[SOLVED] Dolphin problem when copying directories

[DoYouKubuntu]

Let's get the laughing out of the way: I'm still running 14.04 on this particular laptop. I had occasion to reboot it today, for the first time in...6 months? a year? I don't know.

Immediately afterward, I resumed something I'd started yesterday. I normally use my beloved CLI for manipulating file/directory locations, but for certain tasks I use Dolphin.

For as long as I can remember, Dolphin has offered a 'write into' option when copying/moving directories/subdirectories. For example, if I'm copying /data/media/images, which is a directory containing numerous subdirectories, each containing images, to ~/Dropbox/images, I'd get a prompt. My choices included 'write into' and 'skip' and...I don't know what else, probably 'rename.' I only ever picked 'write into.'

Now, it's giving me two choices: 'skip' (which aborts the whole process) and 'rename.' I don't want either--I want to WRITE INTO. I've changed nothing. I've updated nothing. WTF happened?!

[TWPonKubuntu]

You may have run into ownership rights on directories/files. Dolphin has been deliberately prevented from writing or creating where a root ownership is needed. Check the ownership of directories and/or files.

Many of us are still waiting for the KDE Devs to fix Dolphin, as they did for the Kate editor. Not happening yet...

[DoYouKubuntu]

Thanks for the suggestion, and I will check their permissions, but...nothing has changed in years, let alone since yesterday! The directories have existed, with unchanged permissions, for years. Out of the blue, today, Dolphin's options for how to deal with already-existing directories changed...

[TWPonKubuntu]

Then Dolphin may have updated on your system? I'm running Kubuntu 19.04 with Dolphin 18.12.3. I've just let the normal repository updates install as they become available. I don't know which version of Dolphin had been running on your system.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Knowing that nothing had changed--I checked Dolphin's update history, its last update was 8 months ago--I did the unthinkable...I did what window$ users do routinely...I rebooted the laptop!

And guess what? Dolphin was back to normal, with the 'write into' option I rely on heavily right back where it belongs.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Guess we'll never know the cause. Glad you're working again.

[Snowhog]

Knowing that nothing had changed--I checked Dolphin's update history, its last update was 8 months ago--I did the unthinkable...I did what window$ users do routinely...I rebooted the laptop!

And guess what? Dolphin was back to normal, with the 'write into' option I rely on heavily right back where it belongs.

It is almost a certainty that an update you performed prior to this issue presenting, required a restart of the OS to complete and you missed the notification that doing so was required. Just say'n.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Guess we'll never know the cause. Glad you're working again.

Me too! It bugs me when I don't know -why- something happened, but for right now I'm just going to count my blessings and be done with it. If the problem reappears...

[DoYouKubuntu]

It is almost a certainty that an update you performed prior to this issue presenting, required a restart of the OS to complete and you missed the notification that doing so was required. Just say'n.

Possible...but very unlikely, for two reasons: 1) I almost never update anything and, 2) when I do, I specifically look for the little orange 'restart' icon that appears in my taskbar when a reboot is needed. However! Knowing damn well that ANYTHING is possible, your hunch could very well be right. We'll never know...

[Snowhog]

We'll never know...

The Shadow knows!

[DoYouKubuntu]

Indeed!

Hey, how are you doing, SH? I hope you're well and happy!