[SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

andrekp · 2012-06-07 19:29:23

Hi everyone,

I installed Arch a few weeks ago on a laptop without incident, so I know my iso image is good (it also MD5's OK). It is still the current image according to this website. It is a net install.

Tried installing it on my Desktop yesterday. Didn't see any problems during install, even got XFCE up and running. Then I noticed that Root had no personal folders (i.e. Documents, Dowloads, etc. - all those ones that come by default). I had created a user during install. I found that the user also had no personal folders installed.

My slightly older laptop install, however, checks out fine in that regard.

I installed a couple more times on the desktop system just to be absolutely sure. Even did it most recently as a single partition install just to be sure it had nothing to do with that. The install simply will not create default personal folders either for Root, or an added user. The Directories are there, there's simply nothing personal in them.

Any ideas? Did something change on the Install that hasn't been noted?

Last edited by andrekp (2012-06-08 11:40:50)

Inxsible · 2012-06-07 19:31:24

huh ? the root never has personal folders like Documents and Dowloads and neither do the users by default. If you want them, you have to create them yourself. Downloads is one that might get created if you use Firefox - which saves all downloads in it.

Pres · 2012-06-07 19:38:17

"mkdir ~/Documents" would have been so much easier than installing all over again.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xf … irectories

drcouzelis · 2012-06-07 19:41:29

andrekp wrote:

Then I noticed that Root had no personal folders (i.e. Documents, Dowloads, etc. - all those ones that come by default). I had created a user during install. I found that the user also had no personal folders installed.

What caused you to think that those directories would be created by default?

...Actually, I just remembered, isn't there something related to XDG that will automatically create some directories? Back when I used GNOME 2 I seem to remember trying to delete something like my "Movies" directory and SOMEBODY promptly replaced it.

Edit: Ah, Pres knew what I was thinking. Well, you can think of this as a valuable lesson in learning that there's almost never a reason you need to reinstall Arch Linux.

andrekp · 2012-06-07 19:45:34

Because they were created automatically on my laptop install. I had no reason to doubt that that was normal behavior.

Sure, I can MAKE the directories, but that's hardly the point in the context of thinking that something might be wrong with them missing.

Inxsible · 2012-06-07 19:52:09

andrekp wrote:

Because they were created automatically on my laptop install. I had no reason to doubt that that was normal behavior.
Sure, I can MAKE the directories, but that's hardly the point in the context of thinking that something might be wrong with them missing.

You are still missing the point. The Arch installation does not create the folders by default.

You must have done something or installed something that created them on your laptop.

tomk · 2012-06-07 20:22:54

You put GNOME on your laptop, right? And that pulled in this package:

extra/xdg-user-dirs-gtk 0.8-1 (gnome) 
    Creates user dirs and asks to relocalize them

BTW, if you got these user dirs for root, that probably means you ran GNOME as root - definitely not recommended.

andrekp · 2012-06-07 20:53:55

tomk wrote:

You put GNOME on your laptop, right? And that pulled in this package:
extra/xdg-user-dirs-gtk 0.8-1 (gnome) 
    Creates user dirs and asks to relocalize them
BTW, if you got these user dirs for root, that probably means you ran GNOME as root - definitely not recommended.

No. I use Xfce.

I perfectly accept that these folders were installed by SOMETHING, I just don't know what, and it's probably no longer relevant anyway.

(and I haven't really even installed much besides the default Xfce: LibreOffice, Firefox, leafpad, alsa, slim, apcupsd... Nothing else I can think of. Look, if it's a mystery that I needn't concern myself with, I'm fine with that.)

bohoomil · 2012-06-07 22:44:54

I remember answering the exact same question at least twice, so I do recommend using the search thingy in case more mysteries arise...

(I'm probably getting grumpier than ever, but what in the world is the reason of keeping the threads older than a year if barely anyone bothers to read them? I know, everyone is unique and special, and entering the Linux realm makes them feel like Columbus, but come one, if more than a million people use some incarnation of this OS, it's quite likely that most basic issues have been already well described...)

jakobcreutzfeldt · 2012-06-08 09:13:00

andrekp wrote:

tomk wrote:
You put GNOME on your laptop, right? And that pulled in this package:
extra/xdg-user-dirs-gtk 0.8-1 (gnome) 
    Creates user dirs and asks to relocalize them
BTW, if you got these user dirs for root, that probably means you ran GNOME as root - definitely not recommended.
No. I use Xfce.
I perfectly accept that these folders were installed by SOMETHING, I just don't know what, and it's probably no longer relevant anyway.
(and I haven't really even installed much besides the default Xfce: LibreOffice, Firefox, leafpad, alsa, slim, apcupsd... Nothing else I can think of. Look, if it's a mystery that I needn't concern myself with, I'm fine with that.)

There's also:

extra/xdg-user-dirs 0.14-3
    Manage user directories like ~/Desktop and ~/Music

That should take care of it for you (though I don't see why the gtk one wouldn't also).

andrekp · 2012-06-08 11:39:17

bohoomil wrote:

I remember answering the exact same question at least twice, so I do recommend using the search thingy in case more mysteries arise...
(I'm probably getting grumpier than ever, but what in the world is the reason of keeping the threads older than a year if barely anyone bothers to read them? I know, everyone is unique and special, and entering the Linux realm makes them feel like Columbus, but come one, if more than a million people use some incarnation of this OS, it's quite likely that most basic issues have been already well described...)

Thanks Captain Obvious. I never thought of searching a forum before. I just got my 28.8 modem to hook up to this internet thingy a week ago, so your friendly advice is welcome...

While I am a newbie to Arch, I am not a Linux newbie. Of the many distros I've used, they ALL have created some basic folders for the user. I appreciate and accept that Arch does not. What installed them on one of my systems is anybody's guess, and I no longer feel it to be important in any way. (I happened to notice it because of an unrelated issue, which MIGHT have been related, had those folders actually disappeared - which turned out to be false.)

And, unfortunately, the moving target that is information on Arch, is not always trustworthy or stable (the Beginner's Wiki changed subtly between morning and evening yesterday and has even introduced an error when followed to the letter - you know what you did, someone), and sometimes clear as mud.

So thank you to everyone who responded to my query with some actual helpfulness and interest.

And thanks to bohoomil for reminding me that this IS the Internet.

You can consider this thread closed.

bohoomil · 2012-06-08 13:47:41

Speaking of obvious things, this one --

andrekp wrote:

I never thought of searching a forum before.

-- is obviously not a wise one. However, again I may be missing the point due to my decaying sense of humor. Anyway, good luck.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-06-07 19:29:23

[SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#2 2012-06-07 19:31:24

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#3 2012-06-07 19:38:17

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#4 2012-06-07 19:41:29

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#5 2012-06-07 19:45:34

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#6 2012-06-07 19:52:09

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#7 2012-06-07 20:22:54

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#8 2012-06-07 20:53:55

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#9 2012-06-07 22:44:54

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#10 2012-06-08 09:13:00

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#11 2012-06-08 11:39:17

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

#12 2012-06-08 13:47:41

Re: [SOLVED] Install not creating personal folders

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