Nautilus 3 Displays Wrong File Sizes (Different to All Other Apps) Any Hack for This?

[SirWeazel]

I think the way people are using there computer, no one notices it. It isn't until they need to inspect the size of a file, which probably doesn't happen too often. Most people are probably just searching the web, checking email, installing apps from software center, ect... and never needing to look at a file. If your music plays, pictures display, and people are just draging file around or using the built in applications they problaby wouldn't notice. Its not until a problem arises, or attention to detail until this issue is noticed.

But i am surpised with the amount of ubuntu users that are usaally a bit more tech savy then the norm (i'm just guessing, i have no stats to prove this), that this issue hasn't been noticed/complained about more. Maybe over time the issue will gain more popular with users "doing more?" --- Just my 2 cents, but it is more than annoying. I hope someone can post a simple fix or solution to this issue. I keep watching for an update to silently fix it

[OzzyFrank]

Well, I went to the effort of joining the Nautilus Bugzilla group, so now that the account is activated, will file a "bug report"... even though I don't really see this as a bug (but to me is more annoying than most of those, hehe). If Nautilus can be changed to show files as they were, I'm hoping someone will eventually point it out. More importantly, if base-10 is the way it's all going, then having the choice in Preferences would be great... decimal, binary, or both displayed together (I'd probably really like the last option).

[OzzyFrank]

The bug report I filed: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=665005

[OzzyFrank]

Seems g_format_size_for_display could be the offender... but not sure why non-Ubuntu systems are affected, if this is because of the Ubuntu unit policy change. Even Nautilus developers are getting blamed for deliberately doing this, but I think it is just that it calls on g_format_size_for_display for file sizes. Whatever it is, I don't like it, hehe. And it's getting annoying reading Ubuntu developers saying how they made the most sane decision to go decimal, rather than be silly and follow the rest of the world. This has already cost Ubuntu many new (and I suspect quite a few veteran) users, so hopefully we are soon given the freedom to be able to choose, or Ubuntu will end up a laughing stock.

[mc4man]

A really good example of this is a 4486Mb .iso image I just tried to burn. If you know about discs, 4488Mb is the physical limit of DVDs, so a 4486Mb image is fine, with a couple of meg to spare. Previously, Nautilus would show the file to be 4.4Gb (4.38Gb in Windows terms), but now is the 4.7Gb you see on blank DVD packaging. So, when I went to burn an image I had already burned before the 11.10 upgrade, I was informed the image was well and truly over the capacity of the disc, which it wasn't.

Well then that's an issue with your burning app, if the iso can truly fit on a dvd5. At least here see no issue. Example using 10.04.3 iso in screen

In firefox it's shown as a 688MB iso which fits on a 700MB cd.
Nautilus, brasero, & ImgBurn show the iso to be 721.1 MB (721,127,424 bytes) & will both burn to the cd whose capacity is greater than that - shown in ImgBurns r. side info - 736,966,656 bytes, 359,847 sectors. (the 688/721 MB iso is 352,113 sectors

I will check on a max size dvd5 iso, am confident of seeing the same thing so don't really see any practical issue here other than with whatever you are using to burn with.

[OzzyFrank]

OK, the ISO issue was just one example, but it is an issue others have reported. Yes, if worse comes to worse, you can install other apps and go through them till you find one that isn't affected, but this is hardly going to do anything positive for Ubuntu's "just works" reputation, I'm afraid.

My major beef is that up until a few weeks ago, my file manager displayed sizes as every single other app on my system does, but most importantly, as the zillions of web sites display file sizes.

So now, when I download a "350Mb" file, I don't know if the "368Mb" in my downloads folder is complete or not, whereas before I could tell straight away just by looking at the size.

I think the Ubuntu development team are going to find it hard to convince millions of web sites to fall in line with their great new plan, so this will definitely cause a loss in the uptake of this OS (and I've already seen others dump it in favour of another distro). I mean, "the only OS in the world to display filesizes like this" is not going to be much of an enticement to newbies, hehehe! I think we refer to this as Epic FAIL these days...

[OzzyFrank]

don't really see any practical issue here other than with whatever you are using to burn with.

ZILLIONS of web sites vs Ubuntu trying to be clever...

The discrepancy between files sizes all over the world, on every site, created under every OS, basically makes Ubuntu's file manager look sorely confused. Try explaining base-2 vs base-10, and why it is a great idea to buck the trend the rest of the universe is following, to those who live in the real world.

[SirWeazel]

Couple questions... maybe someone can answer for me. And i still can't believe this isn't a bigger issue. From reading around a little bit... i'm a little confused. Is there a diffinative answer to these questions?

1. Is this a bug or was this change planned?
2. Is this a nautilus issue or ubuntu issue (ie. does nautilus on non ubuntu distro do the same thing)?

[mc4man]

Checking dvd's - your are correct as far as the one linux burning app I tried.
Brasero thinks the capacity of a dvd -r is 4.3X GB which is incorrect. It's actually 4.3X GIB. Whether that's ubuntu's,. gnome's or brasero's fault I wouldn't know though it seems like brasero should adjust.
Nautilus reports the size of a .iso I tried correctly - 4.7 GB (4,691,394,560 bytes)

Now a burner like imgburn looks at the byte/sector size of the iso & the available space on the dvd -r, (4,706,074,624 bytes/2,297,888 sectors) & will burn.


As far as brasero, it should use the same method for the source file size & media capacity, then it wouldn't matter which was used.

I'd file bugs against any app that uses GB incorrectly... as far as dvd burning this is a regression with at least brasero

(- mediainfo does report correctly - 4.37 GIB
Taking a look at k3b - it use MIB & GIB so it also has no problems burning an iso that will fit like the one mentioned here

[OzzyFrank]

1. Is this a bug or was this change planned?
2. Is this a nautilus issue or ubuntu issue (ie. does nautilus on non ubuntu distro do the same thing)?

1. Read the bit above about g_format_size_for_display. It's what more and more apps rely on for filesize units. Obviously, not all do, hence most apps still reporting 4.38Gb for an iso but Nautilus reporting 4.7Gb.

2. Well, it's Ubuntu's unit policy change, so more apps will end up towing the line, but according to one person in the bug report I filed (link above), Nautilus currently shouldn't be one of them.

Also, one can't really single out Ubuntu as the bad guy here (or lunatic, take your pick), since I'm seeing people using other distros complaining about exactly the same thing. So is it then Nautilus... or Gnome 3... ?

Anyway, apparent Mac is going the same route, if it hasn't already, so seems the computing world at large is moving the clear up the confusion (someone mentioned Windows 7 is already decimal, but I wouldn't know). As long as web sites follow the trend, I'm OK with all that. But for Ubuntu to be leading the charge so early, when basically only the file manager is reporting those sizes, is silly and annoying, and doesn't do much for its reputation.