Re: [Nautilus-list] Directory Descriptions (Was: I am going toimplement cut, copy,paste forfiles)

[Joe Sadusk <jsadusk amazingmedia com>]

Well, instead of making yet another file type and yet another thing to
clutter the interface, at the same time as requiring the installation of
files all over the file system, why not use the existing "notes"
interface in the sidebar?  That way the directory descriptions could be
put into the user's metadata when nautilus first initializes.  It would
also give the user a chance to see the notes feature in action and give
newbies a little bit more of a hint on how they work.  The only problem
you run into is when the user doesn't have the notes tab up, they'd
never know it was there.  *But* it seems to me like automatically
popping up the notes tab if you're on a file that has a note would
probably be a good feature.

Joe Sadusk


On 22 Mar 2001 16:19:24 +0000, Simos Xenitellis wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Mar 2001, Matthew Walton wrote:
> 
> > I'm throwing stuff around randomly here because I don't know all that much about the
> > performance issues related to XML parsing and so forth, but wouldn't it be better to
> > have a central directoryinfo file that had entries for each directory complete with
> > their paths? Thus:
> >
> > <?xml version="1.0"?>
> > <DirectoryInfoList>
> >         <DirectoryInfo path="/etc">
> >                 <title>Configuration files</title>
> >                 <icon>/usr/share/icons/directoryicons/etc.xpm</icon>
> >                 <hideinlevel>novice</hideinlevel>
> >         </DirectoryInfo>
> > ... (and so on)
> > </DirectoryInfoList>
> 
> A central directoryinfo file is also a possible idea.
> 
> >
> > However, I can see problems with this:
> > 1) how do you generate the file to start with? Get the user to enter all the paths at
> > first run? Don't think so somehow...
> 
> In general these are created by the nautilus developers for the C locale
> and the translators make their own $LANG translation.
> On this issue there is not problem.
> 
> > 2) you've still got the problem of reading the thing and checking every single
> > directory against it to see if it should be displaying special info for it
> > Although a possible solution might be to shove a tiny weeny little file with no
> > useful information at all in it in each directory that has an entry in the global
> > info file, so when Nautilus finds that it knows to go look in the main file for the
> > info. Of course, this could still cause performance problems, not to mention
> > inefficiency of storing small files on some file systems.
> 
> Typically, as you add more user-friendly features, you always get such
> performance problems. A solution would be to limit the directories listed
> to around 20 (listed below) and keep the structure in memory. When the
> directories are listed in Nautilus, a hook will check if there is a
> description for them.
> 
> Important directories could be (RH 7.0 oriented):
> 
> /             Root directory
> /bin          Basic commands
> /boot         Boot files
> /dev          Devices (inherit)
> /etc          Configuration files (inherit)
> /etc/X11      X11 configuration files (inherit)
> /etc/cron.*   Configuration files for scheduled tasks
> /etc/init.d   Scripts to manage services
> /etc/rc*      Scripts to manage services in runlevels
> /etc/sysconfig        System configuration files (inherit)
> /etc/httpd    WWW server configuration files (inherit)
> /home         User home directories
> /lib          Basic library files
> /lib/modules  Kernel module files (inherit)
> /lost+found   Crash recovery directory
> /mnt          Mounted partitions
> /opt          Optional packages
> /proc         Kernel interface directory
> /root         Administrator's directory
> /sbin         Basic system commands
> /tmp          Temporary files directory
> /usr          User utilities directory
> /usr/local/   Local system directory
> /usr/...
> /var          ...
> 
> The definitive source for descriptions is the "Filesystem Hierarchy
> Standard" page at "http://www.pathname.com/fhs/";.
> If there is interest for a solution like this, I could do the
> initial full .xml files.
> 
> Finally, there should be a
>       <inherit>yes</inherit>
> designation for directories such as /etc that have plenty of
> subdirectories.
> 
> simos
> 
> (For the future, there could be a rule to match the name
> of the directory, such as: "lost+found", irrespective of
> the location of the directory. There should be a warning
> that such a directory should better not be erased and
> that if one simply does a "mkdir" to recreate it, it is not
> the same... Perhaps "lost+found" should be shown for "expert only".)
> 
> (Additionally, the /home/* directories could have a "%s's home directory"
> description and %s should be the gecko (or username) field in the password
> file).
> 
> > Simos Xenitellis wrote:
> >
> > > I assume to implement this properly, a special .directoryinfo file should
> > > be put in the designated directories that has some ID to a description of
> > > the  purpose of that directory.
> > >
> > > Since XML is so trendy, that .directoryinfo file could like like:
> > >
> > > /etc/.directoryinfo:   (possibly: /etc/.directoryinfo.xml) ?
> > > <?xml version="1.0"?>
> > > <DirectoryInfoList>
> > >     <title>Configuration files</title>
> > >     <icon>/usr/share/icons/directoryicons/etc.xpm</icon>
> > >     <hideinlevel>novice</hideinlevel>
> > >     ... (perhaps some more info)
> > > </DirectoryInfoList>
> > >
> > > However, since
> > >         - people do not only speak english
> > >         - it's bad to scatter translatable strings in all the
> > >           filesystem,
> > >
> > > another scheme may look better:
> > >
> > > a) /etc/.directoryinfo
> > > <?xml version="1.0"?>
> > > <Directory>
> > >         <ID>main_configuration_files</ID>
> > > </Directory>
> > >
> > > b) /usr/share/directoryinfos/C/directoryinfo.xml
> > > <?xml version="1.0"?>
> > > <DirectoryInfoList>
> > >         <DirectoryInfo ID="main_configuration_files">
> > >                 <title>Configuration files</title>
> > >                 <icon>/usr/share/icons/directoryicons/etc.xpm</icon>
> > >                 <hideinlevel>novice</hideinlevel>
> > >         </DirectoryInfo>
> > > ... (and so on)
> > > </DirectoryInfoList>
> > >
> > > For performance purposes, it is bad to
> > >         1) read the small /etc/.directoryinfo
> > >         2) parse XML
> > >         3) read the big /usr/share/directoryinfos/$LANG/directoryinfo.xml
> > >         4) parse the big XML
> > >         5) execute the logic of the directory description
> > > every time the user accesses the directory,
> > > this information should be either cached in memory or have their default
> > > values for the chosen $LANG put directly to the .directoryinfo file using
> > > some automated method.
> >
> 
> 
> 
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