[dolphin] [Bug 452641] New: [UX] "Could not read" dialog for many files during copy operation

[Brennan Kinney]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=452641

            Bug ID: 452641
           Summary: [UX] "Could not read" dialog for many files during
                    copy operation
           Product: dolphin
           Version: 21.12.3
          Platform: Manjaro
                OS: Linux
            Status: REPORTED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: NOR
         Component: general
          Assignee: dolphin-bugs-null at kde.org
          Reporter: polarathene-signup at hotmail.com
                CC: kfm-devel at kde.org
  Target Milestone: ---

SUMMARY

When copying a large project folder to another device, I was unaware of some
nested content with root ownership that had read permission denied to my user.

Unlike being ignored by Ark without warning, Dolphin correctly pointed this
problem out. However the number of affected files was unclear, yet at the same
time I wanted to be aware to make note of them. This is not feasible to skip
each entry in order to do so if there is over 100 items. Nor is Skip All valid
as that information is lost.

Doing a copy operation via Dolphin, encountering a read access failure during
the progress will create dialogs "Could not read" with
Retry/Skip/Skip-All/Cancel options. That is a UX problem when the number of
files that would raise this warning is large:

- "Retry" is useful if opting to correct permissions each time prompted during
the transfer, though in some contexts that's not desirable, it'd be better if
that context could prompt for auth (retaining the original
ownership/permissions at the destination), applying to any other content that
would trigger the same failure context instead of additional prompts or skip
all.
- "Skip" is useful when the affected paths should be noted down to address
afterwards.. but is not pleasant if there's over 100 dialogs like this for very
similar paths (usually many having common parents), especially when it's spread
out across a long-lived transfer requiring user attention to avoid blocking the
transfer.
- "Skip All" becomes the preferred action when it's frustrating to respond to
an unknown amount of dialogs like this, but at the expense that you lose what
those affected file paths were as a result.


STEPS TO REPRODUCE

1.  Copy the contents of a directory with many files or folders lacking read
access to your user.
2. Skip each item to get the affected files. Careful while clicking Skip as
placement can jump.


OBSERVED RESULT

Frustrating experience to Skip each entry to be aware of each path affected.


EXPECTED RESULT

Notify with a list of paths, or some option to Skip All but log them for
referencing afterwards.


SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma:  X11 with Kernel 5.15.28
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.91.0
Qt Version: 5.15.3


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

I realize this is possibly quite niche to resolve.. After all there is "Skip
All" as an escape hatch in this situation, but then it's not obvious what the
affected files were.

A variant of Retry given the context of the failure might be viable by
prompting for auth makes sense, otherwise a variant of Skip All that can
collect a list/log of paths is better than manually skipping individual files
(especially when the number of affected files is unknown, and they often share
a common sibling, plus prompts spread out across a transfer as it occurs
blocking the transfer progress).

Presently Dolphin will block when hitting the problem unless using Skip All.
Having the option to defer individual/bulk actions would seem appropriate and
would not impede the transfer for unaffected files. If dialog prompts during
transfer is appropriate, deferring these decisions to a prompt at the end seems
just as valid?

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