Pushing Backspace moves to parent directory but also beeps

[Joachim Sauer]

Binary package hint: nautilus

In an up-to-date Gutsy gibbon when browsing directories with Nautilus I use Backspace to move to the parent directory (although the menu entry mentions "Alt+Up" as the shortcut). This works as expected, except that it beeps as if the command was not understood in addition to moving to the parent directory. Using Alt+Up as the menu item mentions works without the beep.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Sep 20 14:55:50 2007
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 7.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/nautilus
Package: nautilus 1:2.20.0-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdline: nautilus --no-default-window --sm-client-id default2
ProcCwd: /home/joki
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
 LANG=de_AT.UTF-8
SourcePackage: nautilus
Uname: Linux aranea 2.6.22-11-generic #1 SMP Mon Sep 17 03:45:58 GMT 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug

[Joachim Sauer (saua)]

Is there any work on fixing this?

The problem also occurs when deleting files using the "Del" key. While it is not a functional bug, I think it should really be fixed before the Gutsy relase (if possible):

1.) It is a definite regression to Feisty Fawn
2.) A User will not understand why the computer beeps in a way that's normally used for error conditions only
3.) It reduces the trust put into Nautilus (and thus into Gnome and thus into Ubuntu and thus into Linux) by making it feel "not perfect".

I know that last item sounds strange but isn't quality a lot about perception? When navigating around a file system and doing some work those two actions, moving to the parent directory (backspace) and deleting a file (del), are rather common and if each time this action is invoked produces an audible beep then I personally tend to avoid using nautilus for these actions.

There's a workaround in unchecking "Enable System Beep" in the Audio preferences, but obviously this also disables valid beeps.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

There is no work on this due to limited ressources in the desktop team, thousand of bugs are open and only a couple of people are working on them, the code is open source though and you are welcome to investigate on the issue and work on a patch. We might fix it if we manage to tackle important issues first, that one is a low importance one, it's an annoyance but not a real blocker for the new version

[Joachim Sauer (saua)]

I realize that lack or ressources is the problem here. I hope that I can help by providing a patch, even if it's not perfect.

I have to note 'though that I haven't done any C development for ages and no GTK-development at all, so this fix might be very wrong, but it fixes the problem for me.

The problem seems to be that nautilus tries to active the search entry box for every key pressed except for a limited set. Backspace and Delete are not in this set, so they activate the search window, which then tries to consume the key press and beeps because Backspace and Delete are not valid actions on a currently empty entry box.

My fix simply won't forward BackSpace and Delete to the Searchentry. Backspace and Delete still seem to work correctly once the search entry is open, since then the search entry itself has the focus and its key-handling routine will be called (and not the one in nautilus-icon-container.c that I modified).

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

nautilus (1:2.20.0-0ubuntu5) gutsy; urgency=low

  * debian/patches/90_from_bugzilla_beep_on_backspace.patch:
    - patch from Joachim Sauer, don't beep on backspace or delete key events
      (LP: #141226)

 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:53:55 +0200

[FredBezies (fredbezies-deactivatedaccount)]

Something seems to have broken the fix, because "bip" is back on a up-to-date gutsy gibbon :(

[Joachim Sauer (saua)]

For me the problem is fixed and there doesn't seem to be a new version (I'm running 1:2.20.0-0ubuntu5, the version that includes the fix).

Which version are you running? Is it possible that you just didn't restart Nautilus since you installed the update?

[FredBezies (fredbezies-deactivatedaccount)]

Same version : 1:2.20.0-0ubuntu5 / AMD64.

But the bug is only showing when you delete a 0 byte file.

Step to reproduce :

in a console, type : touch file-to-delete

In Nautilus : try to delete the file => bip !

[FredBezies (fredbezies-deactivatedaccount)]

Sorry to spam the bug, but the bug is half fixed. It only works with "full" file, not empty ones :(

[FredBezies (fredbezies-deactivatedaccount)]

It seems the bug is back ?! I don't know what happened or which update broke the fix, but the bip is back while trashing empty or not empty files :(

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

This bug is about beeping when changing directories, not when use delete

[nonZero (udioron)]

This still affects me on Intrepid.

Please advice.

[Markus Wigge (markus-cultcom)]

I can confirm this bug too and it is very annoying!!

The thread on the gnome bugtracker suggests that it was fixed in 2007, now ist 2009 and intrepid still has this bug?!

[roffik (roffik)]

The bug is still present in Jaunty, though only in GTK open/save dialog: when I hit Backspace, it moves me to the parent directory, but also makes a beep.