Long file names are truncated without warning

[Carlos Ribeiro]

1. Insert a blank CD
2. Drag & drop files with really long names
3. Burn the CD

The file names that exceeed the maximum size will have their file names truncated on the resulting CD without warning.

Worse - The file extension is lost.

Popular applications use to warn the user so he/she can rename the file in a reasonable way. Another possibility is to (at least) implement a "sane" truncating algorithm, which preserves the file extension.

[Carlos Ribeiro (carribeiro)]

Oops. My mistake. The CD loads just fine on another Ubuntu PC - it just shows truncated filenames on a Windows XP one.

I know there are a number of issues - different formats and extensions, etc - but one suggestion: I still think a warning could be issued for file names longer than the limit for Windows XP. Its a XP fault, I know, but I think this is a pretty common case that could (should) be covered.

[Mike Stukalov (xska)]

There's a patch in GNOME bug# 341622

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

Mike: I'm not sure the patch is for the same problem.

[Andi (nudeldieb)]

Hi,
sry, but I think this is a problem with NOT truncating the file names, as they are long but not long enough to not follow the RockRidge preferences.
However, they are too long for Joliet players, so the files aren't even identified by this players.
I had this problem not long ago, and I was wondering why some files weren't played in my car stereo, though xmms/mpg321 played them.
After I burnt them with k3b, which gives respect to the Joliet preferences in the burn dialog and thus telling you to shorten the file names to an appropriate length, my car stereo plays them as usual.

Greetings,
Andi

[George Farris (george-gmsys)]

Many people are experiencing this and it should, IMHO, be bumped up from Low to High priority. It's a real pain.

Please fix.

[ccc1 (cllccl-deactivatedaccount)]

Just wanted to bump this bug again, since it's still present in feisty!

In ubuntu the filenames are displayed correctly, but windows xp they are truncated. maybe it's a xp bug? but one the otherhand if i burn with GnomeBaker i didn't experience that bug ...

it's a pity because nautilus-cd-burner is a really nice app, but this bug is pretty annoying if you have to exchange files btw. xp <-> ubuntu.

[Andi (nudeldieb)]

Hi ccc1,
you're right, this bug is pretty annoying, but as I mentioned above, you could use k3b instead, 'cause it warns you of too long file names AND shorten them afterwards...;-)

Greets,
Andi

[ccc1 (cllccl-deactivatedaccount)]

hi,

using gnomebaker is an option too, if the filename is not too long (tried it with a filename consisting ~70 characters) the filename is not displayed shortened in xp. but when i tried it with a filename with ~140 charaters it didn't work, but 70 characters should be enough ;)

anyway i still think somebody with knowledge about those iso9660 extension should have a look at this bug, since nautilus-cd-burner is the default burning app so it should behave nicely ;)

[Mario Đanić (mario-danic)]

Do you still experience the same problem in gutsy? If I remember correctly what I did in libisofs is that the truncating algorithm starts by truncating extension, but keeps minimum of 3 chars, and then moves to the name. This seems like a mkisofs-related problem, but n-c-b should probably display the renaming dialog as mentioned in the upstream bug.

[ccc1 (cllccl-deactivatedaccount)]

hi,

Just some more details for my last post. The 'border' under feisty is exactly 64 characters.

So a file with a name consisting 65 characters (total: name + extension) the last character of the extension is truncated under windows xp.
As written above under gnome-baker everthing is fine.

Unfortunatly i can't check under gusty, since i'm still using feisty. maybe somebody else can test.

[ccc1 (cllccl-deactivatedaccount)]

The bug still exists in gusty alpha 2.
I checked with the live cd and nautilus stills behaves exactly the way i described above.
Thats a really annoying bug since i don't wanna count the length of a filename before burning cds for people using xp ;)

[ccc1 (cllccl-deactivatedaccount)]

Am i the only one who experience that bug? for me it's still present in gusty-beta.

to reproduce:

1. insert empty cd
2. burn a file with nautilus-cd-burner with the name "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.txt" (65 chars!) on the disk
3. Insert the disc in a WinXp maschine -> the last character is truncated. so it's shows as aaa[...]aaa.tx

can somebody check if his/her version of gusty exhibt the same behavior ....

[ccc1 (cllccl-deactivatedaccount)]

Just an Update:

Bug is still present in Hardy Beta!
Looks like i'm the only one whos annoyed by this bug. It make nautilus-cd-burner unuseable for me ... anyway so i'll continue using k3b ;)

[Johan Walles (walles)]

Note that the default CD burning application in Hardy is Brasero, and this isn't a problem in Brasero.

So while nautilus-cd-burner is apparently still broken, one workaround for this would be to go with Brasero instead.

[Andi (nudeldieb)]

Hi,
this is a "as designed" feature of the Joliet standards (an euphemism for bug??).
If you choose to burn the CD with compatibility to Windows systems, the filenames mustn't be longer than 64 Unicode characters. That's a Joliet convention.

[ccc1 (cllccl-deactivatedaccount)]

yeah, i thought it's cause of a standard.
but the user should be at least warned or the filesystem should be changed to udf or some other action should be taken but not just burn it and kill all fileextensions ...

@johan my default burning application is still ncb, maybe cause i upgraded from gusty?

[Johan Walles (walles)]

ccc1,

if you launch Brasero once it will ask you if you want to use it as the default CD burning app.

[ccc1 (cllccl-deactivatedaccount)]

bug is still present in intrepid.

[Jeffrey Theobald (jeffrey-theobald)]

Just confirming that while there is a dialog telling you that filenames are too long, it won't tell you which filenames are too long and magically helps you.

I also want to second the comment about it truncating filenames that are too short (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus-cd-burner/+bug/49127/comments/4), for anyone burning disks of photos that use filenames as descripters, 64 characters is really not enough.

K3B doesn't have this problem (but then I can't burn an entire disk with it because it crashes midway through taking my entire XFS partition with it until I reboot).

[Adijumi (adijumi55)]

I burned a dvd using Brasero on Ubuntu 8.10 and filenames got shortened without any warning.
What can I do with dvd full with different files all shortened to ridiculous 3 or 4 first letters and zeroes. Sometimes I need to use Windows and then it is a big problem.

Make smart detailed warning, and then shorten so that someone could understand.

[EzNet (zeroezezero)]

I am experiencing the same issue in Jaunty. I burnt a CD for a friend who uses Windows and the file names were truncated to ~4-5 chars when viewing in Windows - I have not been able to drop it back in a *nix box to see if its the same here.

I was unaware of the file name changes until my friend asked me how to tell what the file names really were; confused, I asked to see. Sure enough, the file names had been shortened to about the first word of the file name. I can understand truncating where needed, even without a 'real warning', but it seems that truncating to a set max length would be more beneficial - at least more identifying information is available to decipher the previous file name... In any case - I love using Brasero and will keep on using... Luckily I know now :)

Thanks team!

[mark bower (mjbower)]

I have the problem in Ubuntu 10.10. I burn using Brasero with long photo file names(up to maybe 120 characters). No problems with any applications or file management in Ubuntu. But I need to share the photos with relatives who are using XP, and some on Win7. Opening the CD in XP, the file names become 8.3.

But note, when sending a long file name out of Ubuntu as an attachment, and receiving it in XP, the long file name is retained. Put the file on the desktop and it can be used like any other file.

[mary pablate (pawanyadav629)]

For such issues, you can use Long Path Tool as well, it works good I will say.