DnD Thunar vs ROX
jim lesurf (2082) 1438 posts |
Long shot and I wasn’t sure if any other forum here would have been better, so went for this one!… On my Linux boxes I usually use ROX Filer as it gives me the preferred way of doing things – i.e. similar to RO. However occasionally I use ‘Thunar’ (IIUC) whihs is part of the xfce desktop system. (I’m using Mint xfce.) The annoyance I’d like to fix is as follows: The left mouse button with Thunar gives a ‘move’ not a copy. And I can’t find any direct mouse button DnD that does a ‘copy’. Which makes copying files, etc, a real PITA compared to ROX Filer or RO. I’d assumed at first that – as usual with Linux – there would be a bodge or setting I could use to ‘fix this’ and let me tweak the Thunar mouse button actions match those of ROX/RO. i.e. left button ‘copy’, etc. But searching the web gave me no help. I tried asking about this on a Linux usenet group but go no responses at all. Which I guess confirms they had no idea why anyone would want to do this, and thus never thought about it! However I suspect it isn’t unusual for a RO user to also use Linux and can understand why I’d want RO-like DnD behaviour on Linux. So I’m asking here. :-) Any help?… |
Andy S (2979) 504 posts |
Not sure. I found this discussion about it from years ago where someone even implies it would behave differently for an ntfs versus an ext3 device! Does it behave differently if you hold down Shift when dragging? Here they say a Ctrl and drag may do a copy. Failing that I think I’d be inclined to find the mouse button handling code in the Thunar source and recompile it but I’m sorry I haven’t got time to do that at the moment! |
Andy S (2979) 504 posts |
If hacking around with the code is your thing, it looks like it decides whether to copy or move in here in the function called thunar_file_accepts_drop(). The code comments seem to imply that the GDK (GTK?) initially dictates whether a copy or move is preferred and then their code goes on to run various checks to decide which to use. It all looks a bit overcomplicated IMHO. |
jim lesurf (2082) 1438 posts |
I’ll have a look at the code. But I fear that modifying and recompiling the Thunar is a bit above my pay grade in terms of being able to get it right and into operation! I was hoping there would be a quasi-text ‘config’ file hidden somewhere I could tweak. I did find some references like the earlier ones you suggested. Alas, they seem to come from an earlier era of Thunar when the default for a left-mouse drag was copy and people wanted move! The behaviour now is as follows: Left Mouse button DnD => move Middle => nowt etc. i.e. no sign of a direct mouse button + keys => copy at all that I’ve found. Weird to the point of being brain-dead! I did try asking on a linux usenet group. No responses at all. Seems as if no other xfce users ever needs to routinely copy files using the desktop! Weird that you have go though a menu, though. |
Andy S (2979) 504 posts |
I get the impression that the default behaviour is a Gnome GDK / GTK convention rather than specifically the responsiblity of Thunar, although Thunar’s code certainly seems to screw around with the defaults when the drag happens. Here it does say that Ctrl and left drag is normally supposed to do a copy. |
jim lesurf (2082) 1438 posts |
Maybe the developers for Mint haven’t done an RTFM. :-/ |
Michael Grunditz (467) 531 posts |
To be honest, I don’t use filemanagers in Linux! With one exception, mounting removables (if they are not automounting). I don’t know if a better “filer” would change my use, it is just that bash is such a good shell , and a few commands is quicker than doing it in some filemanager. |
jim lesurf (2082) 1438 posts |
I find that using ROX Filer makes it easier to do things like process sets of files or generate them. e.g. I can DnD a set of wave files to a simple ROX App and that adds the required command to generate a set of flac versions placed in another directory. Or to do something like analyse a wave file made using a test LP and generate a set of vector graphics (using Veusz) showing wow and flutter. Sometimes it just opens a terminal preloaded with the required settings to make a typed in command shorter. Given how productive the RO/ROX desktop filer it, I’d feel daft not to use it as a saves a lot of time for routine tasks. Thus it baffles me that Thunar can’t even do a DnD file copy! If you’ve not tried ROX Filer, I’d recommend having a play with it, particularly if you think the RO desktop filer is OK. ROX is a nice filer, and makes it easy to generate being able to do complex tasks on multiple files with a simple DnD. My fear is that some idiot might sometime try to ‘improve’ it and make it more like all the other clumsy Linux/Doze filers. I’ve tried a few Linux desktops in the past and decided that (excluding ROX) the xfce system was about the best balance. But I always now install ROX and mainly use that for simple operations. |