No more right click terminal

[Colin Walters]

On Sat, 2005-07-16 at 19:41 -0700, Jesse Keating wrote:
> On Sat, 2005-07-16 at 13:26 -0400, Colin Walters wrote:
> > All you do is drop files you want accessible publicly into your ~/Public
> > folder, and everyone else on the local area network can see them when
> > you go to "Computer->Network".  No need to know about IP addresses, ssh,
> > servers, etc.  Now if you're not on the same local network it won't
> > work, but if you are it can replace ssh/sftp/ftp in a much much better
> > way.
> > 

Sigh...I'm amazed that people react so violently to something I think is
so obviously useful.  I'll answer your email in reverse order:

> I strongly object this EVER making it into core without some
> administrative method of restricting access or the ability to 'turn it
> off'.  

I believe startup is keyed off a GConf preference.  When we integrate it
into the upcoming GNOME session services framework the GConf-keying
should happen automatically.

> Heck, I'd rather not see it there period.  User workstations are
> not for sharing files.  A file server is designed and useful for that.
> The sysadmin in my shudders w/ terror.

Right, so next time I go to a coffee shop with a friend and want to
share files, we'll just haul along my enterprise file server...

Seriously, even at work at Red Hat's Westford office where we do have a
file server it's been really useful.  I don't use the file server
because the normal usage requires I have a NFS home directory, and NFS
sucks with laptops.  I want to be able to unplug my laptop and go.

It's significantly easier for me to drag and drop a patch into my
~/Public directory and tell my coworkers to find it on
"Computer->Network->walters' Files" than it is to scp it to the file
server, and have them (likely) scp it off.  

I might also note it's also more efficient in terms of network usage.

On to your technical questions:

> Er, what protocol does this use to share? 

HTTP; it runs Apache as your user.

>  What authentication methods
> are there? 

None, the idea is the files are public.

>  What ports does it use? 

It's dynamically bound and announced via Rendezvous. 

>  Why would there suddenly be a
> publicly viewable folder WITHIN MY HOME DIR?!

Isn't that what many installations of Apache have done for years with
~/public_html off your file server?