IDEA: Integrate C­atfish into Thunar

[Simon Steinbeiß]

On Wed, 11 Jul 2012 01:49:11 +0200
Benedek Imre <nucleo at indamail.hu> wrote:

> I'm a bit sad it's unable to 'link' Catfish from Thunar, because this would have been an easy and good solution (but I comprehend its reasons). Even Nautilus can search for files, not to speak about Windows Explorer or MacOS X Finder. I know if I need built in search I could install Nautilus, but this is so essential feature, what every file manager should know (furthermore I did not talk about a built-in feature, just a simple 'launcher').

While I tend to agree, there's not too much we can do for now.

> About the name. The truth is if I look on Xubuntu I would like to see a unified OS, not just a heap of individual applications. Of course this is a theoretical question, maybe it does not match with philosophy of Linux or Xubuntu. I think Ubuntu or LinuxMint owe their success (inter alia) they are unified (so a Linux distro is still possible to be unified). We should not trudge behind them and we should not fear from change. Meanwhile I know Xubuntu owes its success it moves forward judiciously - yes I know it's paradox .
> When I work with an OS, I seek functions not applications. If I would like to find a file I seek a function called 'File Finder'. It's a very good example there are exo-launchers for web browsing or e-mail reading in Xubuntu. Why not make 'File Finder' like this too?
> I've written the 'Application Finder' and 'File Finder' could be a nice, logical unit in my previous post - and I still believe now.
> Naturally I absolutely understand if developers of Catfish do not want to give up this name.

It's not just about giving up an application's name or branding, the problem I see is that the old-school application-menus we got used to since Windows 95 only allow for a title to be shown. So if you e.g. install 3 different browsers and they're all called "Web Browser" you probably won't be a very happy user. Same thing goes for any other application. I understand your wish for a unified OS and we're doing our best, I also want Xubuntu to look all of a piece as much as possible. But you have to keep in mind that people will try to modify the OS they get (which is one of the basic ideas of Open Source imo), so you have to keep things flexible enough that they'll work in different setups. (Otherwise the Greybird theme would look quite different, to be honest.)
Btw, the new menuitem will probably be "Catfish File Search". I hope that's a good middle-ground (and an improvement).

> Finally You should know I did not want to be harsh or offend anyone indeed, I'm always overly enthusiastic if I'm talking about Xubuntu and of course I'm making campaign for my idea. :-D

I don't think you were harsh, and trying to make Xubuntu better is a noble cause. I wish I could give you more hopeful answers than the ones I had to give you.

 - Simon