Symlink to Desktop shows up with name "home" regardless of name in filesystem

[jckarter]

On hrev58486:

• Open home folder
• Create a symlink to the Desktop folder.

The symlink shows up with the name "home", even though it refers to the Desktop folder. Trying to change the name of the symlink through Tracker, or from the Terminal, changes the name of the file in the filesystem, but its name still shows up as "home" in Tracker and the Deskbar.

[jckarter]

Screenshot showing that the symlink is named Desktop in the filesystem, as shown in Terminal, but shows as "home" in Tracker and the Deskbar menu

[waddlesplash]

Check the files's attributes, it may have a "SYS_NAME" attribute or something like that which is overriding the file's name.

[jckarter]

That was it, thanks waddlesplash! Is it expected that Tracker sets a SYS:NAME on created symlinks? There might also be a bug that it picked up the parent folder's name rather than the target's name when naming the symlink.

[waddlesplash]

I think the SYS:NAME on symlinks ought to be copied from the target folder, and if it isn't that's a bug. If the steps you describe cause this problem reliably then it sounds easy enough to investigate.

(The SYS:NAME attribute is how filenames get localized/translated, hence why it overrides the file's name.)

[waddlesplash]

I can't seem to reproduce this. How are you creating the symlink? I right-clicked the "Desktop" item in the "home" folder, chose "Create link", then "Current folder", and I got a symlink called "Desktop link", as expected.

[kim1963]

Replying to waddlesplash:

I can't seem to reproduce this. How are you creating the symlink? I right-clicked the "Desktop" item in the "home" folder, chose "Create link", then "Current folder", and I got a symlink called "Desktop link", as expected.

+ 1

I can't seem to reproduce this.

[jckarter]

IIRC, I used the “create link” entry in the file menu instead of the right click menu. I can’t reproduce it intentionally right now, but by playing around I found another odd behavior: if I use the submenus of the “create link” menu to place a link to home on the desktop, the links get made, but don’t show up on the desktop…

[jckarter]

I remember it took me a few tries to get “create link” to do anything apparent, so maybe I’d accidentally created a link to home on the Desktop before creating the link to Desktop I actually wanted, and Tracker was holding on to the SYS:NAME from the home link?

[waddlesplash]

The first time I created a link to "home" on the "Desktop", it didn't show up, but killing Tracker made it appear, and after I deleted it I could create a new one and this showed up immediately. Odd.

I still didn't manage to reproduce the original problem though, even after doing that.