Too many files on desktop

[BluishHumility]

@milkytwix

What’s going on here? Plasma bug?

Seems like it, although I searched for this error message and couldn’t find anyone else reporting it. This part of the error message is interesting:

@milkytwix

Greater than 4096 files and folders on the desktop

4096 is the default filesystem block size for ext4 and many other filesystems. When you create a directory in a Linux filesystem, the filesystem allocates a 4096-byte (4KB) chunk of disk space for it. I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or not, but the fact that the error specifically mentions the number 4096 stood out to me.

@Locutus

That is an opinion that one is meant to keep files on the desktop when in actuality one is meant to keep as little as possible on the desktop.

I agree with others that this is a matter of preference, and not a meaningful rule in any way beyond that. I also like to keep nothing or next to it on my desktop, but is because I don’t find it useful. If someones workflow benefits from using the desktop then I think they should use it.

@Kresimir

Data in /home/$USER∕Desktop/ is in no way more prone to accidental deletion than data in any other subdirectory of /home/$USER∕…

This is right. ~/Desktop is just another directory. Commonly the DE will implement some special handling (so the contents display in front of the wallpaper, etc) but other than that it is just an ordinary directory.

Whether or not the DE is able to print icons on the (visible) desktop shouldn’t affect the actual (~/Desktop) directory in any way. This seems to be the feature that is broken here (printing icons in front of the wallpaper), so the whole data loss conversation is a bit off-topic.

Still, since we are here:

@Locutus

We have all seen systems go down where nothing is recoverable

The quoted statement here is actually false; this is not something we all have seen. Personally, I can’t recall ever having a system fail in a way where the data was unable to be recovered.

I am not saying it is impossible or even uncommon, just that the statement that we have all seen it is not accurate. The fact that you have doubled-down on this so emphatically makes me feel like this has happened to you more than once, so: sorry for your loss.

To circle back to the actual topic: @milkytwix are you using Baloo? If so, have you tried disabling it?

Are you using Btrfs? If so, are you snapshotting the /home directory? Where are the snapshots stored?

[milkytwix]

@BluishHumility

To circle back to the actual topic: @milkytwix are you using Baloo? If so, have you tried disabling it?

Are you using Btrfs? If so, are you snapshotting the /home directory? Where are the snapshots stored?

I did not disable Baloo “yet” because until now it doesn’t gave me headache (it did in the past with Manjaro, before I switched over to EOS. Shall I give it a try? Will do so…
And yes, I am on BtrFS:

But did not took any snapshots of /home yet:

[root@neuromancer .snapshots]# pwd
/home/.snapshots
[root@neuromancer .snapshots]# ls -ali
total 0
256 drwxr-x--- 1 root root  0 10. Sep 15:09 .
256 drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36 10. Sep 15:09 ..

[BluishHumility]

@milkytwix

But did not took any snapshots of /home yet

Hmm, that seems odd that you have no snapshots in there, since it appears timeline snapshots are enabled. You should be getting a snapshot every hour. Did you just set that up?

---

If you restart Plasma are the desktop icons still missing?

plasmashell --replace </dev/null &>/dev/null & disown

[milkytwix]

@BluishHumility

Hmm, that seems odd that you have no snapshots in there, since it appears timeline snapshots are enabled. You should be getting a snapshot every hour. Did you just set that up?

Nope, set this up at the beginning of this installation, but never made an initial snapshot. will do now.

@BluishHumility

If you restart Plasma are the desktop icons still missing?

I cannot test this, because I can’t provoke missing desktop files. I can provoke the sorting / wrong position issue, and this is not solved by a relogin. Which restarts plasma.

What should I test first: disable baloo or restarting plasma?

[milkytwix]

So, it is getting even more interesting. I slowly began to add more files to the Desktop on the first screen, while having the files i want to have on the second desktop nicely sorted. No folders yet! And it starts again. This time, only the second Desktop is affected! I can arrange icons on the first Desktop nicely, but cannot drop Icons on the second one or reorder icons on the second one, but the icons stay in place. Also irritating is this:

[root@neuromancer Desktop]# cd /home/milkytwix/Desktop
[root@neuromancer Desktop]# find . |wc -l
87
[root@neuromancer Desktop]# find . /home/milkytwix/Desktop/ |wc -l
174

and this:

So three different ways to check filecount and three different answers…

[mbod]

@milkytwix

This rule would be inaccaptable for me - not using the Desktop “as it is meant to be” would be a killer.

I was always wondering why people want to have icons on the desktop. I typically don’t see my desktop at all. it is hidden behind application windows.

The “Desktop” is basically just a folder. Why would I want to display its content on the background canvas? Makes no sense to me. It makes much more sense to display it with a file manager. This way you can even get to see it by cycling through the application windows.You can put the “Desktop” window on top, you can tile it to some corner, etc.

But thats just my 2 cents.

[milkytwix]

@BluishHumility

If you restart Plasma are the desktop icons still missing?

So, restarting plasma does not solve anything with this issue - any more ideas? I am currently a bit lost and like seconds away from “aww, screw it, where is my cassini iso”…

[dalto]

@milkytwix

[root@neuromancer Desktop]# find . |wc -l
87
[root@neuromancer Desktop]# find . /home/milkytwix/Desktop/ |wc -l
174

That makes sense. find . /home/milkytwix/Desktop/ will return everything twice. 174 is 2x 87.

[milkytwix]

Aaaaaa, the magic of find. Ty for further enlightening me. Still no cue how to regain control over my desktop.

[milkytwix]

So I ran out of ideas. My options:

1. File a KDE bug

2. Ask in Arch forums for help (kill me pls, those guys are nuts)

3. Reinstall my system

I got the bad feeling that number 3 is the way to go…

[BluishHumility]

I would encourage you to file a bug report with KDE. If you have discovered a bug, this will give the developers a chance to fix it, thus improving the software and benefiting the whole community.

#2 should not be considered an option. It is forbidden by the Arch LInux Forum code of conduct, see here:

Arch Linux distribution support ONLY #

Arch-based distributions have their own support fora and users of those distributions should be actively encouraged to seek support there. These distributions often use different packages, package versions, repositories, or make custom system configurations silently, practically rendering support for such projects within Arch Linux impossible. Community technical support shall only be provided for the Arch Linux distribution and the Arch User Repository. Posting issues with, and requesting support for, derivative distributions or operating systems other than Arch Linux are prohibited.

If you reinstall your system, try to set it up the same way and see if the issue can be recreated. If so, for sure you should raise a bug report with KDE.

[milkytwix]

Followed your advice:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=474703
TY!

Regarding reinstallation: I have an eos.txt (funnily this file is one of the ones I keep on my desktop - take this, universe!) in which I copy every installation step that I make (programms, settings, creating directories, fstab, …), so a new installation would be kind of easy. Just go through this file, copy ~home afterwards from the backup, do some plasma magic (widgets, style, …) and be good. Will take “only” some hours, but let’s see what the plasmagods will say… First time ever that I actually “contributed”. Feels kinda bad…

[milkytwix]

Omg. Mr. pointystick himselfs comes to my help. I feel like a teenage girly that was recognized by its crush…