about symbolic links on Desktop

[nusret]

--- Andrew Conkling <andrew.conkling at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 6/1/06, nusret <nbalci_l at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > --- Andrew Conkling <andrew.conkling at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > On 6/1/06, nusret <nbalci_l at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > > 1) When i create a symbolic link on desktop
> from a
> > > > terminal, say
> > > >
> > > > ln -s /etc etc_dir_pointer
> > > >
> > > > a little icon shows up. However, when I
> > > right-click on
> > > > the icon and select "Properties", all the
> icons
> > > > disappear and as i don't know how to fix it, i
> > > need to
> > > > logout and login again to bring back any icon
> on
> > > the
> > > > desktop. Any suggestions?
> > >
> > > I'd be interested to see if xfdesktop is
> crashing.
> > > You could check to
> > > see if it's running in the System Monitor (Menu
> >
> > > System > System
> > > Monitor, IIRC).  If so, running it again (Alt+F2
> > > will give you the Run
> > > dialog) would most likely give you your icons
> back.
> > >
> > > That way, at least you may not have to log out
> each
> > > time....
> >
> >
> > Exactly as you suspected, xfdesktop was not
> running!
> > And again exactly as you pointed out, Alt+F2 trick
> > worked. Thank you!
> 
> Can you get a backtrace on xfdesktop using gdb? 
> This sounds
> particularly bugworthy.  (Maybe Brian could shed
> some light?)

I can, but only if someone told me how I would do that
:). My programming skills are at the level of a
hobbyist: I didn't use GDB until now, though I always
dreamed of doing so one day :)




> > > > 3) When I right-click on the desktop, I don't
> get
> > > an
> > > > option to create an icon on the desktop. I get
> > > this
> > > > option when i right click on an already
> existing
> > > > launcher! I really don't like the design of
> the
> > > > context  menu that you get when right-click on
> the
> > > > desktop.
> > > <SNIP>
> > >
> > > This is by design, and the right-click menu is
> one
> > > of the best things
> > > about xfdesktop.
> >
> > To have a right_click menu is, of course, a very
> goo
> > thing. Problem is: it's just a copy of system
> menu.
> > This is just duplication and you have to do
> roundabout
> > things to get the needed basic functionality. For
> > example, there are no copy/cut/paste, create, etc.
> > menu items on this menu. When I need these (which
> i do
> > very often), I have to open a Thunar window (from
> > system menu :)), go to the Desktop folder there,
> and
> > right click within Thunar. It's much less fancier,
> but
> > functionally better designed context menu. you may
> not
> > agree, but I'm pretty sure you see my point.
> 
> I do see your point.  Xfdesktop isn't (yet?) suited
> well for those
> kinds of actions on the desktop.  I'm not sure how I
> feel about the
> necessity (since, as you say, you can manage your
> files in a file
> manager :) but maybe Brian has some ideas or
> opinions.  No wait... he
> definitely has some opinions. :P

Very few things in life are necessary. But I insist
that it would be very nice ;) Let me add one more
thing that strikes me ---I think this has its roots in
the same design decisions (but can be changed without
intrusive changes to the codebase, I believe): 

Right click on some file on the Desktop. Copy the
file. And *now* open a Thunar window, go to some
directory, say your HOME directory. Try to paste it:
you can't! But if the Thunar window is already open at
the time you copied the file, you can paste it
somewhere else in the filesystem. 

On the other, your remarks made me recall the
distinction between a file manager and desktop. IMHO,
xfdesktop should also provide file management
facilities that Thunar provides for the *Desktop
folder* in addition to current functionality.
Certainly not necessay, but it would be nice.

 
> > Now, I see people prefer different approaches. As
> I
> > said, *I* don't like the current one (i guess it's
> > just like the one in KDE, right?--I am not sure
> > though), so I wanted to know if it's possible to
> > modify.
> 
> Indeed, and this is what I've done since 4.2.  I
> like to have the menu
> plugin on my panel with the full menu (i.e. what you
> get with Ubuntu),
> and I like to make a short right-click menu with my
> most-used apps for
> the desktop.  Let me know if such a configuration
> interests you and I
> can post some details on how to do that.

I would certainly be interested. This can give me
further clues about how to proceed to make some
customizations. I would appreciate it if you could
post some pointers/instructions.

> > Thank you for your willingness to help!
> 
> Absolutely!  We all learn somewhere, and this
> mailing list taught me
> most of the stuff I've just said. :P
> 
> Cheers,
> Andrew
> _____________


Regards,
Nusret
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