Ubuntu One constantly updates my files and sends a neverending stream of notifications

[Mat Tomaszewski]

Binary package hint: ubuntuone-client

Ubuntu One does not seem to stop synchronising files. While doing it, it sends a constant stream of notifications.

ProblemType: Bug
.home.matik..cache.ubuntuone.log.syncdaemon.exceptions.log:

.home.matik..config.ubuntuone.ubuntuone.client.conf:
 [ubuntuone]
 connected = False
 connect = 0
 show_applet = 1
 bookmarked = True
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Oct 15 16:52:03 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Package: ubuntuone-client 1.0.1-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.47-generic
SourcePackage: ubuntuone-client
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686

[Mark G. Saye (markgsaye)]

Mat, thanks for your bug report. I'm tagging it for one of the developers to look into.

[tz (thomas-mich)]

This is horrible. There is no way to disable it, and it flashes - it stays up until I mouseover where it disappears but pops back up as soon as the mouse is gone.

First, it should NOT notify. The client icon can have a badge indicating updating starting/complete. If notifications are left on, it should have one starting and one complete notification, not a constant flood.

[dobey (dobey)]

@tz Yes, the way it is supposed to behave is one at start, and a complete notification at end.

I am not sure what you mean by "it flashes" as there is no blinking/flashing in the icon or notification. The blurring and transparency are in notify-osd so that you can place the mouse cursor over the notification and see under it, so you kow what you're clicking on (to close a window and such). If you wish to discuss any qualities or issues with that behavior, please open a new bug against notify-osd about it, and discuss there.

As for the overwhelming notifications, hiding them all is not the correct fix. It hides the symptom, but the problem would still persist. The correct fix is that we need to wait for a certain number of bytes to be ready to sync, or have a timeout to wait for a certain amount of inactivity before syncing. Currently, the problem is most apparent when you modify a very small file once every few seconds.

[tz (thomas-mich)]

Part of the problem is another annoying random eye-candy change for Karmic. Instead of the old notifications with a dismiss box and short time-out, you have these really annoying, non-removable, non-configurable notifications that stick a huge (on a netbook screen) box in the upper corner which flashes when I mouseover trying to acknowledge to get rid of it (which I found I can't).

The other part is there is no hysteresis with the syncing - it should wait for a few seconds before starting, and then when it has synced, wait a few seconds for more things to sync (think running "make" in the Ubuntu One directory on a medium sized package) before stopping. Or even a slow copy (e.g. slow usb key, or a slowly updating results file).

It should be an icon badge anyway.

And you need to fix the new notification system (another bug reported elsewhere). I've gone back to the old one which I can dismiss boxes and doesn't flash.

[alzibub (alex-zeffertt)]

Is it possible to make notifications an option in the Ubuntu One Preferences? I think this would keep everybody happy!

[Roman Yepishev (rye)]

I am closing this since we had the following changes: 1) Generations support minimized the need to rescan the server/client files every time the client is connected. 2) Notifications were removed completely (along with the applet) and they are returning in Natty. We are still considering whether to enable them by default, this is LP:717172