File manager functionality (简体中文)
Related articles
本文介绍扩展文件管理器功能的相关软件,尤其是使用单独的窗口管理器而不是桌面环境的时候。
Contents
概要
A file manager alone will not provide the features and functionality that users of full desktop environments such as Xfce or KDE will be accustomed to. This is because additional software packages will be required to enable a given file manager to:
- Display and access other partitions
- Display, mount, and access removable media (e.g. USB sticks, optical discs, and digital cameras)
- Enable networking / shared networks with other installed operating systems
- Enable thumbnailing
- Archive and extract compressed files
- Automatically mount removable media
When a file manager has been installed as part of a full desktop environment, most of these packages will usually have been installed automatically. Consequently, where a file manager has been installed for a standalone window manager then - as is the case with the window manager itself - only a basic foundation will be provided. The user must then determine the nature and extent of the features and functionality to be added.
Additional features
Particularly where using - or intending to use - a lightweight environment, it should be noted that more file manager features and functions will usually mean the use of more memory. See also udisks.
Mounting
- gvfs: The Gnome Virtual File System provides mounting and trash functionality. GVFS uses udisks2 for mounting functionality and is the recommended solution for most file managers.
Other Gnome Virtual File System software packages are required to ensure that removable media such as USB sticks, CDs/DVDs, and cameras can be accessed:
- gvfs-afc: Removable media (e.g. optical disks, USB data sticks, and cameras)
- gvfs-mtp: Phones and media players that require MTP
- gvfs-gphoto2: Automatically transfer content from many digital cameras
File manager daemon
The first is to simply autostart or run the installed file manager in daemon mode (i.e. as a background process). For example, when using PCManFM in Openbox, the following command would be added to the ~/.config/openbox/autostart
file:
pcmanfm -d &
It will also be necessary to configure the file manager itself in respect to volume management (e.g. what it will do and what applications will be launched when certain file types are detected upon mounting).
Standalone
Another option is to install a separate mount application. The advantages of using this are:
- Less memory may be required to run as a background / daemon process than a file manager
- It is not file manager specific, allowing them to be freely added, removed, and switched
- gvfs may not have to be installed for mounting, lessening memory use.
Networks
- obexfs: Bluetooth device mounting and file transfers (see Bluetooth)
- gvfs-smb: Windows File and printer sharing for Non-KDE desktops (see Samba)
- kdenetwork-filesharing: Windows File and printer sharing for KDE (see Samba#KDE)
- gvfs-afp[broken link: replaced by gvfs]: Apple file and printer sharing
- sshfs: FUSE client based on the SSH File Transfer Protocol
Windows access
If using gvfs-smb, to access Windows/CIFS/Samba file shares first open the file manager, and enter the following into the path name, changing <sever name> and <share name> as appropriate:
smb://<server name>/<share name>
Apple access
If using gvfs-afc, to access AFP files first open the file manager, and enter the following into the path name, changing <sever name> and <share name> as appropriate:
afp://<server name>/<share name>
Thumbnail previews
Some file managers may not support thumbnailing, even when the packages listed have been installed. Check the documentation for the relevant file manager.
File managers other than Dolphin and Konqueror
These packages apply to most file managers, such as PCManFM, SpaceFM, Thunar and xfe. The exceptions are Dolphin and Konqueror, used in the KDE desktop environment.
- tumbler: Image files. This must also be installed to expand thumbnailing capabilities to other file types
- poppler-glib: Adobe
.pdf
files - ffmpegthumbnailer: Video files
- freetype2: Font files
- libgsf:
.odf
files - raw-thumbnailer:
.raw
files
Dolphin and Konqueror (KDE)
Archive files
To extract compressed files such as tarballs (.tar
and .tar.gz
) within a file manager, it will first be necessary to install a GUI archiver such as file-roller. See List of applications#Archiving and compression tools for further information. An additional package such as unzip must also be installed to support the use of zipped .zip
files. Once an archiver has been installed, files in the file manager may consequently be right-clicked to be archived or extracted.
NTFS read/write support
Install ntfs-3g. See the NTFS-3G article for more information.
Desktop notifications
Some file managers make use of desktop notifications to confirm various events and statuses like mounting, unmounting and ejection of removable media.
Troubleshooting
"Not Authorized" when attempting to mount drives
File managers using udisks require a polkit authentication agent. See polkit#Authentication agents.
Password required to access partitions
The need to enter a password to access other partitions or mounted removable media will likely be due to the default permission settings of udisks2. More specifically, permission may be set to the root account only, not the user account. See Udisks#Configuration for details.