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File permissions in Nautilus

Submitted by stro on Mon, 2006-03-06 15:09. Nautilus
Nautilus

Christian Neumair has posted an overview of some of the work he is doing with regards to changing file permissions within Nautilus. A very good read for those that are interested.

Update: Also news of ACL support in Nautilus.

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Please STOP using RESURSIVELY!

Submitted by gbutler69 on Tue, 2006-03-07 21:41.

Given the following definitions of "Recursive" and "Recursion" I'd say that saying "Apply Permissions Recursively?" is a HORRIBLE IDEA!

recursive

algorithmic \algorithmic\ adj.
1. of or pertaining to an algorithm. {recursive}
[1913 Webster]

2. definitively solvable by a finite number of steps; -- said
of mathematical or logical problems. Contrasted with
{heuristic}.
[WordNet 1.5]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

recursive
adj : of or relating to a recursion

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

recursive

{recursion}

-- From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

Recursion

Recursion \Re*cur"sion\ (-sh?n), n. [L. recursio. See {Recur}.]
The act of recurring; return. [Obs.] --Boyle.
[1913 Webster]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Please, say what the action actually does, "Apply Permissions to all Sub-Folders" or, better yet, "Apply Persmissions to all Descendent Folders".

I know that everyone who uses the command-line is used to the "-R" parameter to chmod which means "Recursively", but, I still think this is a complete misnomer. It uses a recursive algorithm to apply the changes, but, you are not applying anything "Recursively". Changes are definitely not being applied "Recursively". What is being done, is changes are being applied to all descendents using a "Recursive Algorithm". Please, let us stop the abuse of words.

Chains find only willing wrists...so if you're willing, vote Republican.

Good stuff!

Submitted by mage.merlyn on Tue, 2006-03-07 17:37.

Christian's work is to be applauded.

Much has been mentioned regarding the handling of file permissions within nautilus. This project is addressing the manner in a sane & sensible fashion.

Thankyou Christian & keep up the good work.

The old one by Anonymous George

Recursive

Submitted by lobais on Tue, 2006-03-07 02:07.

Maybe the recursive thing should be a check box in the GUI, instead of a dialog box only appearing after you've finished. Or at least the dialog should have a cancel button. I can easily imagine me, or some other user, being surprised of this new powerful option, that you didn't know about, when you sat the permissions. Now you have to say, don't apply to sub folders, and then go back to the permissions dialog, and change them again :S

Good Stuff

Submitted by BrendaEM on Mon, 2006-03-06 16:12.

While I applaud command-line way to do things, I also applaud anyone who works to elliminate the need to work with the command-line to do everyday work.

I'm still looking forward to the day when I can mount a hardrive, copy files from the old harddrive to the new one without messing with permissions, changing file dates, or using the command line and fstab charts. GUI programs like Gparted helps, but then why do I have to fstab them in?

When we are changing the permissions, or moving files, we aren't changing the contents of the file, are we? So, why do the dates need to be changed?

I find that the easiest GUI way to move things from one hardrive to another--is put them into a archive first, and extract them, but it's a kludge.

Simplicity of mounting and unmounting harddrives, and transfering data is one area where Windows and Macs toast Linux and Gnome.

My challenge for programmers remains: Work for a month without the command-line.

[Thank you everyone for working on Gnome]

RE: Good Stuff

Submitted by Anonymous George on Wed, 2006-03-08 00:52.

Your joking right?, ever heard of HAL, gnome-volume-manager, subfs in SUSE?

What's the problem ?

Submitted by Anonymous George on Tue, 2006-03-07 04:59.

I'm still looking forward to the day when I can mount a hardrive, copy files from the old harddrive to the new one without messing with permissions, changing file dates, or using the command line and fstab charts. GUI programs like Gparted helps, but then why do I have to fstab them in?

Perhaps because your distro is not up to date ? I have my own Linux OS, and I can do that since a long time.
What I don't understand, is how come you want to copy (or worse, move) files without messing with permissions and changing file dates.
Wake me up when you can move files from a read-only device, like a CDROM.
Users don't care about changed permissions files or changed file dates, they just want it to work, and that's what it does.
I think you know perfectly well that for security reasons, modifications are applied to files that are untrusted (everything that's not yours), and that files are actually copied between different devices, even if you move them.

When we are changing the permissions, or moving files, we aren't changing the contents of the file, are we? So, why do the dates need to be changed?

AFAIK not all the dates are changed, except when one FS does not store dates information. Why do you care anyway ?
It's confusing, you want such operations to use expert features, and at the same time not to use expert features.
Beside, you are questioning Unix file semantics, you are not trying to discuss permissions settings in Gnome there.

I find that the easiest GUI way to move things from one hardrive to another--is put them into a archive first, and extract them, but it's a kludge

My computer illiterate users just drag and drop and never ask a question as it just works.

Simplicity of mounting and unmounting harddrives, and transfering data is one area where Windows and Macs toast Linux and Gnome

My computer illiterate users have no problem with that using a Mandriva distro.

My challenge for programmers remains: Work for a month without the command-line

Finally, my Mandriva computer illiterate users never used the command line.

I tried moving files last

Submitted by BrendaEM on Wed, 2006-03-08 19:53.

I tried moving files last with Ubuntu 5.10, and it's still a major drama. If we want new users to be put off quick--do nothing about this.

I need to know when I last wrote in certain files! I have files from the early ninties; how old are yours? Oh wait, you can't tell anymore.

If it weren't an issue, there would not be commandline switches for retaining filedates in utilites such as copy and chmod. Why give the ability to sort by date, if all the dates get set to the current date when we move everything over?

All I am asking for is to be able to the same thing I can do with the GUI, as I do with the commandline.

I can get around with the commandline; can you refrain from using it for a month? Install a distro, move everything onto the new drive, and use it for a month?

If you use Mandriva, what are you doing here, trying to sabbotage Gnome?

Mandriva

Submitted by reinouts on Thu, 2006-03-09 04:40.

If you use Mandriva, what are you doing here, trying to sabbotage Gnome?

I beg your pardon?! Are you not aware that Mandriva delivers a nicely polished GNOME with their distro and that a Mandriva employee even is a member of the GNOME release team?

By the way, using Mandriva Cooker with gpwgnome is one of the easiest ways to test out GNOME development releases.

Re: I tried moving files last

Submitted by horga_83 on Wed, 2006-03-08 23:02.

> I need to know when I last wrote in certain files! I have files from
> the early ninties; how old are yours? Oh wait, you can't tell anymore.

Well I can certainly use Nautilus to display this information, just did it.

> Why give the ability to sort by date, if all the dates get set to the > current date when we move everything over?

I just moved a file and the old date stayed with it, do you have a broken system?

Maybe I don't understand what you mean but it seems to work well here.

Don't say recursive by Anonymous George

Re: Don't say recursive

Submitted by horga_83 on Mon, 2006-03-06 15:58.

You might want to go back and read/look at the article again. It only says recursive for those of us who understand chmod. Yes please keep the word recursive.