MY machine has 4 HDDs, each with several partitions. /etc/fstab contains /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, and so on. Yet whenever a file open/save dialog is displayed, the "Places" list displays "XXX GB Hard drive" for each of the partitions, which is not very informative and makes it hard to select the correct destination. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Open any file open/save dialog 2. Look at the "Places" list 3. Actual Results: XXX GB Hard drive is displayed for each partition in "Places" Expected Results: Actual device names (/dev/sda1,etc) are used in "Places"
Thanks for your report! Hm, I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. You are talking about the Open/Save dialog, which is obviously not a part of Dolphin, but maybe you filed your wish as a Dolphin report because the same issue applies to Dolphin's Places Panel? In any case, I'm not sure if displaying names like /dev/sda1 is a good idea. I believe that many users will have trouble mapping those 'names' to their devices. And maybe your request would actually fit the "Solid" product better: Recently, it has been proposed that the 'product' is displayed for removable devices, and it has then been decided that this is better implemented in Solid, rather than in Dolphin's and the file dialog's code, see the discarded review requests https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/106653/ https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/106639/ So the same reasoning might apply to your issue. But as I said, I don't believe that we should use things like /dev/sda1 as device 'names' in the Panel.
HI Frank, thanks for responding to my report. I see your point, perhaps solid is indeed a better place. The basic issue is that displaying HDD partitions in Places using labels such as "315.8 GiB Hard Drive, 33.7 GiB Hard Drive, 20.0 GiB Hard Drive, 631.5 GiB Hard Drive, 150.0 GiB Hard Drive, 465.8 GiB Hard Drive, 300.0 GiB Hard Drive" is not very useful, at least for me. And, frankly, make no sense in a single-root hierarchical Unix/Linux filesystem. Also, labels like the above look strange when they are randomly mixed with "/NFS/share/path on remote_host". IMHO, there should be an option to display meaningful names like /dev/sda1 for attached devices (or a popup that appears when one hovers the cursor over the "place"). Also, different types of "places" should be grouped together.
Created attachment 74495 [details] Screenshot of KDE's system monitor Perhaps, Dolphin could display mount point names instead of device names- just like KDE's system monitor widget does - see attached screenshot.
(In reply to comment #2) > IMHO, there should be an option to display meaningful names like /dev/sda1 > for attached devices (or a popup that appears when one hovers the cursor > over the "place"). The problem with new options is that we get a request for a new option on average every 1-2 weeks. If we always implemented these options, Dolphin would quickly turn into an unmaintainable and unusable mess. Therefore, I'm usually against adding new options unless there is a very big demand and a very good reason to add one. > Also, different types of "places" should be grouped together. Not sure what you mean. "Places" and "Devices" are already grouped separately.
(In reply to comment #4) > (In reply to comment #2) > > Also, different types of "places" should be grouped together. > > Not sure what you mean. "Places" and "Devices" are already grouped > separately. My mistake - I meant "different types of "devices" should be grouped together". On my machine, local partitions, USB drives, and NFS shares seem to appear in no particular order.
(In reply to comment #1) > In any case, I'm not sure if displaying names like /dev/sda1 is a good idea. > I believe that many users will have trouble mapping those 'names' to their > devices. For pluggable devices you are right. But i would prefer devicenames (like /dev/sdXY) for Harddiskdrives too. If you are using two partitions with the same size and not be labeld, it looks like > Devices > 9,3 GiB Hard Drive > 9,3 GiB Hard Drive The only way to differ the partitions is to look in to it. With those Names many user have also trouble i believe. During installation of a Linuxsystem, many users encounters those devicenames. As i am activ in a german Ubuntu-Forum, the output form the command fdisk -l is often required. Or take a look at the command mount which is also related on devicenames. Is solid the application, which is accountable for the Textentries in the Places/Devices-Panel?
*** Bug 308301 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I guess the "Joe Avarage" user (well, at least me) expects to have a properties entry in the context menu of the device entries in the places sidebar where you 1. can see which /dev/sdx all the "20.0 GiB Hard Disk"'s (e.g.) really are and 2. can rename the sidebar entry. Then I could have entries in the devices section like "Backup Harddisk". I also could rename the entry on the fly in case the purpose of the device changes.
(In reply to comment #8) > 2. can rename the sidebar entry. Then I could have entries in the devices > section like "Backup Harddisk". I also could rename the entry on the fly in > case the purpose of the device changes. If you give a Partition a Label, the entrys in the Places-Panel shows this Label instead of "20 GB Hraddrive". Mounting such labeled Partition would also make a mountpoint with the same Name. In Case of a Backup-Partition (which should be an extern Hardrive i think) the use of Label is recommended.
*** Bug 310898 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
It is useful to view (perhaps with a label mobile) node connecting the various disk / partition because it may happen to have the same size and without a proper name. In the list of devices currently shows the name and capacity, but this may be insufficient. I therefore propose to display the node (sda1, etc.); (are already divided, would be sufficient only "a1" to identify unequivocally). An alternative can be given to this idea: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=311094 A label (popup) would also be useful to view the full description of the item in question. (maybe above the mouse pointer, visible in transparency: - Not to make too much road to fade it, - To position it above the entry, - Not to cover others. Another possibility (more complex and expensive, mentioned elsewhere) would be given by the redesign of the taskbar (most versatile), that it can also be used inside the windows for specific applications in the future this could address several feature requests.
> /etc/fstab contains /dev/sda1 I can't really understand the proponents of the sdx naming scheme here, sdx should never be used. You should use persistent device names instead... such as labels. The sdx names can change, which is especially bad in the case of the fstab. If you want a filesystem/partition to have a unique human readable name in Dolphin set the FSLABEL or PARTLABEL, dolphin will show it. You can use the KDE partitionmanager to create it, it shows you abundant information to identify which device you want to set the label on. Dolphin *can* use the device names from fstab. > /etc/fstab > LABEL=EFI /boot vfat rw 0 2 > LABEL=SYSTEM / ext4 rw 0 1
(In reply to kdeu from comment #12) > > /etc/fstab contains /dev/sda1 > > I can't really understand the proponents of the sdx naming scheme here, sdx > should never be used. You should use persistent device names instead... such > as labels. The sdx names can change, which is especially bad in the case of > the fstab. > > If you want a filesystem/partition to have a unique human readable name in > Dolphin set the FSLABEL or PARTLABEL, dolphin will show it. > > You can use the KDE partitionmanager to create it, it shows you abundant > information to identify which device you want to set the label on. > > Dolphin *can* use the device names from fstab. > > > /etc/fstab > > LABEL=EFI /boot vfat rw 0 2 > > LABEL=SYSTEM / ext4 rw 0 1 IMHO, the vast majority of people do not swap in/out their harddrives nor do they constantly repartition the drive, so sdx names for them are actually effectively persistent. LABEL's are also often not present in fstab by default. Therefore, displaying a label or an sdx name (in a list of many other labels) is more useful and conveys more information than "50Gb hard drive".
(In reply to Vadym Krevs from comment #13) > (In reply to kdeu from comment #12) > > ... > > IMHO, the vast majority of people do not swap in/out their harddrives nor > do they constantly repartition the drive, so sdx names for them are actually > effectively persistent. No. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Persistent_block_device_naming > If your machine has more than one SATA, SCSI or IDE disk controller, the order in > which their corresponding device nodes are added is arbitrary. > This may result in device names like /dev/sda and /dev/sdb switching around on > each boot, culminating in an unbootable system, kernel panic, or a block device > device disappearing. Persistent naming solves these issues.
I can confirm that devicenames (like /dev/sdx) could switch between two boots. So having such strings in the 'Places' does not solve the problem of the naming of partitions. The only way to give human readable (recognizable) names is to label the partitions. The label is stored in the partition table and are tied to the partition then. Whereas device names are usually set on each boot. I am in favor of marking this bug as 'Won't fix'.
Agreed. Folks/tools should label partitions descriptively. If there are tools that are creating volumes without assigning them labels, that should be fixed there, and tracked with bugs on the appropriate bug trackers.
*** Bug 326748 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***