[gentoo-user] KDE plasma desktop view shows files that don't exist

[gentoo-user] KDE plasma desktop view shows files that don't exist

[Jack]

Checking here for any ideas or suggestions before I report as a KDE bug.

I have my KDE Plasma desktop set to show my ~/Desktop folder. Two days 
ago, I created a script.pl Perl script in that folder. (No, I don't 
generally do work in that folder, but I just needed a quick script to 
deal with a file I had just downloaded there.) After editing that file 
in emacs, a script.pl~ also showed up on the Desktop.  However, so did a 
file #script.pl#, and actually I now have three files showing that 
name.  The original and the emacs backup also show up in Dolphin and an 
"ls" command in a terminal.  None of the "#" files do, however, which is 
expected, as there are transient working files only during an active 
emacs session.

Trying to edit one (double click) from the desktop opens an empty file, 
and right clicking and selecting Properties shows the correct info as of 
when the file actually existed - but if I ask for any checksums, they 
show up as blank fields.

I've looked, and have not found any relevant bug on the KDE bugzilla.  
(As it's not likely a Gentoo bug, I don't see any point in filing at b.g.o.)

Has anyone else noticed this?  Can anyone else reproduce it?

Thanks for any feedback.

Jack

Re: [gentoo-user] KDE plasma desktop view shows files that don't exist

[Mateusz Okulus]

On 22/08/24 11:05AM, Jack wrote:
> Checking here for any ideas or suggestions before I report as a KDE bug.
>
> I have my KDE Plasma desktop set to show my ~/Desktop folder. Two days ago,
> I created a script.pl Perl script in that folder. (No, I don't generally do
> work in that folder, but I just needed a quick script to deal with a file I
> had just downloaded there.) After editing that file in emacs, a script.pl~
> also showed up on the Desktop.  However, so did a file #script.pl#, and
> actually I now have three files showing that name.  The original and the
> emacs backup also show up in Dolphin and an "ls" command in a terminal. 
> None of the "#" files do, however, which is expected, as there are transient
> working files only during an active emacs session.
>
> Trying to edit one (double click) from the desktop opens an empty file, and
> right clicking and selecting Properties shows the correct info as of when
> the file actually existed - but if I ask for any checksums, they show up as
> blank fields.
>
> I've looked, and have not found any relevant bug on the KDE bugzilla.  (As
> it's not likely a Gentoo bug, I don't see any point in filing at b.g.o.)
>
> Has anyone else noticed this?  Can anyone else reproduce it?
>
> Thanks for any feedback.
>
> Jack

I'm fairly sure this isn't a bug, the files exits, and are just empty,
as they show both in Dolphin and using ls.

script.pl~ is an Emacs backup file, it's created automatically and won't
be removed. It was created by Emacs when the original file was still
empty.

#script.pl# is an Emacs auto-saved file, which was also saved when the
buffer was empty. "auto-saves happen every 300 keystrokes, or after
around 30 seconds of idle time", from manual, so you probably left the
empty buffer for more than 30 seconds, but the script was shorter than
300 characters, so it only auto saved the empty file.

Those file exist on your system, they are just empty. That's why the
dates are correct. You can simply delete them if you want.

Those resources might be useful:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/12031838
https://stackoverflow.com/a/18330742

In particular you can disable backup files, if you don't care or use git
for example.

Regards,
mmokulus

Re: [gentoo-user] KDE plasma desktop view shows files that don't exist

[Jack]

On 2022.08.25 13:18, Mateusz Okulus wrote:
> On 22/08/24 11:05AM, Jack wrote:
> > Checking here for any ideas or suggestions before I report as a KDE  
> bug.
> >
> > I have my KDE Plasma desktop set to show my ~/Desktop folder. Two  
> days ago,
> > I created a script.pl Perl script in that folder. (No, I don't  
> generally do
> > work in that folder, but I just needed a quick script to deal with  
> a file I
> > had just downloaded there.) After editing that file in emacs, a  
> script.pl~
> > also showed up on the Desktop.  However, so did a file #script.pl#,  
> and
> > actually I now have three files showing that name.  The original  
> and the
> > emacs backup also show up in Dolphin and an "ls" command in a  
> terminal. 
> > None of the "#" files do, however, which is expected, as there are  
> transient
> > working files only during an active emacs session.
> >
> > Trying to edit one (double click) from the desktop opens an empty  
> file, and
> > right clicking and selecting Properties shows the correct info as  
> of when
> > the file actually existed - but if I ask for any checksums, they  
> show up as
> > blank fields.
> >
> > I've looked, and have not found any relevant bug on the KDE  
> bugzilla.  (As
> > it's not likely a Gentoo bug, I don't see any point in filing at  
> b.g.o.)
> >
> > Has anyone else noticed this?  Can anyone else reproduce it?
> >
> > Thanks for any feedback.
> >
> > Jack
> 
I've been unable to replicate the problem, so I will call it transient,  
probably due to some particular timing of saving the file and exiting  
emacs.
> I'm fairly sure this isn't a bug, the files exits, and are just empty,
> as they show both in Dolphin and using ls.
Thanks for the response, but you didn't read carefully.  script.pl and  
script.pl~ do show up and are real files.  #script.pl# does NOT show up  
in Dolphin or with ls, it only appears on the desktop.  It is not  
empty, it just doesn't exist any more.

I tried to replicate this on my desktop, and the # file didn't show up  
until after I exited emacs, but it was not empty, and did show up with  
ls.  Deleting it with rm also properly removed it from the Desktop.  I  
could not replicate the problem of the files only showing up on the  
Desktop.
> 
> script.pl~ is an Emacs backup file, it's created automatically and  
> won't
> be removed. It was created by Emacs when the original file was still
> empty.
Agreed.
> 
> #script.pl# is an Emacs auto-saved file, which was also saved when the
> buffer was empty. "auto-saves happen every 300 keystrokes, or after
> around 30 seconds of idle time", from manual, so you probably left the
> empty buffer for more than 30 seconds, but the script was shorter than
> 300 characters, so it only auto saved the empty file.
Also agreed, but once you exit emacs, such files normally get deleted,  
especially if you have saved the file.  In this case, it does appear to  
have been deleted, but the Plasma Desktop somehow didn't notice the  
disappearance of the file.
> 
> Those file exist on your system, they are just empty. That's why the
> dates are correct. You can simply delete them if you want.
The issue is that they did NOT exist.  I understand empty files, but  
that is NOT the case here.  In fact, when I tried to move that file to  
the trash, I got a permission error on the trash, and the remove pop-up  
just sat there spinning.  If I tried to delete the file (whether right  
click/delete or select and hit the DEL key) I got an error that it  
couldn't delete it because it didn't exist.  All I can guess is that  
somehow Plasma didn't notice that the file was removed.  Once I exited  
and restarted Xorg/Plasma, that file was gone, and, as I said, I can no  
longer replicate the problem.
> 
> Those resources might be useful:
> https://stackoverflow.com/a/12031838
> https://stackoverflow.com/a/18330742
> 
> In particular you can disable backup files, if you don't care or use  
> git
> for example.
I do understand those files and do not want to disable backup in emacs,  
but thanks for the suggestion.
> 
> Regards,
> mmokulus
Jack