I noticed recently that in some directories I could not rename files with Caja, or I could rename one and not subsequent ones.
After checking the content of the dir with the terminal, I noticed that the files renamed with Caja had quotes around them (‘My file.ext’). And it seems that the presence of files with these quotes trigger the impossibility to rename anything in the folder through Caja.
Can somebody confirm this? Is this a normal behaviour for Caja to now put quotes around the file names which are only visible in command line list?
EDIT: after a more thorough check, it seems that the quotes are not added by Caja but are displayed by the terminal, so the issue might not be these quotes but there’s something that triggers the impossibility to rename files in Caja.
using fresh 18.04 and caja I created "new file" In caja it displays as is, I can rename it and the quotes remain. When I do ls in the terminal the file appears as'"new file"' that is, single quote double quote. Is this what you’re referring to? In terminal I can also mv the file, mv '"new file"' '"new zz file"'
I was confused by the quotes displayed in the terminal for files that have spaces in their names (I think that’s new) but I don’t think they matter, in fact. The annoying thing is that sometimes I can’t rename files in Caja (nor F2 nor selecting Rename from the menu work) but I haven’t found a way to reproduce the issue at will yet. Currently, it seems random.
To be more specific, here what happens: I open a Caja window and move to a directory, then I rename a file. Afterwards, I can’t rename any file in that dir from Caja (it works from the terminal). After I rename one through the terminal, I can then rename files from Caja (either one) but the issue will eventually happen again after another renaming at some point. It’s not a permissions issue, everything is fine on this side, and I can’t find a pattern to trigger it for sure.
So, asking if others have encountered the same issue.
I had the following problem in Ubuntu MATE 16.04 and I guess it could still exist in 18.04: in some cases, when a folder name contained a percent sign (%), then a shell script, using a file located in this folder as input, did not run successfully. I tried, but could not reproduce this effect. Without the percent sign the problem was gone. Could this be related to your story?
No special chars in my filenames or dirnames. When the issue happens, I have to move the file to a different folder to rename it (where it works fine) and put it back afterwards. There’s absolutely nothing special in the filenames when it happens and it seems completely random.
(I added the following comment to the bug report, maybe someone here can perform a few tests to see if the behaviour matches.)
I’ve published a video showcasing the issue (https://youtu.be/cgJ6gJzgZ3A). Sorry, it’s not very explicative as I did it quickly with OBS, so here is a bit of context:
I have Caja opened in a dir which has just enough files to fill its window
at first, I can rename a file, two lines are ok, can still rename it
when the name is long enough (3 lines) so that a scrollbar appears, I can no longer rename it: at about 00:23, when I select the file, I’m repeatedly pressing F2 but it has no effect
if I then resize the window so that the scrollbar disappears, I can rename the file again
if I resize it again as it was just before, can’t rename the file
but if I resize it again to make it smaller (so, there is still a scrollbar), I can rename it
From what I can guess, it seems that the issue happens when the last row of files shown in the window (when they’re bigger than the visible zone) has a specific amount of their name cut. It’s really weird.
terzag:
Thanks for figuring this out. I have spent a frustrating two weeks dealing with this bug affecting a single folder on my laptop. Renaming files, folders, mucking with file permissions.... sheesh.
Glad that google helped me find your answer.
Unfortunately, it's still present in 18.10. There are also a lot of bugs in Caja related to the "index" of the files, temporary files still displaying until refresh when they don't exist anymore... It's likely that they're all related.
