Bug 368684 - Dolphin copies symbolic link instead of referenced file
Summary: Dolphin copies symbolic link instead of referenced file
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: dolphin
Classification: Applications
Component: panels: terminal (show other bugs)
Version: 16.12.2
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Dolphin Bug Assignee
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2016-09-12 10:49 UTC by Freddy Rietdijk
Modified: 2018-05-17 09:36 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Description Freddy Rietdijk 2016-09-12 10:49:55 UTC
When creating a copy of a symbolic link with Dolphin, another symbolic link is created. This might make sense, but I found it unexpected because the `cp` command does dereference links.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create a file
2. Create a symbolic link to that file
3. Copy the symbolic link with Dolphin, and copy it with `cp` and compare the two created files
Comment 1 Julian Steinmann 2018-05-15 18:47:01 UTC
This is still the case with Dolphin 18.04, but I am not sure if it would be good to change this behavior. Why should creating a symbolic link result in a e.g text file? Users will probably be confused if we changed this behavior which might create further bug reports. Additionally, if you want to copy the original file, you can simply copy it from the original location.

IMHO, we should preserve the current behavior and close this as WONTFIX. Would this be OK for you @Freddy or do you have a strong need for such a feature? If yes, it'd be great if you could show a potential use case. Thanks!
Comment 2 Freddy Rietdijk 2018-05-15 19:45:08 UTC
As I stated I found it confusing. Because it's been like this for a long time as well I don't think it should be changed any more. But, it would be good to have a way to copy the dereferenced link. In general better support for symbolic links in the UI would ben nice.
Comment 3 Julian Steinmann 2018-05-17 09:36:52 UTC
Thanks for your response! I am going to close this report in this case.

About the general problem with symlinks: Even though this would be nice, I don't think that this is a high priority as such actions are rather specific (and you can achieve them through choosing "Show target" and then copying from there) and will probably not be important for the main user base of Dolphin. Still, if you do have an idea on how to improve the symlink UI, please do submit a new wish for this. Thanks!