The current behaviour might be confusing in some cases but it's also consistent (no magical difference depending of where you copy) and non destructive, you can copy a directory somewhere and back and have it back to the original state, it's also making space use consistent
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to nautilus in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1013889 Title: Copying a symlink between filesystems should copy the target file, not the symlink Status in “nautilus” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: This is a design issue. The question is when I copy what happens to be a symlink (the user shouldn't have to care or understand the difference) from one filesystem to another, does it make sense to copy the symlink or to copy the target file? Currently Nautilus copies the symlink (a pointer containing the filename of the target), which fails un-intuitively if you happen to be copying to a FAT-formatted removable drive. And when it doesn't fail, I think this behavior is rarely what the user wants or expects. For example, say I have a symlink `/home/jderose/cool-video.avi` that points to `/home/jderose/Videos/new.avi`. If I copy cool-video.avi onto a *removable* drive, how often does the user want a symlink on a removable drive pointed to a possibly non-existent `/home/jderose/Videos/new.avi` file? The action taken here should instead copy the physical file pointed to by the symlink (but use the symlink basename, of course). Steps to reproduce: 1) copy or drag a valid symlink onto a FAT removable drive 2) be frustrated I believe the current behavior makes sense when moving/copying a symlink within the same file system. But when copying onto a another file system (and onto a different physical disk in particular), I feel the current behavior is confusing and frustrating. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04 Package: nautilus 1:3.4.2-0ubuntu3 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-25.40-generic 3.2.18 Uname: Linux 3.2.0-25-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu9 Architecture: amd64 Date: Fri Jun 15 16:30:31 2012 EcryptfsInUse: Yes GsettingsChanges: org.gnome.nautilus.window-state geometry '1247x1548+1311+24' org.gnome.nautilus.window-state sidebar-width 200 org.gnome.nautilus.window-state start-with-status-bar true InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha amd64 (20120122) SourcePackage: nautilus UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/1013889/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
