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As KDE crashes, when the root partition is full, it is definitely a system function to warn the user if e.g. the root partition has less than 1 GB free.

So my Proposition is: There should appear a Notification with a big exclamation mark, when the root partition is nearly full!

I have a netbook with kde on it. The root partition never has more than 1GB free...

So I'm not sure at what level such a message should show up. Perhaps at 90% or 95% of the patition size.

But I'm okay with the principle.

For that situations this functionality should be configurable, and the user should be able to per-partition enable/disable it, and also to define the warn level (percent, at least X mbs free..) for each one.

Besides if i'm not wrong any external drive should have an unique ID / serial number. If that's true it should also keep a drive history with the config of each one (of course by default disabled, so new drives should not show the warning unless you explicitly configure it for them).

Regards

Mamonetti wrote:For that situations this functionality should be configurable,
Regards

YES, this is very important. I only have a 500 MB root partition (FreeBSD default).

A sane default would be to say if the partition holding $HOME/.kde is nearly full, because this will give kde problems when logging in, and thus be more correct.

Do not forget /var or /tmp partitions!

Also don't forget that the user is not the admin, and should not be concerned with system-problems, so all of this should be opt-in.

I disagree - if such things affect the user, eg by lagging, then yes they should be able to receive feedback as to what's going on. Admins shouldn't just log-in like that anyway on a safe system, and it'd be much easier if a user can tell an admin "hey I've been receiving these notifications" and they understand exactly what's going on intstead of simply having to guess at the problem.

+1 gnome already does this btw (recently got a warning only 2.5GB was left) not only that but it even started a program that showed disk space usage (the gnome variant of konqueror file size view)

kde should also reserve some diskspace so, which it can use in emergency situations so it can always start up!

This is a system-level problem, not a software one. The first thing is that you should ensure that you have set an alias so that you get root's mail. When your root partition is 90% full it will almost certainly be recorded in your logs. Install and run Logwatch. Under Mandriva it's rather over-verbose, but basically it gives a summary of your system activity. You can skip over any sections that you know are the same every day, watching for important changes. It's possible to limit the logs that are checked. Under Fedora, the things I like to see most are software installs and updates, failed logins, and a disk space report. Logwatch mails the summary to root daily, when the system does its housekeeping.

So why can gnome warn and kde can't? Stuff like this should be basics, either make it so kde can still login with a full disk or warn in advance

annew wrote:This is a system-level problem...

The first thing is that you should ensure that you have set an alias so that you get root's mail...

Install and run Logwatch...

You can skip over any sections that you know are the same every day, watching for important changes.

Yes, but part of a desktop environment's job is helping the average user manage the system level stuff. It may be technically more challenging than managing the user-world but it would be short-sighted for the KDE workspace to wash it's hands of it simply on the basis that it isn't a "desktop issue".

This is a potential cause for scary error(*1) which is both common and easily avoided if the user is given appropriate advice. There is no question in my mind therefore that the system should notify the user without the need for configuration.

The average user interacts with their system though the desktop and so this is the appropriate channel though which communicate with them (an average desktop user doesn't expect to have to read system log mails).

Obviously if KDE "takes responsibility" for making sure the user is notified on an out-of-the-box system, it needs to be done in a sane way that doesn't mess too much with the system-level configuration and can be turned off.

aside: Finally, my root partition was getting pretty full so I used the excellent filelight to have a poke around and most of it (several gig) was taken up with plasma-theme caching. It seems crazy that old caches are kept when they are so big.

maninalift wrote:This is a potential cause for scary error(*1)

not sure what happened there, meant to add a foot note:

(1) scary error: loosing the ability to log in to your desktop is a big "ground falling away beneath your feet" experience. Particularly if it is the only access to an internet connection which is most likely the main source of help. I'm sure this has caused more than a few complete uninstalls in it's time. An over-reaction maybe but as a consequence of being faced with a problem rather than a timely notification.

What is wrong with kdiskfree? Doesn't it already do this?

TheBlackCat wrote:What is wrong with kdiskfree? Doesn't it already do this?

it doesnt warn, so when it is full it will be too late and you can't log in graphically anymore, look at how gnome does it this warning. why can't kde have this simple user friendly warning