On renaming Documents folder for new language no renaming occure - a second Document folder is created

[Sasa Paporovic]

The original system language for installation was US english. Some days ago I have decided to set the system to a different language(german). On new login the system ask if the names of the standard folders in the home directory should be kept, or should be renamed.

On choosing renaming from US-enlish to german names there is no renaming.

Instead a second Documents folder in german language is created(called: Dokumente).

As a result I have two Documents folders. One called in english the other in german.

The really big problem is that they contain different files and do not share the files with each other.

Steps to reproduce:
1.Install the system in US-English
2. After finished installation use the system settings -> Language to set the language to german
3.Restart the system
4.After login the system ask if the standard folders in the home folder directory should be renamed: Choose yes, rename in german
5.See that instead of renaming the old "Documents" folder still exist and just a second (in german) "Dokumente" folder was created.
6. See taht the contained files a different for both folders

Expected: The renaming should be a renaming and not a creation of a second standard Document folder in a different language(here: German: "Dokumente")

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: language-selector-gnome 0.116
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-12.19-generic 3.11.3
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Oct 12 17:44:06 2013
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-language-selector
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-05-03 (162 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python3.3
MarkForUpload: True
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: language-selector
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-10-05 (7 days ago)
---
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Dependencies:
 gcc-4.8-base 4.8.1-10ubuntu8
 libc6 2.17-93ubuntu4
 libgcc1 1:4.8.1-10ubuntu8
 multiarch-support 2.17-93ubuntu4
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-05-03 (162 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MarkForUpload: True
Package: xdg-user-dirs 0.15-1ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-12.19-generic 3.11.3
Tags: saucy
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-10-05 (7 days ago)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo

[Sasa Paporovic (melchiaros)]

I suspect that this is not limited to a language switch to german.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Thanks for your help to improve ubuntu by reporting this issue!

Can you please open a terminal window and let us know the output of this command:

  cat ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

[Sasa Paporovic (melchiaros)]

Here is the output, so far it looks good, all folders are named in german. Anyway the issue and the english folder are still there:

cat ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
# This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update
# If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're
# interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run
# Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped
# homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an
# absolute path. No other format is supported.
#
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Schreibtisch"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Vorlagen"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Öffentlich"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Dokumente"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Musik"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Bilder"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"

[Sasa Paporovic (melchiaros)]

I attach a screenshot of nautilus which shows the doubled folder: "Documents"(english) and "Dokumente"(german).

By the way, because I have just seen it. "Pictures"(enlish) and "Bilder"(german) is also affected.

[Sasa Paporovic (melchiaros)]

apport information

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Thanks for the additional info.

The dialog shown, when you log in the first time after having switched to German, states: "Hinweis: Bestehende Inhalte verden nicht verschoben." (Please see the attachment xdg-user-dirs-dialog.png.) In other words, it's expected behavior to keep old folders with contents. This way the feature does not alter the paths to existing files, which makes sense IMO.

Assuming that you had saved files in the Documents and Pictures folders, I think this bug should be marked as invalid. However, I await your further comments before doing so. Please let me know whether you agree on my conclusion.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

I noticed that there are previous bug reports about this way to deal with renaming of folders with contents. You may want to check out bug #226436, bug #556933, and bug #1001438.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Tommy_CZ (t-kijas)]

Hello, I have empty folders and it did not rename it.