Ubuntu
nautilus package

Link Issues

Asked by prtsbyaj

I am new to Ubuntu and don't know much about this system. However I have worked with windows environment for years.

That said, I am attempting to find folders on local Windows 2K systems and create links to them. I am able to see the files, open them, etc. however when I attempt to create a link to that folder, I get and error. Error "unsupported operation" while creating a link to "smb://shop2k/j" would you like to continue? Cancel Retry My only option is to cancel.

If I can see, use, and move the file, why can I not create a link?

tks

aj

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Ubuntu nautilus Edit question
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Solved by:
Markus Thielmann
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Revision history for this message
Benoit Malet (benoit-malet) said : 		#1

Hello !

In fact, the filesystem has to be mounted to be reachable ... Can you paste the content of /etc/fstab here ?

The way to access files in Linux is slightly different than in Windows ... You can't create some remote disk : you have to attach the remote location to your directory tree (i.e. mount it) ...

Regards,
Benoît

Revision history for this message
prtsbyaj (austin-printsbyaj) said : 		#2

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=ba7f6183-b4e8-4592-883b-d074452cc5e1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /dev/sda5
UUID=53b30ee3-f109-4d38-b9bb-48921c3f3dae none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0

Revision history for this message
Martin Albisetti (beuno) said : 		#3

It seems you are using the "browse network" option instead of mounting the partition.
I would suggest you try mounting it like explained in the following link: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_mount_network_folders_on_boot-up.2C_and_allow_all_users_to_read.2Fwrite

Revision history for this message
prtsbyaj (austin-printsbyaj) said : 		#4

I appreciate the help and suggestions. However my original question does not seem to be addressed. Is the menu item of link not available? What does the error message mean? Am I not able to link as suggested in other places?

Revision history for this message
Scott Severance (scott.severance) said : 		#5

Symlinks have to point to a filesystem path, but when you use Nautilus to browse a Windows network, Nautilus doesn't mount the resource to the filesystem. It uses its own method of addressing that the Linux filesystem doesn't understand.

Revision history for this message
prtsbyaj (austin-printsbyaj) said : 		#6

As a newbie to the world of linix and Ubuntu, I find myself a bit confused
by both the system and the replies to questions.

Let me try to redo some of my questions and at the same time address what I
understand from the questions and replies

1. While I have a GUI interface which gives direction and paths to a device,
that does not mean that the OS understands what is going on. Is this a fair
statement?

2. The GUI interface of Ubuntu gives a pretty face to a very geekie form of
OS. Is this the bottom line?

3. The OS is not an operating system but rather a repository for lots of
varying systems. Symlinks is a way to do something, not THE way to do it. Am
I correct?

These are not complaints. I am just trying to understand where I am compared
to where I may want to be.

Am I expecting the GUI system Ubuntu to be more than it is supposed to be?

Where am I?

I can work at the command line. I am an IBM retiree who spent many hours
working on the command line of an AS/400. It is not a totally foreign world
to me. I am just attempting to understand where I am with this OS. What I
seem to read here is - to do much of anything I will have to make several
decisions as to what I want to do with the computer, then work at the
command line to configure each and every device to do what I expect. Not
exactly what I want to spend the time doing. I am a hobby printer,
photographer, as well as network tinkerer. I retired from the command line.

tks

----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Severance" <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 10:22 AM
Subject: Re: [Question #6678]: Link Issues

> Your question #6678 on nautilus in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/6678
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Scott Severance proposed the following answer:
> Symlinks have to point to a filesystem path, but when you use Nautilus
> to browse a Windows network, Nautilus doesn't mount the resource to the
> filesystem. It uses its own method of addressing that the Linux
> filesystem doesn't understand.
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/6678/+confirm?answer_id=4
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+question/6678
>

Revision history for this message
Best Markus Thielmann (thielmann) said : 		#7

> 1. While I have a GUI interface which gives direction and paths to a device,
> that does not mean that the OS understands what is going on. Is this a fair
> statement?

I wouldn't explain it that way. GnomeVFS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_VFS) is a nice idea to easily access files over network. But all software needs to support it. Unfortunatly, even Gnome does not fully support it, as you might know now. Other applications can't access GnomeVFS shares at all. There's always a dispute on this issue and a lot of proposals which need further discussion (e.g. http://www.scheinwelt.at/~norbertf/common-vfs/newdesign.html).

> 2. The GUI interface of Ubuntu gives a pretty face to a very geekie form of
> OS. Is this the bottom line?

If a command shell is geeky, then yes :-). GNU/Linux follows a quite easy approach: "Write a little application, who solves only one problem, but does this good". So one writes a kernel, one writes a file-system, one writes a command line shell, one writes a graphical interface, etc. pp.

> 3. The OS is not an operating system but rather a repository for lots of
> varying systems.

Ubuntu is an OS, it manages your hardware and software.

> Symlinks is a way to do something, not THE way to do it. Am
> I correct?

Let's put it this way: GnomeVFS is one approach, FUSE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_in_Userspace) is another.

Symlinks are based on a filesystem. As GnomeVFS is not a "real" filesystem, you can't use them.

> These are not complaints. I am just trying to understand where I am compared
> to where I may want to be.

As this is a technical support tracker, I'd like to invite you to further discuss your issues at http://ubuntuforums.org. Please close this question if no technical questions are open. Thank you!

Revision history for this message
prtsbyaj (austin-printsbyaj) said : 		#8

Thanks Markus Thielmann, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
Ashwin (cybernytrix) said : 		#9

gnome sucks biiiig time.
this is how it is done:

right click desktop
create launcher -> type: location
name: gnomesux
fill in as much as you can and save
right click on "gnomesux" on the desktop. properties->link->url
type: smb://hostname/location/filename

you might want to fix the fugly icon it defaults to as well.

voila!

what does it take nautilus to do this automatically when i drag the location? 10 lines of code? 20?
don't ask me to do it, i'm just a user
gnome is a bunch of interface nazis...

Revision history for this message
Ashwin (cybernytrix) said : 		#10

oh, i saw this one:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=148330

the morons have this bug open since 2005!!! make microsoft look like decent !

Revision history for this message
kenbb99 (kenbb99) said : 		#11

Thank you Ashwin. Your answer to this was exactly what I needed and solved a problem I had been puzzling over for a while. I am new to Linux and your step-by-step was easy to follow and apply.