Result is "Fatal error, search was aborted" for no files found in search outside home directory

[John Hupp]

As long as Catfish finds a file(s), there is no error reported (properly enough). And if you search in the home directory and find no file(s), Catfish yields the result "No files were found."

But if you search (find or locate) outside the home directory and Catfish finds no files, it instead reports the result "Fatal error, search was aborted."

It then seems to the user like the program is broken.

[karl anliot (kanliot)]

i can't reproduce this. this is catfish 4.0.... right?
i'm not familiar with catfish so i donno what other opetions i should try out

[John Hupp (john.hupp)]

Yes, catfish 4.0.

But it does look like I need to amend the report.

Trying to confirm again just now, I was surprised to find that when I did a search for <a-file-that-doesn't-exist> in /bin, it reported properly "No files were found." But when I started the search in /, it reported "Fatal error, search was aborted."

[karl anliot (kanliot)]

i simply can't reproduce this bug
do you get any errors with
ls / -R

[karl anliot (kanliot)]

 ls / -R > /dev/null
is a better test

[John Hupp (john.hupp)]

Yes, I get a bunch of "cannot open directory" <path> "Permission denied"
errors. I can send the errors as a file attachment if you would like to
see them.

On 9/13/2012 10:20 PM, karl anliot wrote:
> ls / -R > /dev/null
> is a better test
>

[karl anliot (kanliot)]

yeah pastebin them and then do a fsck on your drives.
i'm actually too noob to tell if i'm doing a fsck correctly. no progress dialog and all :)

[karl anliot (kanliot)]

ls: cannot open directory /etc/cups/ssl: Permission denied
ls: cannot open directory /etc/ssl/private: Permission denied

stuff like ^ that is normal, anything else isn't

[karl anliot (kanliot)]

most likely i am just guessing about what problem you are having. please don't expect anything, but really i do want to reproduce your bug

[John Hupp (john.hupp)]

But this provides the very kind of case on which to duplicate my
results. In Catfish, start a search at /etc/cups for "whatfile" (using
either the find or locate method), and the result will be "Fatal error,
search was aborted." It doesn't handle the normal errors well.

On 9/14/2012 12:22 PM, karl anliot wrote:
> ls: cannot open directory /etc/cups/ssl: Permission denied
> ls: cannot open directory /etc/ssl/private: Permission denied
>
> stuff like ^ that is normal, anything else isn't
>

[karl anliot (kanliot)]

so you get fatal errors with ls?

[John Hupp (john.hupp)]

No. But since Catfish is just a frontend for locate/find, it seems
clear that when the error level output of locate/find (or likewise ls)
results in a "permission denied" sort of message, Catfish
correspondingly generates "Fatal error."

On 9/16/2012 12:32 AM, karl anliot wrote:
> so you get fatal errors with ls?
>

[Sean Davis (bluesabre)]

Hello, could you please test this again from the experimental branch? Please use quantal or raring as there is a bug in precise that prevents this version from working.

Code:
https://code.launchpad.net/~smd-seandavis/catfish-search/experimental

PPA:
https://launchpad.net/~smd-seandavis/+archive/catfish-experimental

[John Hupp (john.hupp)]

I just installed https://launchpad.net/~smd-seandavis/+archive/catfish-experimental/+files/catfish_0.5.0-public21_all.deb under Quantal.

I ran a search on "File System" for a non-existent file, and it no longer returns "Fatal error."

It looks like you have heavily retooled the program: removed reliance on native commands locate/find, using the locate package and zeitgeist instead, also adding Full-Text Search (would fill a current hole in Lubuntu's default functionality).

Though this is experimental, a few unsolicited observations: 1) One currently has to initiate a search by hitting the Enter key (no mouse button). 2) After running the search above, I opened the search location dialog again, and then simply Canceled. It left "Other..." as the search location, and when I clicked that, I didn't see any obvious way to select another location. Eventually I figured out that I had to hover/click on the up-arrow bar at the top of the dialog to see the full range of choices. 3) The zeitgeist package description makes it sound like spyware. But this may be more of a marketing issue than a real concern.

[Sean Davis (bluesabre)]

Hi John,

For #1, Being a file search program, you're already using the keyboard, so pressing enter instead of having a clickable button is not such a bad thing.

#2) That's a problem with GTK+3, and the way that it automatically shrinks comboboxes instead of expanding them. I'll look for a work-around for this in the next release.

#3) Zeitgeist support is optional and Catfish does not require it to be installed. If it is installed, it only reveals files that you've opened before, and therefore is a feature and certainly not spyware. But that really goes back to whether people trust and use Zeitgeist at all.

I just released 0.6, which fixes the original bug you reported. I'm going to go ahead and mark this as fixed and work on #2 for a future release.

Thanks for testing Catfish!

Sean

[John Hupp (john.hupp)]

More on #3: On my system, I recall that Zeitgeist was automatically
installed as a dependency when I installed the deb package. (Though I
wouldn't stake a lot of money on my recollection ...)

In any case, nice to see the project moving forward.

On 2/24/2013 9:53 AM, Sean Davis wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> For #1, Being a file search program, you're already using the keyboard,
> so pressing enter instead of having a clickable button is not such a bad
> thing.
>
> #2) That's a problem with GTK+3, and the way that it automatically
> shrinks comboboxes instead of expanding them. I'll look for a work-
> around for this in the next release.
>
> #3) Zeitgeist support is optional and Catfish does not require it to be
> installed. If it is installed, it only reveals files that you've opened
> before, and therefore is a feature and certainly not spyware. But that
> really goes back to whether people trust and use Zeitgeist at all.
>
> I just released 0.6, which fixes the original bug you reported. I'm
> going to go ahead and mark this as fixed and work on #2 for a future
> release.
>
> Thanks for testing Catfish!
>
> Sean
>
> ** Changed in: catfish-search
> Milestone: None => 0.6.0
>
> ** Changed in: catfish-search
> Status: Confirmed => Fix Released
>

[Sean Davis (bluesabre)]

Hi John,

Your memory serves you well. I had a temporary fix on the PPA adding the requirement for the zeitgeist package. Catfish no longer requires it, of course (though the PPA version might still).