How to fix the drive icon behaviour in recent Puppies...

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Mike Walsh
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How to fix the drive icon behaviour in recent Puppies...

#1 Post by Mike Walsh »

Morning, all.

As the tag-line says; am I the only one to notice the somewhat odd behaviour of the desktop drive icons in recent Puppies, built with the new Woof-CE build-system?

It appears to be related to the EventManager. Over the last few years, the way it works has been been slowly altering. With the older 5-series and early 6-series Pups, if you wanted to 'refresh' the drive icons, and to re-align them, you would right-click a drive icon, and select 'Run The Desktop Drive Icon Manager'.

You would then tick the check-box for 'Refresh/Realign existing icons'. With older Pups, you then needed to restart 'X' to complete the operation. In some of the newer Pups, this got changed to merely clicking on 'OK', and the restart occurred automatically.

In some of the newest spins/remasters (I'm thinking here specifically of Sailor Enceladus' remaster of Slacko 571, and peebee's new Upup Bionic), this option has been completely removed. Don't get me wrong; I'm not criticising the Puppies themselves; I run both, and they're some of the fastest, lightest, sweetest-performing Puppies it's ever been my pleasure to use, but.....I just don't like the way the EventManager is now handling the drive icons. Maybe it's simply me, but perhaps others aren't too happy with this behaviour either?

(Things have definitely changed, since the EventManager script is now almost 100 lines shorter.....and the appearance has also been modified, too.)

------------------------------------------------------

If you carry out any operation that affects the drive icons (or even simply restarting 'X' for whatever reason), they seem to re-appear totally at random.....sometimes, overwriting each other.

With Bionic, I get this:-


Image


With Slacko 571, this:-


Image


Notice how sdb1 is sitting on top of sdc1.....and with the omission of the 'Refresh/Realign' option, there is now no way to correct this bizarre behaviour. Multiple restarts of 'X' don't have any effect.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This is how everything should look on my desktop; drives, as well as partitions, all in alphabetic order. This is from Slacko 570, Micko's 'original', which Sailor based his brilliant 571 re-spin on:-


Image


Well, I've done some experimentation; and have discovered that by substituting /usr/sbin/eventmanager and /etc/eventmanager with the appropriate items from Xenial 7081 or Tahrpup 606 (efi), I've now got control back! I've just performed this 'swap' in Bionic, and my drive icons are now back to how I want them:-


Image


I'm assuming that the EventManager is a self-contained script, since everything else appears to be working how it should. Might I respectfully suggest that this be re-considered in new Puppy builds.....or at least looked at?

--------------------------------------------------------------

For anybody who would like to 're-set' this behaviour, I've made up a .pet using the above-mentioned items from the Xenial 7081 ISO; this being the one with the 'correct' behaviour for refreshing/realigning the icons, but no need to manually restart 'X'. You can find it attached below.

The usual caveats apply for something like this. Back Puppy up, before installing the .pet.....so you can restore things to their previous condition, in case this doesn't behave itself with your particular set-up. You'll probably need to reset your drive icon positioning, if you've altered it at all, and you may need to reset any auto-mounted partition/drives with pMount; I'm not certain about that, since this has been performed with the 'existing' set-up from my own copy of Xenial.

Hope this perhaps helps some of you.


Mike. :wink:
Attachments
EventManager_reset-newer_Pups.pet
Pet for 're-setting' the EventManager drive icon behaviour from the newest Woof-CE build-system...
(6.62 KiB) Downloaded 181 times
Last edited by Mike Walsh on Tue 22 May 2018, 16:31, edited 1 time in total.

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bigpup
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#2 Post by bigpup »

You report this to the Woof CE?

You may have found a bug that got into this program.

Make a pull request to submit to Woof CE.

If you really want this to get into Puppy, the code is there in Woof-CE.
https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/woof-CE
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
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Mike Walsh
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#3 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hi, bigpup.

Mm. Be happy to (if it is a bug, and not just my elderly hardware).....except I haven't got a clue as to how you go about doing that. All this business of 'pull requests', although I've tried to figure it out, flies completely over my head.

I'm assuming the new version of the EventManager is a part of the current build-system, of course.....but since it's only Upup BB, and Sailor's re-mastered Slacko 571 where I've noticed this (both of which appear to have been built with what I presume is the 'new' system), then I think I'm probably safe in making this assumption.

What would be the easiest way of putting a report in? I'd want to make sure it got to the right place, and the right people, ASAP; I wouldn't want it getting lost in the 'mumbo-jumbo'!

Care to point me in the right direction, old son? Or should I just post in the 'Bug Reports' section of the Forum (I assume it does get checked by the relevant parties)?


Mike. :wink:

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aaaaa
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#4 Post by aaaaa »

What do i exactly have to do to get the bad behavior as in the screenshots?

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Mike Walsh
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#5 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hallo, aaaaa. 'Welcome' to the kennels!

I can't give an exhaustive list, because I haven't checked every possible scenario where this might occur.....but, in my experience, usually anything that involves re-starting 'X.

Menu->Exit (or Leave)->Restart graphical server. Do be aware that if you do this while you've got programs/apps running, this action causes them to shut down.....because the graphical server ('X') is then starting a completely new session.


Mike. :wink:

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aaaaa
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#6 Post by aaaaa »

Does davids45 also have this issue?

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aaaaa
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#7 Post by aaaaa »

I don't have that issue, i restart X and i don't see what's wrong.

However, if i change the screen resolution and then restart X, i do see issues...

I attach a current eventmanager script with the Realign checkbox.

Does this fix the issue?

answer: no, it doesnt

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aaaaa
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#8 Post by aaaaa »

Actually to make things work as expected, the file to be fixed is .xinitrc.

I attached a fixed .xinitrc...

does this fix the issue?
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.xinitrc.gz
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davids45
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Event manager in recent woof Pups

#9 Post by davids45 »

G'day Mike Walsh & a^5,

Well, as you asked :wink: , I do have a minor issue with recent Pups starting fully as far as my pinboard is concerned.

I do have many partitions (two 500GB drives formated with 14 partitions each) and I like a lot of application icons on my pinboard for easy access run them. And pwidgets.

At present, my pinboard is incomplete when its loading seems to have finished (first screenshot):
1) Many desktop icons only have the default icon not their intended specific icon.
2) pwidgets is not displayed.
3) the right-click menu lacks my sfs added apps (I have a boot mounted sfs of about 30 apps, each run as sym-links to my boot-mounted data partition)
4) the 14 drive icons for sdb appear very slowly in sequence after sda's 14 pop up quite quickly across the pinboard bottom.

Once I think the initial loading is finished, I'm now accustomed to restarting X (clicked from the Exit menu) and clicking a pwidgets start-up script icon or a re-start pin+pwidgets icon I drag to the pinboard.

These instantly give me the expected complete pinboard (second screenshot). So it seems to me everything is there but not displayed before the pinboard set-up stops? I can afford these 'wasted' 10 seconds in doing the re-starts, or I'm too old to be bothered about it.

Most of these icons and apps are shared from my data partition (sda5) so sda5 needs to be mounted before anything else. Perhaps this is being delayed and/or the symlinks are taking too long to set up hence the missing icon links and app desktop file links?

Nonetheless, I was about to ask the forum how to make a single-click script to do this (re-start X, pwidgets - I'd put it in /Rox/Startup or put an icon on the pinboard) but sort-of have been beaten to it - thanks mind-reader Mike :D .

My thought has been that of late the whole pinboard start-up seems slowed by the prolonged drive icon displaying but that was only my problem because of my too-many drives/partitions.

Earlier, more annoying, eventmanager problems in displaying drive-icons (stacks, arrangement difficulty) I had have been fixed - thanks peebee and others.

David S.
Attachments
typical-startup-missing-icons-widgets-menuitems.jpg
My incomplete pinboard on starting with recent Pups; too many pinboard icons and drive icons perhaps?; right-click menu does not have sfs apps; no pwidgets
(97.87 KiB) Downloaded 229 times
after-restartX-all-present.jpg
doing an immediate restart-X shows fully loaded pinboard and right-click menu
(123.26 KiB) Downloaded 231 times
Last edited by davids45 on Wed 23 May 2018, 22:52, edited 1 time in total.

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#10 Post by peebee »

ImageLxPup = Puppy + LXDE
Main version used daily: LxPupSc; Assembler of UPups, ScPup & ScPup64, LxPup, LxPupSc & LxPupSc64

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#11 Post by bigpup »

Seems in around March this desktop icon problem was worked on in Woof CE
https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/w ... ssues/1153
There is a link at the end of this discussion to the new code.

How to submit a pull request in Woof CE
Go here:
https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/woof-CE
Click on sign up.
You first make an account with Github so you can post to it.
This is nothing more than making a name to use and giving it a password to sign in with.
(I suggest use your Puppy forum name. Puppy people know that name and it gives you some respect with submitting new pull requests)

After you make a name and password and sign in using them.
You can now actively post pull requests, code, messages, replies, etc.....
Just like you do in this forum.

The Woof CE page layout.

pull request
A new topic you want to start, submit, etc...

Issues
These are pull requests already made.
Open ones are still being worked on.
Closed ones are complete.

After you sign in.
Any of the areas you go to, should offer a button to click on, that allows you to post to that area.

Always good to look in the open and closed issues before starting a new pull request.

Keep in mind a Puppy that got created with Woof CE, is going to have in it what was in Woof CE at the date the Puppy was created.
Any code changes made to Woof CE, after that creation date, are not going to be in that Puppy, unless the developer of that Puppy updates to the latest Woof CE.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
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Mike Walsh
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#12 Post by Mike Walsh »

Morning, bigpup.

Well, I signed-up with GitHub. It wouldn't let me use my forum name.....said it was already in use! To the best of my knowledge I've never created a GitHub a/c before, so.....

Thanks for the explanation about pull requests, issues, etc. Explains why the 'Issue' I submitted was almost immediately closed.....because I hadn't already submitted a 'pull request'? *Jeez*...talk about confusing.

Having read the discussion link you gave, it seems like this individual 'wdlkmpx' absolutely hates ROX, doesn't he? I see mavrothal trying to pour some oil on troubled waters..! :lol:

Still, it appears the issue's been addressed. No matter; the substitution I've performed with the Xenial components apparently works & does what I want it to, so.....I'm inclined to leave it as it is. And there looks to have been several downloads of the .pet package already (whether out of curiosity, or because others are finding this same problem, I wouldn't care to speculate.)

Cheers, anyway.


Mike. :wink:

woodenshoe-wi
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#13 Post by woodenshoe-wi »

Mike Walsh wrote: Thanks for the explanation about pull requests, issues, etc. Explains why the 'Issue' I submitted was almost immediately closed.....because I hadn't already submitted a 'pull request'? *Jeez*...talk about confusing.
The issue you submitted was closed automatically by GitHub because wdlkmpx added a commit 8c8cf30 with "fixes #1208" in the commit description. You did everything right, that is just how GitHub works.

Code: Select all

.xinitrc: always clean_desk_icons on x startup
this always fixes issues
fixes #1208
Not everyone hates ROX, :) I have been working on the source code a little.
The changes so far include
  • - Fix "overwrite if newer" check-box
    - Add "Ignore Older" and "Merge" checkboxes
    - Xattr Browser: Allow removal of un-editable user attributes
    - Merged some work by Dennis Tomas to add "copy to clipboard" / "paste from clipboard" functionality
    - Add "New" button to toolbar
    - Add ability to hide columns in List View
If anyone wants to test my new version, feedback on whether everything is working as it should would be appreciated.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 606#992606

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8Geee
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#14 Post by 8Geee »

Just one ? here, by Xattr browser, do you mean Chromium-based?

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8Geee
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woodenshoe-wi
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#15 Post by woodenshoe-wi »

8Geee wrote:Just one ? here, by Xattr browser, do you mean Chromium-based?
No, I mean the one in ROX-Filer.
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Sailor Enceladus
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#16 Post by Sailor Enceladus »

Mike Walsh wrote:Having read the discussion link you gave, it seems like this individual 'wdlkmpx' absolutely hates ROX, doesn't he? I see mavrothal trying to pour some oil on troubled waters..! :lol:
The user "jlst" also once claimed 99% of users hate Rox so I made a poll to find out if this was really true :lol:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107684

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#17 Post by bigpup »

Mike Walsh wrote:Well, I signed-up with GitHub. It wouldn't let me use my forum name.....said it was already in use!
That is the common problem with trying to make a new account with any web site on the INTERNET.
That name already used by someone else. :shock: :roll:

I usually have to start adding numbers to the end of the name, to get one that no one else has used.

People with common names.
Where I worked, at one time there were two people with the same first and last name.
Only different were the middle names and their SSA numbers.
We had to start calling them by number 1 or number 2 so people would know who we were talking about.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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Mike Walsh
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#18 Post by Mike Walsh »

Sailor Enceladus wrote:
Mike Walsh wrote:Having read the discussion link you gave, it seems like this individual 'wdlkmpx' absolutely hates ROX, doesn't he? I see mavrothal trying to pour some oil on troubled waters..! :lol:
The user "jlst" also once claimed 99% of users hate Rox so I made a poll to find out if this was really true :lol:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107684
Hi, Sailor.

Don't think I was having a pop at you over Slacko 571, 'cos I wasn't. Mikeslr put me onto it via PM a few weeks ago, and I had a look at it straight away, what with Micko's original being one of my firm favourites. I've been using it regularly ever since. It's a very sweet Puppy.....and runs beautifully (especially since I could just drop my 570 save-file straight in to it. Made the whole business far quicker and simpler!) Thanks.

I will confess that the current 'build-system' certainly speeds up an already fast little OS even more. I like it, I like it.

I just don't like the omission of the 'Refresh/Realign' check box in the EventManager, that's all.....it being something I've come to rely on for 'straightening things out' when ROX doesn't always put things back where they should go. I've found a 'work-around' that fixes the issue for me, 'cos it was the one single thing that was spoiling it for me (I'm not one of those who use a single desktop drive icon, and use pMount all the time; I prefer a desktop icon for each partition. That's just me...)

And reading some of the posts on Github....*whew*! I'd no idea there was that much back-biting and bitching going on amongst the Woof-CE team members & contributors. A real 'eye-opener'.

I've also added my two-penn'orth to your ROX poll, BTW...


Mike. :wink:

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