"burn the selection of files across several media" (spanning) does not work

[Neil Woolford]

Binary package hint: brasero

I am trying to write a directory of image files to CD. The files are of around 3MB to 6MB each, and the overall data size is greater than will fit on one data CD.

If I drag and drop the files into brasero (normally via its integration with gnome) and then click Write to Disc, the size estimation process runs and Disc Burning Setup tells me that there is not enough free space on the CD-R and asks if I would like to burn the files across several media. I then click the Burn Several Discs button. In the next window I press Burn.

I would expect the program to prepare and write the first CD and then prompt me to exchange it for a new blank and continue to write files to that.

The Burning CD window appears, and an image is created. At the end of the image creation process an error message tells me that "An unknown error occurred". The log file ends with the line "Session error : unknown (brasero_burn_record brasero-burn.c:2811)".

This behaviour is exhibited by both a 32 bit and a 64 bit system, using Ubuntu 9.10 (karmic) with brasero version 2.28.2 from Karmic-updates.

[Neil Woolford (neil-neilwoolford)]

A similar problem is reported upstream at https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=605738

The details are different, but the overall effect is the same; spanning over multiple discs doesn't work.

[Neil Woolford (neil-neilwoolford)]

After more investigation I find that this bug occurs for me if using Brasero as a stand-alone programme, or if I try to use it from Nautilus in a tabbed window.

In more detail; if I have two Nautilus windows open, one for the CD burner (Brasero) and the other for the source files, then attempting to copy more than a single CD of data *does* function correctly, with the data files spanned over as many CDs as are needed.

On the other hand, if I have a single Nautilus window open, with two tabs, one for the source files and one for the CD burner and then drag the files between tabs I get the bug that I reported above.

[Neil Woolford (neil-neilwoolford)]

OK. More testing, more confusion. Now my pet theory about using nautilus windows rather than tabs seems wrong. I've just had spanned burning fail again using two windows. And work, on another machine, with tabs or windows.

Trying to use Brasero as a stand-alone still fails always for me when trying to span discs. (So far...)

So it is an instability rather than a fixed bug.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

This bug is an upstream one and it would be quite helpful if somebody experiencing it could send the bug the to the people writing the software. You can learn more about how to do this for various upstreams at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME . Thanks in advance!

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thank you for sent it upstream.