Filters should be reset on entry to an VFS else no files may be visible

[itchka]

An Example: Set the filter in the left pane to "*.rpm" select an rpm file and press enter. You will see one entry "INFO" no other files are visible because the filter is still active and there are no rpms in an rpm package file. Most importantly the cpio achive within the rpm is not visible. Exit the rpm and clear the filter and open the rpm file again and the file entries will be visible.
To be user friendly the ideal would be that the filter is reset when entering a VFS and restored on exit. It should still be able to be used within the vfs.

[zaytsev]

Why is this user friendly? I enter the VFS and the filter is lost - if your use case was to filter RPM files and then look at them, then it's frustrating, but for that I would use panelize. Otherwise this is confusing. Maybe filters could be stacked, but that's a pretty complicated and not obvious behavior. This sounds like a wontfix to me.

[itchka]

It's not user friendly for non-expert users. If a VFS returns no files what is a tyro user supposed to think when he enters a vfs? He/she certainly doesn't expect to see nothing returned. I have been using mc since 1998 and I still don't understand the use of panelise. The point of this request is that the CONTEXT of the file pane has changed when you open a vfs and thus it should not be filtered. The restoration of the filter is a nicety and not essential. It cannot be hard to clear the filter on entering a VFS so there is no neeed for nesting if it causes insurmountable issues.

[zaytsev]

It cannot be hard to clear the filter on entering a VFS

Yes, it's not hard, but I will be annoyed if at least the filter is not restored when I exit VFS. It's hard to say if there will be more angry users or happy users. For now, we seem to have 1 of each.

The point of this request is that the CONTEXT of the file pane has changed

That is what you think about context, but that is not the idea of VFS. The idea of VFS is that you can chain them together however you want, including different systems and encodings, and stay within the same context.

I have been using mc since 1998 and I still don't understand the use of panelise.

Maybe the time has come to understand it? It allows you to display any file-like source as a panel. In your case, if you want to filter and view only RPM files, you should

1. Use the search dialog to search for *.rpm starting from the current directory (recursively or not).
2. Select Panelize after all files have been found to make a panel out of the results
3. See the list of all files found and no other files, with the possibility to explore them

When you are done, you can close the panel and it will disappear, resetting all options back to how the normal panel was before.

This is the intended use of mc for your use case, not using the panel filters. Panel filters are meant for something else, namely to filter all files of a certain type, regardless of system, VFS, etc., in order to visualize and manipulate them, instead of using file selection all the time.

[itchka]

I have tried the suggested workaround for this issue using panelize. It does not work. If I explore one of the panelised rpm files the filter is still active and thus no files are seen in the opened rpm, this would apply then to any archive type file. Is this still a wontfix?

[zaytsev]

If you use panelize, you don't need the filter at all. Just set it to *.