Ubuntu One software should have a configurable path to its user directory

[jzacsh]

The user's main Ubuntu One directory (defaulted to "~/Ubuntu One/") is not re-nameable. Ubuntu One will not recognize its directory if I no longer wish to see "~/Ubuntu One" folder, but instead want to see "~/My Sync" in its place.

A possible solution I'd propose is to simply have Ubuntu One software refer to the main "root" directory in a config somewhere.

I am interested in helping fix this if there isn't already effort being put forth for this. Are there any developers now working on this? I noticed one person seemed interested in taking care [1] of this, if its a problem.

[1]: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntuone-client/+question/111849#comment-0

[dobey (dobey)]

Not entirely sure of the goal of this report, but I think this should be a duplicate of bug #375482 .

[jzacsh (jzacsh)]

@Rodney Dawes, Would you please elaborate one what is confusing about the goal of this bug?

I think bug #375482 is a concern of usability for new users. This bug is specifically saying that, regardless how but bug #375482 is solved, the paths should be configurable. This is why things like xdg-user-dirs [1] exist, because we should have control over our own home directory's layout.

It looks like bug #375482 could be solved by allowing other folders to be synced, while leaving the main root dir (~/Ubuntu\ One/) static? I'm not sure what the ideas are. If you a developer could comment either in this ticket or that ticket to clarify, that would be fantastic. Then we could see if this ticket will be taken care of as a side effect.

@Rodney Dawes, does this clarify the goal of this bug?

[1]: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs

[dobey (dobey)]

The issue in bug #375482 is about a space character being in the "Ubuntu One" directory name. Even if this were configurable, the best you could get, would be a different name for the directory, still under your home. The XDG dirs specs exist not to give you more control over your own home directory, but to have some standard locations for specific types of data. The main reason for the XDG User Dirs spec, is that as these folders (Photos, Music, Video, etc) are things the user would commonly interact with, they need to be translatable in some manner. And the XDG User Dirs spec was made up to satisfy that requirement.

This bug specifically was unclear, because the description does not describe the problem. What it describes, is a solution which you'd like to see. But to me it appears that you probably want this solution, so that you can get rid of the space in the directory name. Is that correct?

If not, can you please describe the problem you are wanting to solve, rather than the solution you are wanting to use to solve it? Thanks.

[jzacsh (jzacsh)]

@Rodney Dawes, Thank you for clarifying! I'm updating the bug now.

To answer your question, directly: No, I do not particularly care about the space in the name. My concern is that I should be able to rename the Ubuntu One directory to fit my needs. I did not mean to point out XDG User Dirs for the purpose of *why* it exists, but specifically that it allows you to *change* the specs in a file called: ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs - which means that if I don't like Ubuntu's use of ~/Pictures, I can tell Ubuntu that I'd like it to use ~/media/pics instead.

The INability to rename this directory is the bug. Perhaps I'll even rename the directory with spaces, when this bug is fixed; eg.:
mv ~/Ubuntu\ One/ ~/Ubuntu\ One\ Rocks\ \ \ \ Socks/

The point is that right now Ubuntu One software does not allow renaming of its directory.

[Joshua Hoover (joshuahoover)]

jzacsh, Since we now allow users to select any folder they want to sync, we don't have currently have plans to allow changing the name of the "Ubuntu One" directory. In the future, we may change this, as the software and service evolves. Thanks! Joshua Hoover

[jzacsh (jzacsh)]

joshuahoover, Please clarify/correct the following: you're saying:

1) The ability to sync arbitrary directories means you don't want to make the root dir configurable. Can you tell me how that relates to this issue at all? Will an "~/Ubuntu One/" directory still exist? If so, I don't know why you're relating this ticket to such changes. Please clarify.

2) You are marking this "won't fix" - does this mean, "the project does not want this to be done" or "no one on the project feels like coding this". If the latter, I think you should change this back to active, as *I* am willing to fix this. If the former, then could you explain what is not desired about this?

[Brian (x-brian)]

Bad, bad news. I don't use Ubuntu One and will not until this bug is fixed. If it won't be fixed, I will never use Ubuntu One. I think this should be changed to "Wishlist" but not to "Won't Fix" since the latter suggests a certain philosophical opposition to a particular usability framework on which I am unwilling to compromise. Marking it "Won't Fix" reminds me of Bug #22007, where upstream design philosophy prevented gnome-screensaver from providing my expected functionality. I do not use gnome-screensaver; xscreensaver works. I will not use Ubuntu One, but I would use it if this bug was fixed, just as I would use gnome-screensaver if Bug # 22007 was fixed. I run my own server and use Unison to keep things sync'ed. Ubuntu One could be a convenient alternative, but I am willing to spend significant effort to avoid the annoyance caused by this bug. I am not willing to have a folder named ~/"Ubuntu One" in my home directory. Might not make sense to others, but I can sleep well because of it.