Gnome hiding stuff from me...

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:32 am

I was starting to like Gnome, but this is driving me nuts. When I plugged in my camera and F-spot started up to import pictures, I accidentally selected PTP instead of USB Mass Storage, which didn't work, and now I cannot figure out where this setting is saved. I've looked all through my home directory, even looked in /etc where I knew a user preference shouldn't be, grepping every way I know how, and it's been a futile effort. I don't know if the setting is saved in F-spot, gnome-volume-manager, gnome-volume-manager-gthumb, hal, udev, or any of the other backends that tend to get involved. I couldn't find anything in the Preferences or Administration menu, either. Obviously I can make it so it doesn't automatically import photos, then I can just import it from the folder, but the functionality to automatically fire up F-spot is there, and the only thing holding me back is this damned hidden preference.

I'm about to give up. I'll be heading back to KDE if any more of this "hide everything from the user" gets in my way again. It works great most of the time, but one of the reasons I use linux is that it gives me control over my system. I feel like I've lost control again when I can't change the behavior of my computer in the name of simplicity or usability. Perhaps I'm just missing something, and need to learn more about all these backends, but you should be able to change the preference for this sort of thing more easily. End of rant.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:46 am

That more or less sums up my feelings. Visually, I think gnome is quite nice (ok, except for the chunky buttons and the save dialogs). However, I can't stand to feel like my computer/desktop isn't cooperating. I can't explain the level of frustration I felt with gnome after a month or so last time I gave it a spin.

jsusanka · Post by **jsusanka** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:51 am

probably in .gconf or .gnome2 - I see F-Spot directories in there - probably could wipe those out and start over. but I always just attach my sd card from my camera to my pewter because the camera just goes through batteries like underwear.

Gomer_X · Post by **Gomer_X** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:58 am

Sounds like an F-spot problem, not a Gnome problem.

You might search through F-spot to see if it has any per device settings that can be changed or reset.

If that fails, most stuff in .gconf or .gnome2 can be wiped out and Gnome will recover without problems.

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:07 am

Snarkout wrote:That more or less sums up my feelings. Visually, I think gnome is quite nice (ok, except for the chunky buttons and the save dialogs). However, I can't stand to feel like my computer/desktop isn't cooperating. I can't explain the level of frustration I felt with gnome after a month or so last time I gave it a spin.

Good to know I'm not the only one frustrated by this, and to be validated for looking in the obvious places. Jsusanka, sounds like you would take similar steps like I have. Unfortunately the ~.gnome and ~.gnome2 directories yielded nothing. I thought I'd struck paydirt with that f-spot directory under ~.gnome2, but that only yielded the F-spot database.

Gomer_X, you're right about that. When I stop the automatic running of the f-spot-import command, it mounts like it should. I won't give up on gnome just yet, particularly since F-spot is relatively new on the scene.

Like an idiot, I haven't checked f-spot-import to see if it's just a bash script, but even then my bash skills are weak. I always feel that I have just enough linux knowledge to drive me nuts. I have some ideas about where to look, but some bash syntax or command throws me, and I frustrate myself even more. I've been using linux for almost two years, I should know bash by now. I don't want to distract myself from my python studies, but bash is essential knowledge for any proper linux user.

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:39 am

Okay, the setting probably lies with HAL somewhere, given that the choice of using PTP over USB Mass Storage must be happening in the f-spot-import script:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

udi="$1"
#xmessage $udi
mount_point=`hal-get-property --udi="$udi" --key=volume.mount_point`
if [ -n "$mount_point" ]; then
      # USB Mass Storage camera: need to pass f-spot a mount point
     
      f-spot --import "$mount_point"
else
     # Some other camera try GPhoto2

     bus=`hal-get-property --udi="$udi" --key=usb.bus_number`    
     dev=`hal-get-property --udi="$udi" --key=usb.linux.device_number`
     uri=`printf gphoto2:usb:%.3d,%.3d $bus $dev`

     echo $uri

     f-spot --import "$uri"
fi

So it's narrowed down to HAL, and I need to figure out where these settings are held. It wasn't my intention to turn this into a support forum. I'll do more research when I get home.

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:10 pm

I'm about to give up on this one. I've tried using hal-set-property to give my camera a mount point, but that setting disappears when the camera is disconnected and reconnected. Every web page I've found on HAL is either theoretical or too technical, and I can't figure out where HAL is getting its information about my camera. What a pain.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:54 am

So, if you create a new user, and log in as them, can you get the camera working the way you want?

Post by **dann** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:27 pm

Vogateer wrote:I'm about to give up on this one. I've tried using hal-set-property to give my camera a mount point, but that setting disappears when the camera is disconnected and reconnected. Every web page I've found on HAL is either theoretical or too technical, and I can't figure out where HAL is getting its information about my camera. What a pain.

Did you look in the .libgphoto directory?

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:45 pm

Snarkout wrote:So, if you create a new user, and log in as them, can you get the camera working the way you want?

I may have mentioned this earlier, but I didn't thank Snarkout for this good idea. I made a new sign-on, and was asked the question again, and it worked, that makes me think it's in the user directory, though I'm not familiar with the new abstraction layers, so I could even be wrong about that. Doing a diff between the different .gconf directories didn't reveal much, and I tried to edit what I thought were the relevant xml files, but so far, no success.

I did speak with someone on the gphoto irc, and he thinks it might be a gnome-volume-manager thing, and I've already edited those files that showed up in the diff -r, but can't test until I get home.

dann wrote:Did you look in the .libgphoto directory?

Good idea, Dann. I'll look there and try it when I get home. I feel silly for not looking there, while looking at f-spot and several gconf directories.

Thanks for the help, men!

Post by **dann** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:54 pm

Vogateer wrote:
dann wrote:Did you look in the .libgphoto directory?
Good idea, Dann. I'll look there and try it when I get home. I feel silly for not looking there, while looking at f-spot and several gconf directories.

Thanks for the help, men!

Whaaaa!?? You don't have access to your linux systems at home from where every you are?? How do you survive?

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:03 pm

Go without remote access? Hell no! Man, I couldn't live without ssh. NX is nice for doing some remote graphic-only stuff. I just meant I can't plug in my camera while I'm at work to see if anything changed. I already logged in and discovered that I didn't have a .libgphoto or .gphoto directory in my home directory or in gconf. Are you talking about a directory I might find elsewhere, or am I just not using find correctly?

Post by **dann** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:34 pm

No, I was thinking it might be in the ~/.gphoto directory.

So I guess, to go back to the beginning, was the original question asked by gnome or f-spot?

I'll have to check out my system when I get home.

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:14 pm

That's the thing. It was a nondescript dialog box that popped up, and I have no idea what program put it forth. I suppose I can wipe out that other user's .gconf, do it again, and use a little ps ax or maybe even top to figure out what program's doing it. I hadn't thought of that, either. Would make looking a lot easier if I knew where to start the search.

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:08 pm

I took a trip to Vegas this weekend, and got stuck in Phoenix on the way home to Oklahoma City due to the massive ice storm that created so much havoc across the Midwest.

The day before I left, I used ssh to login and edit some gconf files dealing with gnome-volume-manager. I didn't try it out until I got home from a long weekend trying to find a flight home, so I'd forgotten exactly which file it was, but luckily I kept a diff I'd made, and the file was either:

Code: Select all

.gconf/desktop/gnome/volume_manager/%gconf.xml

or

Code: Select all

.gconf/desktop/gnome/volume_manager/prompts

I came home with all my pictures from Vegas, plugged my camera in, and was asked if I wanted to import them. I finally remembered that I'd messed with it, clicked yes, and it finally asked me if I wanted to use it as a Mass Storage Device or in PTP mode. The madness has finally ended!

Now I have to hit several different forums that I posted this in and post my "solution" however vague it may be.