SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

sonoran · 2012-02-16 00:23:35

IgnorantGuru-
Thanks very much for spacefm - I was finally able to dump hal and pcmanfm. And spacefm is already far more versatile and useful than pcmanfm. Really fine work.

Posting here so I could display this screenshot which illustrates my only, truly minor aesthetic issue with spacefm: the panel button area on the upper right doesn't look good with my New Wave Dark Menus Openbox theme.

I don't know if this is something that can be changed, or configured differently. Can that button bar be moved, possibly to the right end of the tab area? Or its attributes changed so that the theme would make it dark like the menu bar?

I will look at both the spacefm source and the theme and see if I can come up with something.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/51 … hotzu.jpg/

******
I just found that I can turn the Panel Bar off in View in 0.7.0. Oops.

Last edited by sonoran (2012-02-16 05:04:58)

IgnorantGuru · 2012-02-16 12:11:34

sonoran wrote:

Posting here so I could display this screenshot which illustrates my only, truly minor aesthetic issue with spacefm: the panel button area on the upper right doesn't look good with my New Wave Dark Menus Openbox theme.
I don't know if this is something that can be changed, or configured differently. Can that button bar be moved, possibly to the right end of the tab area? Or its attributes changed so that the theme would make it dark like the menu bar?

Hi, As you found you can disable the panel bar, but thanks for the screenshot. It is a toolbar, so it uses the same color as the other toolbar background. Maybe I can change the color to the menu's background color. It's unusual for it to be up by the menu bar, and Gtk didn't seem very happy with my putting anything next to the menu, but I wanted to use the space. I'm not sure what will be done with its positioning, but thanks for the feedback.

bruno321 · 2012-02-17 16:29:35

As the other user above me, I also dumped pcmanfm-mod and HAL in favor of spacefm, and it's great

However, I'm getting really slow speed when copying a file to a removable USB hard disk. It's stable at 1M/s, when it was usually much faster...

IgnorantGuru · 2012-02-17 16:42:42

bruno321 wrote:

As the other user above me, I also dumped pcmanfm-mod and HAL in favor of spacefm, and it's great
However, I'm getting really slow speed when copying a file to a removable USB hard disk. It's stable at 1M/s, when it was usually much faster...

By default, spacefm uses sync and flush mount options on appropriate filesystems. This will slows things down somewhat, but is safer. While the copy may appear faster without it, remember that the final sync before removal takes additional time for the write to complete. With sync and flush you don't need to be as concerned with removing a device without first syncing, and the copy speed is more accurate.

You can change the default by right-clicking on the Devices list and selecting Settings|Mount Options. If you don't want sync/flush used, change it to:
noexec, nosuid, noatime

Feedback on sync/flush as a default is welcome, as I'm still trying to decide which default to use. It's safer, but I've received a few of these reports that the copy is proceeding more slowly than usual.

bruno321 · 2012-02-17 16:47:55

Thanks, I just did that and it restored the speed. We're talking about 1 M/s with sync/flush vs. 30 M/s without it...

Lockheed · 2012-02-25 16:32:53

The program looks as a great replacement for PCmanFM, but it is a bitch to configure. For example, I disabled my toolbar, and now cannot find a way to show it anymore...

Also, is there a way to switch places of Drives and Bookmarks panels? I'd like to have bookmarks on top.

hasufell · 2012-02-25 16:42:37

Lockheed wrote:

For example, I disabled my toolbar, and now cannot find a way to show it anymore...

right click in the browser-window -> view -> toolbox

the reason it is not in the "view"-settings at the top is because you can enable it for one "Panel" and disable it for another

I am not sure if it makes much sense to have multiple toolbars tho...

Cloudef · 2012-02-25 19:29:58

IgnorantGuru wrote:

Feedback on sync/flush as a default is welcome, as I'm still trying to decide which default to use. It's safer, but I've received a few of these reports that the copy is proceeding more slowly than usual.

IMO, just keep the sync as default. I've corrupted quite few of crappy proprietary flash memories when I forgot to mount them with sync option.

ninian · 2012-02-27 18:28:38

SpaceFM is now a HotPick in Linux Format magazine, #156, April 2012!

Onyros · 2012-03-01 15:33:05

Test driving SpaceFM right now, it's looking pretty good, a very nice alternative to PCManFM with potential to replace it for me.

Is there any way to reorder toolbar items easily? And is there a way to change the sidebar order (e.g., bookmarks first, tree view and devices last)?

0ddba11 · 2012-03-02 18:37:35

Brilliant so far (ditched pcmanfm after half an hour). Is more stable and does everything better than pcmanfm even without the extra features. I've missed alot of the customisation from emelfm2.

(The inevitable) But it doesn't seem to let me change my default application for opening files (on image and media files so far, doesn't really have a choice of apps for other files) no matter how many times I check the "use as default" box or change it in file properties.

Also is there a way to switch to the pcmanfm policy of by default copying files between filesystems when dragging and dropping and moving files when staying within the same filesystem. The only thing I miss from pcmanfm and a safer policy I think (so I don't lose all my files to a flash drive)

Thanks again for the best file manager I've used so far (from a long list).

hasufell · 2012-03-03 17:09:58

Mh, i still have this issue sometimes when the window frame does not redraw properly.
It just stays all grey, but spacefm didn't really crash (but doesnt close properly as well) and the window decoration is still there. I am not sure if this is even related to spacefm, maybe it is a gtk+ bug or even an issue of openbox.

I dont really know how to track that down, but I did not experience something similar with other apps. I will try xfwm4 for a while and see if it happens too.

Last edited by hasufell (2012-03-03 17:11:30)

kgas · 2012-03-04 12:55:43

One more future request: spacefm needs to open the current working ($PWD) directory on typing sapcefm in console.

Cloudef · 2012-03-04 13:54:19

kgas wrote:

One more future request: spacefm needs to open the current working ($PWD) directory on typing sapcefm in console.

#!/bin/sh
# Start spacefm from working directory
DIR_PATH="$@"
[[ "$DIR_PATH" ]] || DIR_PATH="$PWD"
/usr/bin/spacefm "$DIR_PATH"

kgas · 2012-03-05 15:06:23

Cloudef wrote:

#!/bin/sh
# Start spacefm from working directory
DIR_PATH="$@"
[[ "$DIR_PATH" ]] || DIR_PATH="$PWD"
/usr/bin/spacefm "$DIR_PATH"

No need for a script for this. just run spacefm $PWD will do. It is by default means saves few key strokes.

hasufell · 2012-03-05 15:32:41

Cloudef wrote:

kgas wrote:
One more future request: spacefm needs to open the current working ($PWD) directory on typing sapcefm in console.
#!/bin/sh
# Start spacefm from working directory
DIR_PATH="$@"
[[ "$DIR_PATH" ]] || DIR_PATH="$PWD"
/usr/bin/spacefm "$DIR_PATH"    

i would prefer

#!/bin/sh
# Start spacefm from working directory
DIR_PATH="$@"
[[ "$DIR_PATH" ]] || DIR_PATH="$PWD"
"$(which spacefm)" "$DIR_PATH"

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-05 21:47:07

Lockheed wrote:

Also, is there a way to switch places of Drives and Bookmarks panels? I'd like to have bookmarks on top.

No, the order of the side panes cannot be changed.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-05 21:55:46

Cloudef wrote:

IMO, just keep the sync as default. I've corrupted quite few of crappy proprietary flash memories when I forgot to mount them with sync option.

The new default is no sync. I agree sync is probably the better default, but apparently it's non-standard for file managers to do this, and it was creating confusion regarding the copy speed. If you use middle-click to remove the device (or right-click and select Remove), a sync is performed. Details here.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-05 22:05:17

Onyros wrote:

Is there any way to reorder toolbar items easily? And is there a way to change the sidebar order (e.g., bookmarks first, tree view and devices last)?

Built-in toolbar items cannot currently be reordered, but they can be hidden. Custom toolbar items can be reordered and hidden. However, there are two toolbars in the toolbox, left and right, so you can effectively move any icons from/to the left/right toolbar (eg hide it on the left and show it on the right). This is all handled with Toolbar Design Mode. I'm not too happy with the way the toolbar config came out and will be looking for other approaches eventually - what's there is a somewhat temporary solution to a difficult issue with gtk.

The side panes cannot be reordered. Maybe someday. I see you guys are finally finding the limitations.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-05 22:16:00

0ddba11 wrote:

Brilliant so far (ditched pcmanfm after half an hour). Is more stable and does everything better than pcmanfm even without the extra features. I've missed alot of the customisation from emelfm2.

Thanks - glad to hear it's working well for you. But...

(The inevitable) But it doesn't seem to let me change my default application for opening files (on image and media files so far, doesn't really have a choice of apps for other files) no matter how many times I check the "use as default" box or change it in file properties.

For starters, this is an unusual (unprecedented) report, so you may have an unusual system configuration in the mix. The choice of apps comes indirectly (by way of mime libraries) from /usr/share/applications/ - any apps associated with the filetype should appear in the list. When you set a default, spacefm should update ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list. When needed, it may also create a custom desktop file in that directory. This code is mostly unchanged from legacy pcmanfm and pcmanfm-mod, except that those programs always create custom files when changing the default app, which made a mess of the mime folders. spacefm just changes defaults.list when possible. Please check those files to see what may be happening. Feel free to submit a bug report. Also, do other file managers see your MIME apps and change the MIME default normally on your system?

Also is there a way to switch to the pcmanfm policy of by default copying files between filesystems when dragging and dropping and moving files when staying within the same filesystem. The only thing I miss from pcmanfm and a safer policy I think (so I don't lose all my files to a flash drive)

There is an open request on this here. Not sure yet what will be done on that. Thanks for your feedback.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-05 22:18:25

hasufell wrote:

Mh, i still have this issue sometimes when the window frame does not redraw properly.
It just stays all grey, but spacefm didn't really crash (but doesnt close properly as well) and the window decoration is still there. I am not sure if this is even related to spacefm, maybe it is a gtk+ bug or even an issue of openbox.
I dont really know how to track that down, but I did not experience something similar with other apps. I will try xfwm4 for a while and see if it happens too.

I haven't seen this. Is it possible to take screenshot? Does spacefm hang or continue working normally? Any warnings in stdout (run spacefm in a terminal)?

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-05 22:25:38

kgas wrote:

One more future request: spacefm needs to open the current working ($PWD) directory on typing sapcefm in console.

This should work:

spacefm .  # <- there's a dot there

By default, spacefm opens saved tabs only, or one default tab. If you prefer the above, you can set it as an alias in your ~/.bashrc file:

alias spacefm='spacefm .'

You may also want to uncheck File|Save Tabs.

Not sure if I'll make that behavior default (spacefm doesn't necessarily know how you're running it), but I'll consider it. Thanks.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-05 22:32:52

Thanks for all the feedback. SpaceFM 0.7.2 is available.

Last edited by IgnorantGuru (2012-03-05 22:33:18)

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-11 15:29:50

ridikulus_rat wrote in the AUR:

@IgnorantGuru: gnome-unstable repo has udisks2 (parallel installable with udisk1, but udisks2 contains a fix which I wanted http://answerpot.com/showthread.php?329 … s+Ntfs-3g) which is required by next version of gnome-disk-utility. Does spacefm support udisks2? Any configure option to make udisks2 as default over udisk1? Or better would be to have a option in the config file to change during runtime.

From what I have seen of the udisks2 docs, if any large change is made, it will likely be to drop udisks completely. Udisks is becoming increasingly UN-Linux, hostile to command-line usage and text stream communication. At a time when more people are trying to avoid dbus completely, and are asking for SpaceFM's dependency on it to be removed, the udisks author David Zeuthen seems intent on breaking any possible use of udisks which isn't chained to dbus and the buggy API. This API involves a lot of support issues and time, while the command line tool WAS virtually support-free and quick to develop for. Since when can't scripts in Linux mount and unmount devices? Yet that is the future David Zeuthen is forcing on you.

The udisks2 command line tool (the only way udisks can mount/unmount from the command line) has been crippled, and David Zeuthen has added this message which was not present in version 1:
"Additionally, this program is not intended to be used by scripts or other programs - options/commands may change in incompatible ways in the future even in maintenance releases. Scripts and/or other programs should either use the D-Bus APIs of udisks2-daemon(8) or native low-level commands such as mount(8)."

To see what has been crippled and how backwards compatibility has been broken, you can compare the command line tools for udisks1 vs udisks2 - notice any changes?

So I think it's clear where he stands on Unix philosophy. He has done everything to break backwards compatibility completely with all existing scripts that automated udisks. In addition, he failed to address bug reports in the old command line tool - it didn't even return exit statuses reliably (and still doesn't). Creating a command line tool that is this hostile to other scripts and programs using it goes against the very nature of Unix and Linux IMO. I'm thinking that udisks is now just another attempt to turn Linux into Windows, where almost nothing useful can be done from a command line due to the use of internal functions, APIs, etc., and where convoluted security schemes are required just to use it (schemes which ultimately reduce security and cause bugs). This so goes against the philosophy behind SpaceFM that I don't think it should use udisks at all or be associated with it in any way. Further, Udisks and its choice to use polkit and its effective dependence on consolekit have also caused many ridiculous problems for users across many distros. Simply put, it's a horrible system for device management.

Options include:
1) Adapt to the new udisks command line usage. This is probably easy enough in the short term, since SpaceFM uses it in a fairly simple way, but it's clear the udisks author is intent on breaking it as much as possible and rendering the command line useless for device manipulation.
2) Write a REAL and USEFUL command line interface for udisks2 using its APIs.
3) Replace udisks completely with a lightweight solution
4) Write a simple daemon for mounting - basically udisks without all the nonsense.

Unfortunately mainstream Linux has taken a very bad direction replacing a mess like hal with a mess like udisks, and now udisks is clearly going from bad to worse. I think it's time for a simple, more Linux-like solution. But I can't rewrite all of udisks or the kernel myself, so some kind of lightweight solution is needed here.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-03-11 17:14:37

Here is David Zeuthen's explanation of udisks2 and why it was written. IOW it's all about gnome. I think increasingly udisks is becoming an internal gnome component and less a universal linux tool, certainly not command-line friendly. That means there is no real replacement for hal without adopting almost complete desktop environments. Not a good state of affairs for linux development. I haven't tried it yet, but it will be interesting to see what a mess udisks2 makes of systems which aren't running gnome, since the udisks2 author seems to barely consider such use.

Arch Linux

#76 2012-02-16 00:23:35

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#77 2012-02-16 12:11:34

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#78 2012-02-17 16:29:35

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#79 2012-02-17 16:42:42

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#80 2012-02-17 16:47:55

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#81 2012-02-25 16:32:53

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#82 2012-02-25 16:42:37

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#83 2012-02-25 19:29:58

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#84 2012-02-27 18:28:38

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#85 2012-03-01 15:33:05

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#86 2012-03-02 18:37:35

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#87 2012-03-03 17:09:58

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#88 2012-03-04 12:55:43

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#89 2012-03-04 13:54:19

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#90 2012-03-05 15:06:23

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#91 2012-03-05 15:32:41

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#92 2012-03-05 21:47:07

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#93 2012-03-05 21:55:46

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#94 2012-03-05 22:05:17

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#95 2012-03-05 22:16:00

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#96 2012-03-05 22:18:25

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#97 2012-03-05 22:25:38

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#98 2012-03-05 22:32:52

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#99 2012-03-11 15:29:50

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#100 2012-03-11 17:14:37

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

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