(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I used geany to make an index and cross-index system comprised of about 100 text files, all contained in a folder. Using an external USB hard drive, I transferred this folder containing 100 geany files to another computer. Both the source and destination computers run Wary 5.1.1, with identical but very few modifications. I configured the geany files on the source computer to line wrap. The geany files transferred to the destination computer lost all configuration settings. Easy enough to re-configure, BUT the transferred geany files do not open when single-clicked. They open only when the "Open With" list is selected from context menu. Furthermore, the "Set Run Action" option in the context menu is grayed out. The icon for geany files on the destination computer is different from those on the source computer. The geany file icons on the destination computer are not text icons, but have a large dark green square in the rectangle. Any suggestions?

Sounds like a reference problem to me, not a geany problem. A simple question:
Does the folder hierarchy on your USB drive mirror exactly the one you had when you generated the index?

Best regards.

musher0

File system on external USB hard drive is FAT32. File system on source and destination computers is ext2. What do you mean by "reference problem"?

nubc wrote:File system on external USB hard drive is FAT32. File system on source and destination computers is ext2.

That's the problem. You need to transfer the files using a drive that is formatted as ext. Or give all the files the extension .txt.

Regarding the geany configuration - it's stored in /root/.config/geany.

[Edit] If you check the properties of the new files, they will have their executable bits set. Run

Thanks, rcrsn51, for your suggestion. It sounds like a solution that would work. However, I don't want to add the .txt extension. I am now looking at the Index folder on the USB hard drive, and I can make a detailed comparison between those geany files and the original geany files. The geany files on the USB hard drive are different, just like the geany files on the destination drive. Would it be possible to modify file attributes to restore the FAT32 geany files to ext2 properties? For example, in Properties, instead of "text/plain" as file "Type:" the FAT32 geany files have "application/x-shellscript" as file type. For the FAT32 geany files, in Permissions, under EXEC, there are three checks that are not applied in the original geany files, which probably explains the entry under "Run Action: Execute file" instead of specifying an app to handle the text file. In other words, the FAT32 geany file is an executable, although "Contents indicate...ASCII text, with no line terminators". If I uncheck (untick) the EXEC permissions, would the FAT32 geany file revert to text file properties and hopefully identification?

EDIT: I can't change file attributes from the Properties dialog. Suggestions?

See my edit above.

You can't change the permissions on the USB drive. Change them on the files after you have transferred them.

I'll give that a try, but can't do it now, because the destination computer is at another location.

Here is what's happening. The fat32 filesystem does not have the same read-write-execute permissions as Linux. So when you transfer a Linux file into a fat32 device, Puppy sees it as having the execute bit set. (I don't know why.)

When you then copy the file back into an ext filesystem, the execute bit comes with it. So Puppy assumes that the geany text file is now an executable script. That's why it gets the different icon.

You will see the same thing with other file types, like PDF. The only difference is that Puppy still recognizes the file as being a PDF and opens it in the usual program.

If you name the geany file as xxx.txt, Puppy then assumes that it is actually a text file, regardless of the execute bit being set.

What happens when I run code

nubc wrote:What happens when I run code

Code: Select all

chmod 644 *

It will remove the execute bit from all the files in the directory in which you run it. So your geany files will stop looking like executable scripts and go back to being normal text files.

Go to the folder on the new machine where you downloaded the files, open a terminal and type the command.

If you don't want to run the command, pick a file, open its properties and uncheck the execute permissions.

The FAT filesystem does not support any permissions or perms at all. If you need to preserve file attributes or metadata, then thery must be copied to an FS which supports them.

The problem you are having boils down to the mime-types being used by ROX-Filer, which dictate the actions when clicking on different file-types.

nubc wrote:...I configured the geany files on the source computer to line wrap. The geany files transferred to the destination computer lost all configuration settings. Easy enough to re-configure, ...

A note, just for your better understanding:
The files cannot be configured to wrap.
It is always just the actual geany that wraps the lines.

Good news: When I removed the three checks under Exec in Permissions, the transferred text files reverted to original. I had to manually edit all 97 files because the given code (chmod 644 *) didn't work. Perhaps it didn't work because I navigated to the directory with command prompt, instead of just opening the folder in ROX. It's regrettable that I can't edit the files en masse because I will be adding to the index during the week, so it will be changing from week to week. Instead of managing and transferring all those individual edits, it would be preferable just to copy over the entire updated Index folder after deleting the old Index. Thus I am still keenly interested in finding the right command and procedure to remove all those Exec checks in one quick and easy action.

nubc wrote:I had to manually edit all 97 files because the given code (chmod 644 *) didn't work.

It works for me. Navigate to the folder with ROX. Press the back-tick key (above the Tab key on my keyboard) to open a terminal window. Type the command.

Truth is, I chickened out at your suggestion. When you say, navigate to the folder, I assume you mean to actually open the folder. Additionally, I am guessing that no other folder should be open. I chickened out because I didn't want to accidentally remove Exec permissions in the entire home directory where the Index folder resides. I was not familiar with the back-tick call of the command prompt. Thanks for your suggestion. Will try it next week.
I wonder why the command didn't work when I did everything from command prompt. I cd'ed to the folder. Did a ls to confirm contents. Ran command. Exec checks not removed.

I just tried it by going into the target folder strictly through the command line and it worked.

Next time I cold-booted the computer, when I viewed the test Index directory that apparently failed to respond to [chmod 644 *], files contained therein had in fact reverted to text file format, despite my initial observation to the contrary. I tried the back-tick technique on another Index folder, and observed the file changes instantaneously, so I am satisfied with this result. Solved.

I forgot to ask: What happens if I try to open a geany file in Windows XP?

So this happen if one use geany to do text files with not .txt
what if one use Leafpad instead and still use fat format usb?
to do the transfer?

Is it the fat format or the lack of .txt that mess up or
would that get solved using leafpad editor instead?

One problem I have with Geany is that it does not like åäö
in titles?