GNOME Files

Files

Screenshot of GNOME Files 3.14
Developer(s)	GNOME
Initial release	March 13, 2001
Stable release	3.22.2 (9 November 2016[1]) [±]
Preview release	3.23.2 (23 November 2016[2]) [±]
Repository	git.gnome.org/browse/nautilus
Written in	C (GTK+)
Operating system	Unix-like
Platform	GNOME
Available in	Multilingual
Type	File manager
License	GNU Lesser General Public License
Website	wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Nautilus

Whether GNOME Files shows a mount or not, is determined by the option x-gvfs-show for the gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor process.^[3] Screenshot of GNOME Disks.

GNOME Files, formerly and internally Nautilus, is the official file manager for the GNOME desktop. The nautilus name was a play on words, evoking the shell of a nautilus to represent an operating system shell. Nautilus replaced Midnight Commander in GNOME 1.4 (2001)^[4] and has been the default from version 2.0 onwards.

Nautilus was the flagship product of the now-defunct Eazel Inc. Released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, Nautilus is free software.

History

Nautilus was first released in 2001 and development has continued ever since. The following is a brief timeline of its development history:

• Version 1.0 was released on March 13, 2001,^[5] and incorporated into GNOME 1.4.^[6]
• Version 2.0 was a port to GTK+ 2.0.
• Version 2.2 included changes to make it more compliant with User Interface Guidelines.
• Version 2.4 switched the desktop folder to ~/Desktop (the ~ represents the user's "Home" folder) to be compliant with freedesktop.org standards.
• In the version included with GNOME 2.6, Nautilus switched to a spatial interface.^[7] The "classic" interface is still available by a filing cabinet shaped icon, by an option in the "Edit -> Preferences -> Behavior" menu in Nautilus, in a folder's context menu, and by using the "--browser" switch when started by a command via a launcher or shell. Several Linux distributions have made "browser" mode the default.
• GNOME 2.14 introduced a version of Nautilus with improved searching, integrated optional Beagle support and the ability to save searches as virtual folders.^[8][9]
• With the release of GNOME 2.22, Nautilus was ported to the newly introduced GVfs, the replacement virtual file system for the aging GnomeVFS.
• The 2.24 stable release of Nautilus adds some new features, mainly tabbed browsing and better tab completion.
• With GNOME 2.30, Nautilus reverted from a spatial interface to a browser navigational model^[10] by default.
• The 2.32 release introduced a dialog for handling conflicts when performing copy or move operation, transparency icon effect when cutting files into folder and enhanced the Wastebucket with Restore files.^[11] Besides, this is the last version that is based on GTK2 before the move to GNOME 3.0 with GTK3.
• GNOME 3.0 completely revamped the UX of Nautilus with focus on neat and elegant element like the sidebar and icons. Additionally, the Connect to Server dialog is also enhanced.^[12] Nautilus was ported to GTK3.
• Version 3.4 added Undo functionality.^[13]
• Version 3.6 introduced a revamped UI design, symbolic sidebar icon, new search feature, removal of many features such as setting window background, emblems, split pane mode, spatial mode, scripts, compact view mode and tree view. Nautilus' application name was renamed to Files, Though it is still called Nautilus internally in some distributions.^[14] These major changes led to a lot of criticism, and various vendors such as Linux Mint decided to fork version 3.4.^[15][16]
• Version 3.8 included a new option to view files and folders as a tree, a new Connect to Server item in the sidebar and incremental loading of search results.^[17]
• Version 3.10 introduced a slightly revamped UI design in which titlebars and toolbars were merged into a single element called header bars.
• Version 3.18 introduced integration with Google Drive^[18][19] and GOA (gnome-online-accounts)^[20] settings.

Features

Bookmarks, window backgrounds, notes, and add-on scripts are all implemented, and the user has the choice between icon, list, or compact list views. In browser mode, Nautilus keeps a history of visited folders, similar to web browsers, permitting quick revisiting of folders.

Nautilus can display previews of files in their icons, be they text files, images, sound or video files via thumbnailers such as Totem. Audio files are previewed (played back over GStreamer) when the pointer is hovering over them.

In earlier versions, Nautilus included original vectorized icons designed by Susan Kare.^[21]

File system abstraction

GNOME Files relies on the file system abstraction provided by GVfs to browse local and remote file systems, including but not limited to FTP sites, Windows SMB shares, OBEX protocol often implemented on cellphones, Files transferred over shell protocol, HTTP and WebDAV servers and SFTP servers.

Using the GIO library, Nautilus tracks modification of local files in real time, eliminating the need to refresh the display. GIO internally supports Gamin and FAM, Linux' inotify and Solaris' File Events Notification system.

File indexing and file search framework

GNOME Files relies on Tracker (formerly named "MetaTracker") to index file and is hence able to provide fast file search results.

Batch renaming

Batch renaming was introduced with GNOME Files version 3.22.^[22]

Archive handling

GNOME Files version 3.22 adds native, integrated file compression and decompression. By default, handling of archive files (e.g. .tar.gz) was handed off to File Roller (or another tool). Users now benefit from a progress bar, undo support, and an archive creation wizard.

The new "extract on open" behavior, which automatically extracts an archive file by double clicking it, can be disabled in the preferences.^[22]

MIME types

MIME types (also called "media type" or "content type") are standardized by the IANA, then the freedesktop.org project takes care that the implementation works across all free software desktops. shared-mime-info is the provided library.^[23] At this time, at least GNOME, KDE, Xfce and ROX use this database.

See also

Forks of Nautilus

Caja 1.12.7

• Caja – a fork of Nautilus; the MATE file manager
• Nemo – Linux Mint's Nautilus fork; the Cinnamon file manager
• Pantheon Files – Pantheon file manager (formerly named Marlin)

Other file managers

• Konqueror – KDE web browser and file manager
• Thunar – Xfce file manager
• Dolphin – KDE file manager
• PCManFM – LXDE file manager
• ROX-Filer – ROX Desktop file manager, usually used with JWM or IceWM

• Comparison of file managers

References

1. Clasen, Matthias (21 September 2016). "GNOME 3.22". gnome-announce-list (Mailing list). Retrieved 21 September 2016.
2. Clasen, Matthias (21 September 2016). "GNOME 3.22". gnome-announce-list (Mailing list). Retrieved 21 September 2016.
3. "udisks2/what-is-shown.txt"..
4. GNOME 1.4 Released: Desktop Environment Boasts Power, Stability, Polish and Integration (press release), GNOME Foundation, 2 April 2001, retrieved 13 September 2016
5. Michael Hall (March 15, 2001). "Review: Nautilus 1.0: Has Eazel Earned Its Place in GNOME?". LinuxPlanet. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
6. GNOME (April 2, 2001). "GNOME 1.4 Released – Desktop Environment Boasts Power, Stability, Polish and Integration". GNOME press release. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
7. Murray Cumming; Colin Charles (March 31, 2004). "What's New In GNOME 2.6". GNOME. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
8. Davyd Madeley (March 15, 2006). "GNOME 2.14 : What's New For Users". GNOME. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
9. Alexander Larsson (December 7, 2005). "Seek and Ye Shall Find". Alexander Larsson's blog. Archived from the original on 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
10. GNOME 2.30 release notes
11. GNOME 2.32 release notes
12. GNOME 3.0 release notes
13. GNOME 3.4 release notes
14. GNOME 3.6 release notes
15. Linux Mint team forks Nautilus
16. Introducing Nemo
17. Updates to GNOME Applications
18. "GNOME 3.18 Will Let You Access Your Google Drive Files in Nautilus". 2015-09-30.
19. "GNOME 3.18 lands with Google Drive". 2015-09-30.
20. "GNOME wiki: GnomeOnlineAccounts".
21. "Nautilus' contributors". GNOME. 2004. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
22. "Nautilus 3.22 Adds Batch File Renaming, Native Compression Features".
23. "shared-mime-info on freedesktop.org".

External links

• Project home page
• Introduction to spatial Nautilus