[Cyberduck-trac] [Cyberduck] #10719: Editing with BBEdit sometimes opens file from Trash, then losing any further changes

Thu Feb 20 14:17:10 UTC 2020

#10719: Editing with BBEdit sometimes opens file from Trash, then losing any
further changes
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 Reporter:  tempelmann  |         Owner:  dkocher
     Type:  defect      |        Status:  reopened
 Priority:  normal      |     Milestone:  7.0
Component:  core        |       Version:  6.9.4
 Severity:  major       |    Resolution:
 Keywords:  edit trash  |  Architecture:  Intel
 Platform:              |
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Changes (by matthew):

 * status:  closed => reopened
 * resolution:  duplicate =>

Comment:

 With the latest version (Cyberduck 7.2.5), this bug still occurs.  It is
 uncommon for CyberDuck to get into this state, but I have seen it very
 many times over the years.  I believe I have seen it with editors other
 than BBEdit (in the past I used Smultron), but I don't have historical
 data to double-check that.

 This is a very clearly described bug.  To me it does not look like a
 duplicate of 10079, which looks like a vague "uploading failed, not
 repeatable" bug -- I would have no idea how to address that, if I were a
 developer.  But this bug is much more specific and has a clear foothold
 for debugging:  Why would CyberDuck ever say "Prepare thefilename
 (Trash)"?

 My experience matches tempelmann's.

 This bug usually hits me when I am using my laptop, moving between various
 internet connections (at work, at home, at a cafe, etc.), and CyberDuck
 has to keep re-establishing the FTP connection (I hit save in the editor,
 the upload fails, the connection goes grey in CyberDuck, it tries again
 after a few seconds, it establishes a new connection, the upload works --
 all automatic, because CyberDuck is so nice!).  Sometimes my editing
 window becomes "stale" in some way I don't understand -- maybe it is
 wedded to the previous FTP connection somehow.  I think of this staleness
 and this bug as being the same, but I never really looked into it before
 now.  The staleness is clearly identifiable by the messed-up filename (see
 point 4 below).

 It looks like a bug in both CyberDuck and BBEdit.  Point 5 below looks
 like a CyberDuck bug, and point 6 below looks like a BBEdit bug.  And it
 looks like CyberDuck is responsible for things getting into this messed-up
 state in the first place, but who knows.

 More observations:
 3. The problem is associated with the file.  Other files from the same
 server in the same BBEdit window continue to work normally.  Closing the
 problematic file in BBEdit and then reopening it by double-clicking it in
 CyberDuck downloads the file from the server again (CyberDuck produces the
 alert saying the download was successful) but BBEdit shows the trash file
 again (which is where your edits were saved), so it *looks* like
 everything is normal and you are editing the downloaded file which
 contains your latest edits, but this is an illusion -- in fact in BBEdit
 you are just seeing and editing the trash file again, not the downloaded
 file!  The trash file only appears in BBEdit after the download succeeds,
 so things *feel* like they are working normally.  It is not immediately
 obvious that in fact nothing is working and all your work that you keep
 saving is just all going in the trash.
 4. The trash file has a name like "enter 00-59-24-222.php" when the actual
 filename is "enter.php".  (Once you know to look for this, this strange
 filename being displayed by the editor is the main clue that things are
 messed up.)  Maybe this is a clue for where the problem is coming from?
 If I delete this file from the trash, after closing it in BBEdit, then
 when I try to reload the file (by double-clicking in CyberDuck), CyberDuck
 downloads the file successfully (according to the notification it puts
 up), after which BBEdit says: "This operation couldn't be completed,
 because an error occurred. File not found (macOS error code: -43)."  Other
 files, even with the same name (different directory), open in BBEdit just
 fine via CyberDuck, but trying to open the problematic file always leads
 to this error.
 5. If I hunt down the local location of the file, in
 /private/var/folders/..., then I see that the file is alternately
 appearing and disappearing.  In other words, every time I try to reload
 the file (after deleting it from the trash) as described in the previous
 paragraph, (1) CyberDuck appears to succeed while BBEdit gives an error
 message, and (2) the file either appears or disappears (it alternates)
 from the directory-mapped structure on the local disk (where I see copies
 of the server files that I am editing, including their parent directories,
 all the way up to the top server directory that CyberDuck is accessing via
 FTP).  This certainly makes it look like the bug is not entirely on the
 BBEdit side of things.  If the file has not been deleted from the trash,
 then BBEdit opens the trash file after the download, but [I would guess]
 the "real" directory-mapped local file is still disappearing and
 reappearing.
 6. If I drag the local file (after one of the times where it appears
 instead of disappearing) into BBEdit, then BBEdit still gives exactly the
 same error, "File not found (macOS error code: -43)."  In fact it puts up
 that alert panel twice, for some reason.  This certainly makes it look
 like the bug is not entirely on the CyberDuck side of things.  Quick Look
 can show me the file contents just fine, and I can even edit the file with
 TextEdit and when I save, then CyberDuck uploads the file just fine!  But
 even if I drag the file icon from TextEdit to BBEdit, BBEdit complains
 about "file not found"!  This suggests that some kind of meta-data (OS
 flags or extended attributes or who knows) about the file is messed up.
 Or maybe meta-data in the parent directory is messed up?  Because deleting
 the file (by dragging to trash) and re-downloading it (creating a new
 file) does not fix the problem.
 7. Restarting CyberDuck did not fix the problem.  It continued as before.
 Then, restarting BBEdit, the problem went away.  Saving from BBEdit
 successfully uploaded the file.  So it looks like the messed-up state is
 somehow maintained by BBEdit.  How the messed-up state arises in the first
 place, I can't say, but I've only seen it happen with files provided by
 CyberDuck.

 If there is other information you need, let me know.  This is just an
 occasional bug, but it does come up every so often, so I could check more
 things the next time it happens, if there is anything else to check.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.cyberduck.io/ticket/10719#comment:4>
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