Maybe that report is about Nautilus (through GVFS) and not gnome-volume-manager ?

(In reply to comment #0)
> I understand that this change occurred for technical reasons, but in my opinion
> it constitutes a clear usability regression. First, it is difficult to find the
> tool now because the file manager preferences is not the obvious place to find
> such preferences. I consider myself a pretty experienced Gnome user, having
> used it for a few years now, and I wasn't able to find it. Secondly, other
> comparable preferences are still in the "Removable Drives and Media" tool,
> which causes inconsistency.

I fully agree. Worse, RD&M still has a checkbox for "Burn a CD or DVD when a blank disc is inserted" which will be silently overridden by FM->Media settings.

If these options are to stay in FM->Media, then I would propose a menu entry in System with a title something like RD&M which shortcuts to the FM->Media tab.  Having such a shortcut in the right-click menu for the desktop volume icon wouldn't be a bad idea either.

just want to add my voice to the dissatisfied.  before 2.22, i had a custom command when an audio cd was inserted, which ripped my cd to flac & mp3, synced the files to my collection, and ejected the disk.  it was incredibly useful to me.  now there's no way to enable that script automatically on disk insert.  seems like an obvious regression, really interferes with my workflow.

I think that this should be assigned to nautilus maintainers instead of gnome-volume-manager

Agree (as said above)
how can we change this ?

This workaround seems interesting:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=444639

(In reply to comment #6)
> This workaround seems interesting:
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=444639
> 

This link requests that "Ask User" be the default for everything.  None of the posts here is requesting that.

There's nothing wrong with the existing functionality (except as noted in comment #3).  It's just in a non-intuitive place.

As regards comment #3, I agree.  RM&D allows you to supply a custom command, so if Nautilus is going to take over this function, it should as well.

(In reply to comment #7)
> (In reply to comment #6)
> > This workaround seems interesting:
> > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=444639
> > 
> 
> This link requests that "Ask User" be the default for everything.  None of the
> posts here is requesting that.
> 

It is only a workaround for problem reported in original post:
__

First, it is difficult to find the
tool now because the file manager preferences is not the obvious place to find
such preferences...
__

This would allow users easily configure app to use

(In reply to comment #4)
> I think that this should be assigned to nautilus maintainers instead of
> gnome-volume-manager

I think this is an example of where a bug should be capable of applying to two different components.

I think gnome-volume-manager is more or less the right component, because that is where the preferences should appear...

But, since there hasn't been much response to this bug from gnome-volume-manager developers, let's try reassigning to nautilus.

Just to add a completely different case where this bug is a serious problem:

I am a Kubuntu (KDE) user, with some gnome packages installed, and at some point not long ago suddenly all my media started to autoplay without asking me, in gnome apps.  And until just now when I found an Ubuntu bug ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-volume-manager/+bug/202457 ) about this I had no clue how to fix it -  I tried gnome-control-center and selecting Removable Drives and Media, but it was missing the relevant tabs, which Google said it should have.  I also tried gconf-editor and the autoplay settings were already off.  

Being in KDE, how could I know that I need to run nautilus-file-management-properties to make totem stop autoplaying DVDs instead of running gnome-volume-properties or a similar Gnome Control Center app?

I think everybody agrees that the current situation is more than unfortunate, and I am a bit clueless how this can be solved in a satisfying manner.

Some ideas:

1. Get rid of Nautilus hotplug handling.

2. Get rid of gnome-volume-manager and move the entire hotplug functionality into Nautilus.

3. Use IPC or a shared library (or a statically linked one, like libbackground) for displaying the "Media" UI page of nautilus-file-management-properties in gnome-volume-manager. 

4. Add a "Volumes" button to the gnome-volume-manager, which launches nautilus-file-management-properties with a parameters that triggers displaying of the "Media" tab.

I'd actually prefer 1, because it also works for people who do not use Nautilus to draw the desktop. This would totally separate this functionality, and ship both the UI and the entire hotplugging backend code in one package - which is why we added gnome-volume-manager, right?

CCing David Zeuthen. Maybe you could briefly explain why we currently have this architecture, and did not port gnome-volume-manager to GIO and to the new x-content MIME association system?

i like Christian Neumair proposal : it seems logical and coherent to me

(In reply to comment #11)
> I think everybody agrees that the current situation is more than unfortunate,
> and I am a bit clueless how this can be solved in a satisfying manner.

Disagree there is any unfortunate situation. I do see a lot of confused people though.

> 2. Get rid of gnome-volume-manager and move the entire hotplug functionality
> into Nautilus.

That's already how it works. We don't ship g-v-m in Fedora 9. Things work just fine. What (non-crack [1]) feature are you missing in Nautilus that was in g-v-m?

      David

[1] : With crack features in g-v-m, I mean all the UI to handle non-storage and non-digital-camera devices

(In reply to comment #11)
> CCing David Zeuthen. Maybe you could briefly explain why we currently have this
> architecture, and did not port gnome-volume-manager to GIO and to the new
> x-content MIME association system?

Because

 a) the g-v-m codebase is largely unmaintained

 b) g-v-m grew a lot of crack features totally unsuitable for it
    - for example handling hotplug of input devices (which should be
      and now is properly handled in X.org)
      
 b) it makes no sense to waste another process for automounting 
    when this can be done in the file manager. In addition it
    makes no sense to waste space for yet another preference
    capplet (people are trying to reduce the number of these)

 c) the port to GIO/GVFS (to handle e.g. non-block-devices) would
    warrant a rewrite anyway

Hope this explains.

I see where you are coming from.

However, putting these preferences into the file manager preference dialog is bad practice, because *nobody* associates video DVDs or audio CDs with a file manager.

I am leaning towards splitting out the media preferences interface into a new dialog, and installing a capplet for it. Let's CC the usability squad for some opinions.

As I pointed out abote, we still do not handle volume hotplugging if you do not use Nautilus to draw the desktop (i.e. you unset "/apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop").


Regarding "With crack features in g-v-m, I mean all the UI to handle non-storage and non-digital-camera devices":

I certainly agree that handling input devices is not necessary, but what's wrong with automatically launching software as you connect video cameras, webcams, PDAs, scanners or some multi-functional printing station?

I temporarily plug a scanner into my laptop, and I like how the vendor's Windows driver asks me how to proceed. After all, we once saw a necessity for handling them, or g-v-m wouldn't have been shipped.


I am a bit irritated how you presume that everybody uses a certain set S1 of hotpluggable devices like

 1. plug it in
 2. manually launch an application

while the very same people are supposed to use another set S2 of hotpluggable devices like

 1. plug it in
 2. be asked what to do - i.e. be provided with guidance

especially since some of them (video cameras) may potentially be used as storage devices (=> S1) or "non-storage (...) device" (=> S2).

I don't see any reason for generalizing a distributor's policy on hotplug devices.

1°) As  Matthew East said, definitively having to go to Edition>Preferences menu of Nautilus to set how audio cds are handled is hardly discoverable and intuitive.
We need an entry in main menu System>Preferences that could regroup all settings for removable devices audio cds, cameras, camcorders, printers, blank disc, etc. like before with the "Removable Drives and Media" tool

2°) Besides, we need to have a "choose another application" option which would open a list of compatible applications based upon MIME type
Here is a screenshot of application chooser from document MIME type
http://launchpadlibrarian.net/12511533/MIME%20selector.png
Shall i fill another bug report concerning that point ?
Also Matt Price has requested above a "set your a custom
command" option 

3°)  Christian Neumair said "As I pointed out above, we still do not handle volume hotplugging if you do not use Nautilus to draw the desktop (i.e. you unset
"/apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop")."
i'm not sure to understand this point, but maybe we need to consider new GUI like Ubuntu Netbook Remix where the desktop is only a launcher, without files or icons ?

(In reply to comment #15)
> I am leaning towards splitting out the media preferences interface into a new
> dialog, and installing a capplet for it. Let's CC the usability squad for some
> opinions.

Yay. Because we really need more capplets. </irony>

A better solution would be to rename "File Management" (which is kinda an odd term to begin with btw) to "Files and Media" and change the icon so it also includes some graphical representation of media in addition to what now looks like a cupboard; for example add a small CD or something.

Either way, I'm not 100% opposed to splitting the capplet in two if you so insist. It's certainly true some people can't find the settings right now. But I think it's just because it's a change. And most people hate change. And then they insult developers trying to make things better. Etc. etc.

> As I pointed out abote, we still do not handle volume hotplugging if you do not
> use Nautilus to draw the desktop (i.e. you unset
> "/apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop").

That can easily be fixed I believe. 

Either way the correct fix here is to remove the show_desktop option altogether and ignore users complaining. It's an uphill battle trying to try and please everybody especially the kind of people who like to mix components from several desktops. Good luck if you insist of trying to continue to do this. Just my opinion of course etc. etc.

> I certainly agree that handling input devices is not necessary, but what's
> wrong with automatically launching software as you connect video cameras,
> webcams, PDAs, scanners or some multi-functional printing station?

Because trying to stuff everything into a single program is bound for failure.

We saw that with g-v-m. It failed (being replaced by nautilus). We saw that with HAL. It too failed (it's being replaced by other stuff now). We're partly seeing that with Evolution (Contacts, Dates, etc.). Windows. Etc. Etc.

Based on my experience trying to do this, here's the thing: you end up with a kitchen sink that a) is poorly maintained; b) does a few things; c) doesn't do any of the things well. This is primarily because the maintainer can't be a domain expert on anything. It also inhibits innovation trying to do this. For example for people working on integrating scanner stuff they should write their own small daemon or their own plug-in to gnome-settings-daemon. Ditto for other stuff.

> I am a bit irritated [...]

I too am irritated. You're second guessing decisions already made in concert with Nautilus maintainers.

Let's stay on topic here.  Re-reading the original post, I don't think that the poster (or I myself) give a rat's whatever about which component owns the responsibility for this function.  We're simply asking that the menu path to it be rearranged to be more intuitive.

To a casual user of GNOME, the nautilus dialog launched by double clicking "home" or some other directory icon looks like a file browser, period.  And that's why having to go through it to find volume mount preferences is counter-intuitive.

All that needs to be done here is to add a Media Preferences (or whatever) menu entry to the System -> Preferences menu which goes to the associated tab of the nautilus preferences dialog.  And to give that dialog the same level of function that the old g-v-m dialog had, e.g. custom commands.

I don't think anybody cares whether this is part of nautilus or g-v-m or whatever.  We just want our users to be able to find the damn thing and have it do everything the older implementation did.

(In reply to comment #17)
> Either way, I'm not 100% opposed to splitting the capplet in two if you so
> insist. It's certainly true some people can't find the settings right now. But
> I think it's just because it's a change. And most people hate change. And then
> they insult developers trying to make things better. Etc. etc.

That's absolutely not true in this case.

(In reply to comment #17)

> A better solution would be to rename "File Management" (which is kinda an odd
> term to begin with btw) to "Files and Media" and change the icon so it also
> includes some graphical representation of media in addition to what now looks
> like a cupboard; for example add a small CD or something.

If we decide to go this way, this bug would be a duplicate of bug 527197.

Maybe other option would be move this options to default-applications capplet from gnome-control-center, I have seen that in its "multimedia" tab users are also able to set a default player

There is no Media tab in gnome-volume-properties (accessible from System / Preferences / Removable Drives & Media). Some or all of these options have been moved to Nautilus > Edit > Preferences > Media. This is confusing for many users (me included). See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=381041 and http://ph.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=824525
There should be a single central point of setting up default actions and default programs for removable media, memory cards, cameras, mp3 players and others. System / Preferences / Removable Drives & Media was good. Why was it split to Nautilus? No one would look for that there.

Hi,
  just a comment from an "average joe" - I only found the option after searching the net.
I don't think anyone would find it by themselves.

"GNOME's focus is EASE OF USE"


Also many people (myself included) expect to be able to choose what software they use to play a cd or dvd.
They used to be able to do that, now they can't.

"GNOME... provides all of the common tools computer users expect of a modern computing environment"

I don't care where I will be able to change the media preferences as long as

a) I can find where I can do it without spending half an hour on various bug tracking sites,

b) I get the same functionality I have been used to.

This is not the case. Currently, there is no obvious way to _selectively_ disable media automounting. The "Storage" tab from gnome-volume-properties is gone. The "Media" tab in FM Preferences does not have this functionality. Let's say I want Totem to start when a DVD is inserted, but I don't want USB pen drives or external HDs to automount. It does not seem to be possible.

There might be technical reasons behind the change, but _please_ make sure the replacement is as capable as the stuff being replaced, before taking away functionality.

*** Bug 522927 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

comment 18 is a good summary of current situation (still in GNOME 2.28) :
"All that needs to be done here is to add a Media Preferences (or whatever) menu
entry to the System -> Preferences menu which goes to the associated tab of the
nautilus preferences dialog.  And to give that dialog the same level of
function that the old g-v-m dialog had, e.g. custom commands."

Any chance to get a fix for that ?
At present time Nautilus reflects the developer's model rather than the
user's model.
That's a bug in usability that need to be fixed since user can't easily find how to set Media Preferences

(In reply to comment #26)

> entry to the System -> Preferences menu which goes to the associated tab of the
> nautilus preferences dialog.  And to give that dialog the same level of
> function that the old g-v-m dialog had, e.g. custom commands."

I don't agree we need another entry in the Control Center.
I think it's a good idea to rename the existing entry though to make it clearer that it handles media as well, and this is certainly something that we'd like to do for 2.30. David, what do you think?

Also, custom commands are already working again, probably even since 2.26.

*** Bug 527197 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

(In reply to comment #27)
> I don't agree we need another entry in the Control Center.
> I think it's a good idea to rename the existing entry though to make it clearer
> that it handles media as well, and this is certainly something that we'd like
> to do for 2.30. David, what do you think?

As discussed on IRC, the whole control-center probably needs major surgery including working search etc. Anyway, just renaming "File Management" for the time being works for me. Thanks.

I've read in GNOME Commit-Digest Issue 112 November 28, 2010 : Cosimo Cecchi started porting the “removable media” preferences tab of Nautilus to be a new control center panel.

Yeah, forgot to close this; it's now 'Removable Media' in the control-center, which got splitted from Nautilus preferences (which is not a control center panel anymore).

Closing as FIXED.

Thank you Cosimo Cecchi for that improvement :-)