Sugar cannot upload images from the Journal to TRAC

[gnu]

I was reporting #8747 from a real computer, and decided to try to upload the faulty screen image from my XO.

On the XO, from the copy of Browse that was showing the faulty screen image, I selected the entire URL and pressed Ctrl-C to copy it. An icon appeared in the lower left corner of the screen. I then navigated to dev.laptop.org/ticket/8747, logged in, pressed "Attach File", and got to the "Add Attachment to Ticket #8747" page, which has a place to enter "File (size limit 19 MB)", a button to Browse (the local filesystem), and a description field.

I could click in the File text input box, and type, but I could not Paste into it. I tried Ctrl-V. I tried Shift-Ctrl-V. Nothing happened. I tried bringing up the Frame and dragging the icon into the text box. That replaced the whole page (with an error page saying it couldn't access that file). I tried clicking the Browse (local filesystem) button. Of course you can't Browse in a laptop that doesn't have a file browser or a file open dialogue. Of course it didn't bring up the Journal. It didn't do anything.

The file name involved was a long, long, long name saying something about /isolation and a long random name ending in .jpg I was not about to try copying it out on paper and then switching web pages and then try typing it in from paper. For all I know, Browse is not *permitted* to access this file in the Journal, because it was created by a different "Activity" running under a different UID.

It is long overdue for OLPC to throw out the whole Journal/Datastore paradigm -- and the crappy nonfunctional Sugarized software -- and replace it with the workhorse software that runs on every other Linux system. The software every XO developer uses to get their work done, every day.

But hey, as long as the majority of XO users have no real filesystem or browser, and have no real computer accessible to them, they sure won't report very many bugs...which makes the Sugar developers' life much easier. And when nobody can develop on the machine, not because the machine or the kids are incapable, but because the UI doesn't allow it and the paradigm doesn't ever teach them about hierarchical filesystems, there isn't all the hassle of integrating patch contributions from hundreds of thousands of kids.

[Eben]

Replying to gnu:

I was reporting #8747 from a real computer, and decided to try to upload the faulty screen image from my XO.

This should defiinitely be possible; I believe many screenshots have beennn attached to tickets this way.

I could click in the File text input box, and type, but I could not Paste into it. I tried Ctrl-V. I tried Shift-Ctrl-V. Nothing happened. I tried bringing up the Frame and dragging the icon into the text box. That replaced the whole page (with an error page saying it couldn't access that file). I tried clicking the Browse (local filesystem) button. Of course you can't Browse in a laptop that doesn't have a file browser or a file open dialogue. Of course it didn't bring up the Journal. It didn't do anything.

I confirmed that you can't paste into the feild. However, this is not a Sugar bug. That field doesn't accept manual entry either, and instead only serves to display the filename chosen with the browse button. It shouldn't be an entry, really. I tried pasting the URL into the description field, which worked fine by ctrl-V, the paste button in the toolbar, and drag'n'drop (example: file:///home/olpc/isolation/1/uid_to_instance_dir/10011/c902676a-9e93-48fe-880d-620c62fb8860.png)

The Browse button is another story. Though there isn't a hierarchical browser, as you state, that doesn't mean there is no way to choose files. We have an object chooser very much like the Journal for this purpose. After playing a bit, I discovered the problem, which is that the chooser appeared not within the window that invoked it, but instead within the most recent browse instace (in this case, the one with the image shown in it). Moreover, since that dialog wasn't modal in the instance I invoked it from, it allowed me to spawn 20+ chooser windows, which I had to close individually.

In the end, choosing a file in the other window did correctly enter the flename into the entry field on the ticket. After this comment, I will attempt that again and complete the upload for confirmation that it works.

In any case, this bug is somewhat serious, as it breaks our activity model, and will prevent many from uploading to various places, including our bug tracker. I propose that this needs a fix for 8.2.1 if possible.

The file name involved was a long, long, long name saying something about /isolation and a long random name ending in .jpg I was not about to try copying it out on paper and then switching web pages and then try typing it in from paper. For all I know, Browse is not *permitted* to access this file in the Journal, because it was created by a different "Activity" running under a different UID. It is long overdue for OLPC to throw out the whole Journal/Datastore paradigm -- and the crappy nonfunctional Sugarized software -- and replace it with the workhorse software that runs on every other Linux system. The software every XO developer uses to get their work done, every day. But hey, as long as the majority of XO users have no real filesystem or browser, and have no real computer accessible to them, they sure won't report very many bugs...which makes the Sugar developers' life much easier. And when nobody can develop on the machine, not because the machine or the kids are incapable, but because the UI doesn't allow it and the paradigm doesn't ever teach them about hierarchical filesystems, there isn't all the hassle of integrating patch contributions from hundreds of thousands of kids.

[Eben]

Chosen from a chooser in another Browse instance.

[mstone-xmlrpc]

changed by irc user cjb:

[thomaswamm]

#8187 reports an intermittent bug related to uploading from Journal thru Browse to Trac. The process can be made to work, but can be aggravating and does need fixing in my opinion.

Regarding Sugar/Journal paradigm vs. standard Linux/Mac/Windows paradigm, I want to see the attempt made to establish a new simpler paradigm for young kids and uneducated adults. Very few humans become computer engineers, but many can become computer users if not initially scared away by overwhelming complexity. OLPC is trying to address the huge educational gap between the least and most educated peoples. New tools are needed.

[thomaswamm]

Oh, I see that #1053 has the big discussion about new vs. old paradigms. I should have put my 2 cents in there.

[thomaswamm]

Screenshot of Measure, uploaded from Journal thru Browse to Trac, using 8.2-767, just to prove it is do-able.

[LuisVilla]

Shouldn't this be marked a dup of #7498 and/or #1053? Either way, AFAICS the discussions/details/complaints should be moved elsewhere.

[FWIW, I'm also seeing this in sugar-browse 99, but bug #7498 says it is fixed in 100.]

[mstone-xmlrpc]

Pushing out to 9.1.0, per edmcnierney's request.