proper default Podcast directory

[Caroline Ford]

Binary package hint: rhythmbox

Ubuntu Edgy knot 3

Edit->Preferences
Dialog box:
The folder contents could not be displayed
error accessing 'file:///home/foo/Podcasts':File not found

~/Podcasts is the default location to store podcasts which you set in preferences. Rhythmbox should make the directory rather than complain it doesn't exist.

[Rich Johnson (nixternal)]

Confirmed and agree

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

Opening Upstream task - if somebody wants to forward it, please do.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

I've forwarded it upstream: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=357768

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

Hum - that seems to have been the wrong bug.

[Caroline Ford (secretlondon)]

Link to correct bug

[Nanley Chery (nanoman)]

Is this still a problem in the latest stable of Edgy or Feisty? or the development release of Gutsy?

[Caroline Ford (secretlondon)]

Well the bug is still open upstream so I presume it is still a bug. I'm running dapper so I can't check for gutsy etc.

The duplicate bug #129033 was only reported in July 07 but doesn't say which release (however July 07 is unlikely to be Edgy and more likely to be Feisty).

[Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen (ralf-nieuwenhuijsen)]

Yes, the first time you launch rhythmbox it complains about ~/Podcasts not existing.
Then, when you check the preferences, ~ is now used as Podcasts directory.

What I think would be perfect behavior:
  - use ~/Podcasts by default
  - if it does not exist, change it to the default download directory (set with xdg-user-dirs)

[Nanley Chery (nanoman)]

I just tried it out on Gutsy,and surely enough I too received the error.

Instead of an error appearing, I think rhythmbox should inform users that the directory doesn't exist, and prompt them whether or not they would like rhythmbox to make it for them.

[Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen (ralf-nieuwenhuijsen)]

Doesn't gnome have a policy against wizards? i.e. it should just work?

I don't use audio-podcast and I suspect a large group of rhythmbox users doesn't use it either. So they have no need for the Podcast directory. The thing is, if we create xdg-user dirs for all possible directories of all applications, the default home folder is filled with tons of folders. If we just stick to a few, like the current situation, some folders are not translated, others are, other programs need to ask the user wheter or to create it, etc.

Perhaps for the long term, we should file a bug upstream agains xdg-user-dirs, do support on-the-fly creation of directories. That is:

  xdg-user-dir PODCASTS
     -- only returns directories that are defined with and that actually exist

  xdg-request-dir PODCASTS
     -- is it already defined?
     -- Yes: create if it does not exist, return path
     -- No: Ask the user, create the directory, return path

  xdg-gtk-request-dir PODCASTS
     -- same thing as xdg-request-dir but use GTK to ask the user

  xdg-qt-request-dir PODCASTS
    -- same thing as xdg-request-dir but use QT to ask the user

Then it would be possible to use xdg-user-dirs to support _all_ user directories of all applications.
Including directories for which no default is set in the locale.

Some graphical tool to manage al that would be nice too.
Perhaps that would merge nicely together with the "default application" capplet?

Last note: shouldn't xdg somehow try to notice the user renaming those folders and updating its defintions?
Is this even possible?

[Nanley Chery (nanoman)]

If we can't use wizards, then maybe we should just include a "Podcasts" folder in the Music folder.

[Duncan Hawthorne (duncan.hawthorne)]

podcasts should be inside music, not a separate folder adding clutter to the home directory
(error exists on fresh gutsy install)

[Stéphane Maniaci (stephh)]

I agree, Podcast folder should be created inside the Music folder.

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Would like for 8.04, and should be trivial

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

I agree that creating folders automatically is Eww. So, are you fine with defaulting to `xdg-user-dir MUSIC`?

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

I wouldn't consider podcasts to be music, and placing them in the Music directory would result in unexpected behaviour, e.g. podcasts being played when shuffling music.

If we aren't providing a default directory for them, how about asking the user if it is OK to create the directory?

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

I just tested it myself with a fresh user profile on current Hardy, and it just defaults to the home dir. IOW, it does not produce an error, avoids unexpected "want to create dir" questions, and lets the user pick his favourite directory himself. Not too bad for now IMHO, at this point of the release cycle.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

The current state in Hardy is much better than the real breakage in earlier versions, so adjusting bug priority.

[Stuart Read (sread)]

For Intrepid Alpha 5, the error message is again present, although it then defaults to the home directory as in Hardy. The error is confusing because after it pops up to tell you there is no Podcast directory, user presses OK and is presented with the unrelated "General" tab of the preferences, with no clue what the error was about.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

this has been fixed upstream, thanks for reporting.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the bug is fixed in the intrepid version