things I can test when I get some time. I haven't
tried duplicating the problem in different directories on this same
desktop. I haven't tried switching desktops on this machine.

I did try duplicating the problem on my previous machine (I alternate
between two as new OS versions come out) which still has Ubuntu MATE
16.04. The problem does not appear on 16.04.

I have another machine, also with 16.04, but I haven't tried it there.

And I haven't tried it on my laptop, which currently has Linux Mint 19
MATE.

I'll give those a try when I get some time.

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Ben Koenig
One of my favorite things about Slackware is that it ships with both XFCE
and KDE.

... and blackbox, and fvwm2, and WindowMaker, and fluxbox, and ...

:-)

Chacun a son gout,

Rich

[Rich Shepard]

Post by John Jason Jordan
My point is that there are a lot of different GUI file managers, and
sometimes problems with moving/renaming/deleting are because of bugs in
the file manager, not because of something you are doing wrong. Don't be
afraid to try something else.

John,

Have you looked closely at mc? It's a nice tool if you like GUI file
managers.

Regards,

Rich