extract here

[david]

On Wed, 2005-02-16 at 18:38, Mark Roach wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-02-16 at 08:00 +0000, david wrote: 
> >Greetings
> >
> >Why does "Extract here" under Hoary now create an extra, and entirely
> >unwanted and useless folder?
> 
> Obviously this is a loaded question. The real question is: "is the
> folder it creates unwanted and useless?" My best guess about why it does
> this is for a couple of reasons:
> 
> 1: The archive may not put its files under a subdirectory, and "extract
> here" may cause the current directory to be littered with all sorts of
> files that the user then has to dig through and clean up. If all files
> are always in a new subfolder, this can never happen. I have had the
> pleasure of this experience in Windows many times.
> 
> 2: The archive may have folders and files in it that would overwrite
> other files. This means that "extract here" would be a potentially
> data-killing operation. Many users would not understand why the program
> is asking them to overwrite Resume.sxw, and would click yes, or they
> might not even think about it until it's too late and their data is
> gone.
> 
> So, the ultimate answer is, this is a feature, and while you are not the
> target audience of this feature, you are also not the target of a
> conspiracy :-). 
> 
> This may be the kind of thing that the authors would add a gconf
> preference for (i.e. file a bug).
> 
> -Mark
> 
By way of an example.
I use gkrellm and I use the invisible theme for it. It comes in a tar.gz
file and previously installing it was a dream.
Ctrl+H to show hiden files , copy the file to the.gkrellm/themes folder,
right click, extract here, Ctrl+H again, close the windows, job done.
Now, Ctrl+H doesn't work so two mouse clicks to show hidden files,
follow previous procedure except now I have to open the themes folder
and the newly created invisible.tar.gz_FILES folder and drag the
contents across (up a level) or gkrellm can't see the file.

Personally I thought Ctrl+H was a master stroke, but both methods beat
the daylights out of Edit>Preferences>Show Hidden Files and again when
finished. Speaking as someone who spends hours of everyday on the
computer, I've sort of got into not wasting keystrokes and mouse clicks,
so if a new method appears which requires more input to achieve the same
end then the process has gone into reverse somewhere. (IMHO)
The extract here thing is different. I do think it should be as it was
with the extra folder an addable option.

Where would I post regarding this? Direct to Gnome? Or is it an Ubuntu
thing?

many thanks (and apologies if I'm straining gnats)

David