usability of the "file exists...replace it?" dialog box

[bajabaq]

When moving MULTIPLE files to a folder where a file of the same file name already exists, you get the dialog box shown in the attachment:

[text version]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A file named "FIRST_FILENAME" already exists. Do you want to replace it?

The file already exists in "FOLDER". Replacing it will overwrite its contents.

[Skip All] [Replace All] [Skip] [Replace]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------[text version]

The [Skip All] [Replace All] [Skip] [Replace] buttons are confusing choices to the question: "Do you want to replace it?"
The more reasonable answers are: [Yes] [No].

But I can see why [Skip][Replace] are used, however the [Skip All] [Replace All] buttons are confusing - do they skip all the files that I am copying or does it skip all of the duplicates. It skips all the duplicates, which is the correct behavior, but this is pretty unclear from the button labels in the dialog box.

I wish I had a suggestion on how to make this clearer, but I don't. I just wanted to bring it to the teams attention.

[Basilio Kublik (sourcercito)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately we can't fix it, because your description didn't include enough information. You may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" [WWW] http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of the problem.

We have instructions on debugging some types of problems. [WWW] http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProcedures

At a minimum, we need:
1. the specific steps or actions you took that caused you to encounter the problem,
2. the behavior you expected, and
3. the behavior you actually encountered (in as much detail as possible).
Thanks!

[Basilio Kublik (sourcercito)]

Please provide the name of the application you are using, I presume it's midnight commander, but could be other as well.

[bajabaq (tsw)]

I apologize for the lack of clarity in the initial report.

Specific steps to encounter the problem:
1. Have duplicate files in two separate folders: (eg: /dir1/file1 /dir/file2 and /dir2/file1 /dir2/file2)
2. From inside gnome, select the files in /dir1 (file1 and file2) (or copy them) (using the mouse and GUI)
(This occurs when dragging files from the desktop to an open file browser (nautilus 2.18.1))
3. Drag them (or paste them) into /dir2
4. The dialog box as described in the initial report will be shown

The behavior I expected:
As stated above, I'm not sure what is a better replacement for the buttons in the dialog box.
The question: "Do you want to replace it?" Is a question with a Yes or No for a response not Skip or Replace.

The appropriate answer should be in the dialog box, or a different question should be asked, and I am not sure what that should be.

The behavior I encountered: see initial report

[Basilio Kublik (sourcercito)]

could you please attach a screenshot demonstrating this issue?

[bajabaq (tsw)]

first one - shows duplicate files in two separate folders

[bajabaq (tsw)]

second one - shows what happens when you try to copy the files into a folder that already has a copy

[Gabriel Speckhahn (gabspeck)]

I think this dialog should be reworked to include better handling of identical filenames, providing for example an option to rename the file being copied, and showing a comparison between the two files (like Vista and if I'm not wrong KDE do).

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

this dialog is being reworked upstream and changes are discussed on the upstream lists

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

A discussion should be started on the nautilus mailing list rather than here, please send this to that list. thanks.