Hi all. Since I started to use a free desktop more intensively, I came across behaviors that are radically different from what I am used to. Some behaviors are superior and I learn and enjoy them. Workspaces? Saved Sessions? great. Other behaviors I find to be less useful.
One in particular is a deal killer for me: Thumbnails management the way it is currently specified in what I assume is the standard <http://people.freedesktop.org/~vuntz/thumbnail-spec-cache/index.html> opens the door to leaks of confidential information and makes the application relying on this standard inadequate for professional use. I found an earlier attempt to discuss this on the base of encrypted volumes. <http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xdg/2007-January/007367.html> digital cameras storage is not encrypted, but requires the same level of confidentiality if photographers are to trust free desktop applications. The latest revision of the document known to me is still Version 0.7.0 and is almost four years old. I herewith request for comments on these suggested modifications, hoping that we can take the specs to the next level and improve their adequacy to real world situations. My comments are page by page, with the page referred first. I apologize and I am embarrassed to admit that I would not know where to find the DocBook source nor how to use/edit it, and would appreciate help. http://people.freedesktop.org/~vuntz/thumbnail-spec-cache/introduction.html Add: Four years later * the standard seems to be widely accepted. * different volume types like network mounts and removable storage that were only marginally addressed in the last revision have become increasingly important. Removable media, particularly the flash memory used in digital cameras, is promiscuous between systems and users. users will easily plug their card into the next available system without being aware that thumbnails of potentially sensitive images could be leaked. Groups of users share the same set of images over network mounts - the current specs yield duplicate thumbs. This revision takes the approach that the software is responsible for the files it creates for its own use. It is not the responsibility of the user to know or understand the details of the creation and accessibility of the thumbs beyond managing his preferences for thumbs on media he controls. http://people.freedesktop.org/~vuntz/thumbnail-spec-cache/issues.html Issues to Solve: * give the owner of the images a simple mechanism to express preferences for thumbnail creation and distribution across the system * enable different behavior for different kind of media * simplify the 0.7.0 version of September 2004 http://people.freedesktop.org/~vuntz/thumbnail-spec-cache/directory.html change: "the .thumbnails directory located in the users home" into "the .thumbnails directory located inside the directory containing the images". add: "the .thumbs file, located in each file system's root directory, specifies how thumbnails should be handled on the file system. in its simplest incarnation, it can be just an empty file. Its absence means: don't create thumbnails for files on this file system. If present, thumbnails are created. It could be further specified to indicate what actions to take if images with existing thumbnails are copied into the file system, but this is not seen as necessary at this time. " http://people.freedesktop.org/~vuntz/thumbnail-spec-cache/creation.html add on top: " thumbnails are created only if permission for such creation is explicitly set for the file system in .thumbs when files with thumbnails are copied from one file system into another, the thumbnails are not copied unless the .thumbs file is present on the target file system. " maybe the copying of thumbnails deserve a separate page, like the deleting thumbnails page. http://people.freedesktop.org/~vuntz/thumbnail-spec-cache/thumbsave.html Change the Permissions section to " ~./thumbnails directory must have set their permissions to the same permissions as the directory containing the images. the thumbnails themselves must have set their permissions to the same permissions as the original image. the .thumbs file must have its permission set so that everybody can read it and only the owner of the volume can edit it. this way we assure that the real owner of the files - and not the user of the system, as specified in the previous revision - controls who can have a glance. " add to Advantages of This Approach: " 5. avoids leaking thumbnails of the images 6. avoids duplicate thumbnails 7. gives the *real* user (as opposed to the *system* user) finer grained access control " http://people.freedesktop.org/~vuntz/thumbnail-spec-cache/local.html becomes redundant and is superseded http://people.freedesktop.org/~vuntz/thumbnail-spec-cache/conclusion.html The next step is to adapt the specs to the changed circumstances in the real world; finalize them into a 1.0; adopt them and update existing implementations to reach a higher level of usability. I hope my initiative will help make free desktop more palatable to converts from proprietary desktops like me. Yuv _______________________________________________ CREATE mailing list [email protected] http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create
