[FrReq] hide dotfiles in home directory

[pabs]

Original: ​http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?13395

Submitted by:	Paul Wise <pabs>	Submitted on:	Tue 14 Jun 2005 09:08:04 AM UTC
Category:	Screen output	Severity:	1 - Wish
Status:	Confirmed	Privacy:	Public
Assigned to:	Roland Illig <rillig>	Open/Closed:	Open
Release:	All versions	Operating System:	All

Original submission:

I'd like to be able to show dotfiles by default, but not when in my 
homedir (because there are so many there). A similar option for the 
root user - hide dotfiles when in any home dir - might also be 
useful.

PS: sorry if this is the wrong place to post RFEs

Comment 1 by Roland Illig <rillig> at Tue 14 Jun 2005 10:27:16 AM UTC:

That's a nice idea.

Roland

Comment 2 by Anonymous at Tue 14 Jun 2005 12:56:40 PM UTC:

I would like a custom directory entry, that says:

"(hidden files)"

or

"(hidden directories)"

When you press enter over it, it will display all hidden files or 
directories. These entries will only be displayed IF there is 
hidden files or directories.

Comment 3 by Egmont Koblinger <egmont> at Wed 15 Jun 2005 07:16:41 AM UTC:

It is a really bad idea and even raises security issues if a normal 
user can control the behavior how root sees his/her files.
Whether or not hidden files are displayed to root should only
depend on root's settings and not on any user's settings.

Anyway I guess the same holds for normal users, too. I do want to 
see joe's dotfiles if I have permission to, no matter if joe has a 
directory entry called "(hidden files)".

To comment #2: the original reporter (pabs) wanted to make the 
"show dotfiles" the default and have an exception for one 
directory. Your proposal is the opposite: make "don't show 
dotfiles" the default and allow to take exceptions. I don't think 
pabs wants to create such a special file in every directory except 
his home. However, someone else might want it the way you want it. 
So then we should have the possibility to override mc's default in 
both ways: force show, and force not show.

Now this leads to so many possible filenames with special meanings 
to mc. If this feature is required at all, I suggest using only one 
filename or directory which begins with a dot (such as 
.mc_specials) and put all the configuration stuff in this file or 
under this directory. This would be quite similar then to the CVS 
or .svn directories of the version controlling systems.

Anyway, I basically don't like this whole idea of custom directory 
entries, IMHO mc should not pollute the filename namespace and 
should not create files that disturb me outside mc (e.g. in "ls", 
"nautilus" etc...).

I'm perfectly okay with a global configuration options "show 
dotfiles except in my home" if more people would like to see it. If 
some more general method is needed, take a look at 
http://freshmeat.net/projects/hidefile/ which is an example on how 
to hide files outside of mc's scope so that ls, nautilus etc. are 
also influenced.

My biggest trouble is that once we have this "force hidden files" 
and "force no hidden files" per-directory options, I'm afraid 
no-one can stop people requesting dozens of similar stupid 
per-directory configuration options, such as to have different 
Listing mode, different editor/viewer etc. to each directory.

Comment 4 by Paul Wise <pabs> at Wed 15 Jun 2005 07:54:19 AM UTC:

I would prefer that my idea was not the default - it could be 
confusing to some users. The default would remain as it is.

> It is a really bad idea and even raises security issues if a
> normal user can control the behavior how root sees his/her
> files. Whether or not hidden files are displayed to root should
> only depend on root's settings and not on any user's settings.


Indeed, and I meant it would be a per-user setting.

I agree that this could set an annoying precedent for the mc 
developers, feel free to ignore it.

[sorin]

I would be inclined to see another option: ability to hide certain files based on patters. Like git/mercurial/subversion ignore patters/globs.

For example I have tons of *.pyc .DS_Store and so on... which I don't care about in most cases. Still I do want to be able to see files and directories like .git .profile .bashrc ...