Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[dontforgetmario]

Hi,

I don't really understand why the incoming directory begins with a dot:

/Users/mario/.aMule/Incoming

As files beginning with a dot are reserved only for system files, I'm not able to see the folder in the finder. Only by "searching" ".amule" I am able to get access to it, a bit of a bizarre situacion, since I'm not able to change the folder name in the settings of amule. When I change the folder name from ".amule" to "amule", and in the settings of aMule I change the path also to:

/Users/mario/aMule/Incoming

aMule still writes the incoming files to a new created ".amule", and by the way, when I change the folder name from ".amule" to "amule" I still don't see it in the finder and I dont have access to it....extrange.. ;(

Any idea?

Thanks
Mario

[Kry]

You can't change the folder name. The .aMule folder is for the config files, etc, and it's also the place aMule stpre the files by default. Just go to preferences, and change the Incoming folder, but never touch .aMule.

[phoenix]

Originally posted by dontforgetmario
Hi,

I don't really understand why the incoming directory begins with a dot:

/Users/mario/.aMule/Incoming

As files beginning with a dot are reserved only for system files

False. The dot in the begining just means that the directory or file is hidden, it won't show on a normal directory listing unless you ask. Otherwise it is a normal directory or file as any other.

Kry already answered the rest. The incomming dir can be anywhere you want, change it in preferences but dont touch the ~/.aMule directory and the files inside it, unless you are sure about what you are doing.

Cheers!

[dontforgetmario]

ok guys,

sorry maybe I'm a bit more stupip than I thought or I'm missing something here, but how am I suppose to find the "Incoming" folder, when the parent folder ".amule" is a hidden folder and I'm not suppose to change that?

My problem is not if the "Incoming" folder is called "Incoming" or anything else, my problem is that I'm not able to see the Incoming folder in the Finder y the parent folder is hidden, is not that a bit odd?.... ?(

This is what I see in the preferences:

Directories

Incoming Directory:

/Users/mario/.aMule/Incoming

do you follow me?

[phoenix]

Mario,

What is "the finder"? Something like a graphical file manager from your distro's gui, I suppose. Well, if I guessed correctly, there should be an option on this "finder" to enable finding hidden files.

Also, if there is no such an option, I repeat, go to preferences and change the Incomming directory location to say /home/mario/Incomming.

Cheers!

[Kry]

It's a Mac, phoenix.

[dontforgetmario]

Hi Phoenix,

If I understand correctly, it just happens that by default the "Incoming" folder is set to be in this ".aMule" preferencies folder, so If I change the settings to lets say "/home/mario/shared/Incoming" there is also a ".aMule" (hidden) folder and a "shared/Incoming" folder but this one not hidden?

That doesn't make any sense in a Mac to have by default such a setting, because a normal user used to just to the GUI as most Mac users won't find the Incoming folder and they won't know how to find it if they don't change the default directory default setting in advance. There isn't any extra setting in a mac to see hidden folders, that's only possible with special tools (as far as I know from the GUI) and second it doen't make any sense to show all hidden folders, just to see one hidden folder, the "Incoming" one. Why don't you change the default directory setting to "/User/aMule/Incoming" (no dot) and save Mac users this little mess?

the Finder is the Mac equivalent to "Windows Explorer" in XP or to "File Manager" or whatever it is called in Linux.

Thanks
Mario

[ken]

I have to say, I agree that ~/.aMule/Incoming is not a particularly user-friendly default location.  I guess I would prefer something like ~/Documents/aMule Downloads.

The main issue, I believe, is that aMule strives for file compatibility with eMule, to the extent that it is possible to have one directory that is alternately used by aMule and eMule.  This is most common on x86 machines that dual-boot between Linux and Windows, of course.

One thing that would make this much less of a problem is if aMule, like IIRC eMule, supported an Open Containing Folder command in the context menu of the Shared Files list.  I'll look into it.

While I'm wishing: for the best Mac user experience, ~/.aMule/amule.conf should be ~/Library/Preferences/org.amule.aMule.plist and be a proper XML property list, and the rest of ~/.aMule would be ~/Library/Application Support/aMule.  However, none of this is probably going to happen, especially in the near term.  The focus is on cross-platform consistency rather than best fit for any specific platform.

By the way, there are a couple of ways to access hidden files and directories in the Finder.  One is the Go -> Go to Folder menu command.  Here you can enter "~/.aMule" or "~/.aMule/Incoming" to open those folders.  Another is to use File -> Find and use the pop-up menus to select Visibility / Invisible (plus whatever other criteria you like).

[phoenix]

Originally posted by Kry
It's a Mac, phoenix.

Hum, bad phoenix, bad... :]

Originally posted by dontforgetmario
The Finder is the Mac equivalent to "Windows Explorer" in XP or to "File Manager" or whatever it is called in Linux.

Yes, there are many names. But no "File Manager". This was the name of Windows Explorer in the good old times...

Sorry, my mistake, I don't know mac, but ken's got my point about hidden files.

Cheers!

[m2kio]

hi,

files or folders "hidden" the [q&d|braindead] unix way, that is, starting with a dot, cannot be shown or opened easily in the finder (the "Finder" is the MacOS GUI). There is no such option.
You can trick it, if you type "open ~/.aMule"  (or similar) in the terminal (shell). Or create an alias for later more easy use. The terminal application is in "/Applications/Utilities/".

The system compliant place for application preferences  would be in "~/Library/Preferences/aMule".
The system compliant place for default data deposition  would be in "~/Documents/".

... m2kio !

[ASTIOBOY]

in the finder,
Go--> Go To Folder...

or Shift-Command (the Apple key)-G

then type:  ~/.aMule

[lionel77]

Originally posted by ken
I have to say, I agree that ~/.aMule/Incoming is not a particularly user-friendly default location.  I guess I would prefer something like ~/Documents/aMule Downloads.

i think we should really consider changing the default locations for incoming and temp to be in ~/Documents/amule/ . for a lot of less experienced mac users that would make life much easier. plus, we would not have to answer "where are my downloads" questions five times a week.
how difficult do you think would it be to change these locations?

i also agree, that changing the preferences, etc. locations to be more mac-like would be a good idea. but changing temp and incoming should be really imperative before 2.0 imho.

[Kry]

For preferences I don't agree or we'll have to have specific docs for mac, wiki for Mac, etc.


As for the default incoming, I can ifdef it for Mac...

[dontforgetmario]

Guys,

thanks for yours answers with the couple of tricks like:

the "Go to Folder -> ~/.aMule/Incoming" (I use this one, very handy now)

or the:

 "You can trick it, if you type "open ~/.aMule" (or similar) in the terminal (shell). Or create an alias for later more easy use. The terminal application is in "/Applications/Utilities/"


But the main thing is this:

This is a tipical Linux vs. Mac issue,
Linux x86 and Mac OS X users although they basically use the same OS (Unix) the kind of users are also basically different, most Linux users IMHO are "coders" and although there are many "Terminal Mac users" the vast mayority of Mac OS X users are GUI oriented. We design, cut video, make art, mix music, photography, web pages, use iLife, Dreamweaver....and so on.....we are used to make double click somewhere and things just work. Don't ask us to "compile" this or that, using this or those commands on the terminal, because we don't know or worst, we don't like that, if I want to do that, I'd use linux and same my money instead of using a Mac, but I concentrate in being productive, it's just as if I buy a car, I just want to get inside, start the engine, drive the car and enjoy the ride, I don't care much about how the car itself works. It is not better or worst than linux, it's just the way the Mac world is, a different philosophy, remember most OS X users come from OS 9, which is 100% GUI, where there is not even a terminal.

We are not asking for fancy lights flashing when a file is downloaded or anything difficult to code, we are just simply asking that the default "Incoming" folder is made visible in Finder and that, just simply take of a folder to be renamed from ".aMule" to "aMule", as simple as that (or something like that), nothing else!!, I personally don't care if that folder is in Documents, or User, or whatever folder your fancy better, but please make it visible :-)

If you don't change that, I can assure you that 95% of standard Mac users won't find the "Incoming" aMule folder. It took me sometime to find it and I consider myself an experienced Mac user (with little "Terminal" knowledge)....

Thanks
Mario

[greaman]

If you don't change that, I can assure you that 95% of standard Mac users won't find the "Incoming" aMule folder. It took me sometime to find it and I consider myself an experienced Mac user (with little "Terminal" knowledge)....

Well, as a Linux-user I still don't get your point... what's so damned hard about going into preferences after installing amule and changing Incoming to any visible folder you want?

That's what I do even under Linux... usually you make some changes in the preferences of amule after installing, so what's the problem with 3 or 4 clicks more?