Comment 0 for bug 263338

Binary package hint: nautilus

Bug - Condensed: Better file copy mechanisms are needed between filesystems. Offer a rename on name errors.

Bug - Detailed: Currently, in Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy, Nautilus 2.22.3 does not offer to rename files when errors occur copying files between filesystems. It does notify the user that the file will not be copied but unlike Kubuntu's user interface, it does not suggest to simply rename the file and continue copying. In any case, if the user steps away from the computer, copying should not "pause", "cease" or "hang" on error (except for the files with errors in them). Errors should be presented to the user as "ON HOLD" to ask what to do with the files, while the rest of the files are copied over.

Copying runs into issues when files which have legal characters in ext3 that do not in fat32/fat16 must be renamed by the user. As well files with capitalization do not hold a different name as files with lower case names (i.e. mark.jpg vs MARK.JPG and Mark.jpg). In ext3 these can live together in a common directory, whereas on fat (which is not capital sensitive) if you were to copy these three files, only one of them would live. To rectify the missing files you would need to:

1) remember or note the location of the files
2) change the names
3) copy the files manually

Efforts to simplify copying for the end user have been made in the past with the addition of the "merge" functionality. We will now need naming issues to be addressed.