[SOLVED] Plasma 6 - Dolphin "Devices" section small oddity...

[oshunluvr]

One change I noticed recently with the move to Plasma 6 is the Dolphin "Devices" section seems more usable. What I mean by that is more of my file systems that are not mounted at boot time have appeared in the Device section. However, not all of them. I'm trying to figure out the "magic sauce" to get them all in there.

/etc/fstab (redacted);

UUID=blahblah      /                btrfs subvol=/@KDEneon,defaults,noatime,space_cache=v2,autodefrag,compress=lzo 0 0
UUID=blahblah      /home            btrfs subvol=/@KDEneon_home,defaults,noatime,space_cache=v2,autodefrag,compress=lzo 0 0
UUID=blahblah      /subvol          btrfs defaults,noatime,space_cache=v2,autodefrag,compress=lzo 0 0
LABEL=vm_drive     /mnt/vm_drive    ext4  auto,users,noatime,commit=60,data=writeback,barrier=0,nobh,errors=remount-ro 0 0
LABEL=root_backup  /mnt/root_backup btrfs noauto,users,noatime,space_cache=v2,autodefrag,compress=zstd 0 0
UUID=blahblah      /mnt/990pro2     btrfs noauto,users,noatime,space_cache=v2,autodefrag,compress=zstd 0 0
UUID=blahblah      /mnt/blade2      btrfs noauto,users,noatime,space_cache=v2,autodefrag,compress=zstd 0 0
LABEL=storage      /mnt/storage     btrfs noauto,users,noatime,space_cache=v2,autodefrag,compress=zstd 0 0
UUID=blahblah      /mnt/sdb2        btrfs noauto,users,noatime,space_cache=v2,autodefrag,compress=zstd 0 0
LABEL=vm_backup    /mnt/vm_backup   ext4  noauto,users,noatime,commit=60,data=writeback,barrier=0,nobh,errors=remount-ro 0 0
​

This is the devices list:

storage
root_backup
vm_drive
root
uefi
sdb2
win11

So the various states of being for each;

• "uefi" and "win11" are not in fstab
• "storage", "root_backup", "vm_drive", "sdb2" are in fstab
• "/" and "/home" are btrfs subvolumes and not in devices list
• "990pro2", "vm_backup", "blade2" are not in the device list.
• "root" is mounted at folder "/subvol" and is in the device list as "root".

I cannot immediately see a straight line correlation to a factor or set of factors that lead to a logical reason for this outcome. All the file systems are labeled.

It seems maybe those that in fstab by label are in the list and "root" is just an outlier Not sure how uefi and win11 fit in though.

I'm going to edit fstab and mount all those I can by label to see if they show up after a reboot. Stand by...

[oshunluvr]

Nope. Editing fstab did not change the Device list at all.

This has now elevated from a small oddity to a LARGE oddity.

[Schwarzer Kater]

No real idea either at first glance…

I can only tell you that none of my three ESPs shows in Dolphin's Devices list and all ext4, NTFS, exFAT and Btrfs (but no subvolumes) partitions do - pre-mounted or not…
This is the same for Plasma 5.27.x and Plasma 6.0.x and whether or not I have them listed in /etc/fstab (in only about 20% of the Linux systems on this computer I used fstab for all partitions).

I also don't use data=writeback, barrier=0 or nobh for ext4 in my fstab, e.g. because I don't have an UPS.

If you label the individual partitions or not should not be relevant for Dolphin AFAIK (it just looks prettier).


PS: I barely dare to ask it, but did you test a new user acount in case your Dolphin was hit on the head?

[oshunluvr]

The user account suggestion is a good one. I logged in on my wife's account (fairly new, no customization and rarely used). Her Dolphin shows this:

vm_backup
uefi
storage
sdb2
win11
root
vm_drive
990PRO2
root_backup

Totally different order - mine appears in the same every time.

"vm_backup" and "990pro2" appeared in her list that aren't in mine, but "blade2" did not appear in either.

EDIT: This is not true - the label is actually 990PRO2, I just had it in fstab wrong, doh...Also odd the label is "990pro2" but it shows on hers as "990PRO2".

Now it's a huge oddity...

Side note: The "double splash screen" I've been experiencing did not occur when I logged in as her. Maybe I'm due for a fresh install and user folder. I think this one has been in use since 2018....

[Schwarzer Kater]

I think a new user account would be better for testing purposes - in case your wife's account already existed before an upgrade to Plasma 6…

[oshunluvr]

I think a new user account would be better for testing purposes - in case your wife's account already existed before an upgrade to Plasma 6…

Great minds... LOL, I was off doing that as you posted. New account had EXACT same results as the wife's.

For reference, not that it matters much - the wife's account was created June 20th last year for her to use far a week or so while her office was unavailable.

[oshunluvr]

Eureka! Right clicking on the devices section and clicking on "Show All Entries" revealed 990pro2 and vm_backup, but - and again, oddly - they are in gray rather than black.

[oshunluvr]

OK, more oddity: I logged out and back into the new user. On that account, the option to "Show All Devices" does not appear.

Also, logging back into my account and "Show All Entries" was unchecked again. Same behavior if I close Dolphin and re-open it.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Perhaps a LABEL vs. UUID or a fstab vs. no fatab entry thing or something like that…?
The grey vs. black font, I mean.

[oshunluvr]

OK, mystery partially solved. "blade2" is missing because I wiped that partition when I installed windows and never put it back, but it's still in fstab, lol.

Still don't know why vm_backup and 990pro2 don't show on my user and why I have the option to "Display all devices" and the other users don't.

Maybe because they see them all by default and I don't?

[oshunluvr]

I recreated blade2 and it now shows on my user. Still no joy on the two missing...

[oshunluvr]

Turns out the "Show all entries" thingy only comes up if you hidden some devices. I must have hidden those last two partitions at some point and forgotten that I did that and why. Digging deeper into the right-click menu show an entry labeled "Hide" and it was checked on those two file systems. Odd thing is I re-did a bunch of my partition locations a while ago and one of those is of the two that were hidden. Obviously I used the same labels as before and just forgot.

Sigh, getting old is a P.I.T.A...

but at least I figured it out.