[Sugar-devel] Journal copies file from external media to datastore before opening

[James Simmons]

Sridhar,

The behavior you describe is not so much a bug as a feature.  Sugar
Activities can be resumed from removable media, but cannot write to
that media.  Only the Journal Activity can update media on a thumb
drive.  The problem as I see it is that the Journal Activity makes SD
cards and thumb drives look like the Journal itself, creating a false
expectation for the user that it will work the same way.  I have
suggested that the Journal Activity be redesigned to make thumb drivs
and SD cards look like the hierarchical file systems that they are and
only show the Journal looking like it currently does.  My own Activity
Sugar Commander is an attempt to show what this would be like.

James Simmons


On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 7:55 AM, Sridhar Dhanapalan
<sridhar at laptop.org.au> wrote:
> I have identified a bug that I think is a duplicate of SL#496. Can
> someone please confirm?
>
> I've got this logged at https://dev.laptop.org.au/issues/784
>
>
> The journal does not open or save directly from/to external media. If,
> say, a USB drive is used, the file is copied to the datastore before
> being opened. Changes are written to the version in the datastore and
> not to the version on the external media.
>
> Read test
>
> To reproduce:
>    on another computer, copy some files (I used JPEGs) to a USB stick
>    put the stick into an XO
>    in the journal, look at the USB stick
>    click on the file that you copied
>
> Expected behaviour:
>    the associated activity opens
>    the file on the USB stick is opened directly
>
> Actual behaviour:
>    the file is copied to the journal
>    the associated activity opens
>    the file is opened from the journal
>
>
> Read/Write test
>
> To reproduce:
>    open Write
>    type some stuff: "AAAA"
>    quit the activity to save
>    insert a USB stick
>    in the journal, drag the Write file to a USB stick
>    open the Write file from the USB stick
>    type more stuff, so that the content is now "AAAABBBB"
>    quit the activity to save
>    open the file again from the journal
>    you'll see that the content is "AAAABBBB"
>    quit the activity
>    open the file again from the USB stick
>    you'll see that the content is "AAAA"
>
> Expected behaviour:
>    the file opened from the USB stick should contain "AAAABBBB"
>
> Actual behaviour:
>    the file opened from the USB stick contains "AAAA"
>
>
>
>
>
> Sridhar Dhanapalan
> Technical Manager
> One Laptop per Child Australia
> M: +61 425 239 701
> E: sridhar at laptop.org.au
> A: G.P.O. Box 731
>      Sydney, NSW 2001
> W: www.laptop.org.au
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