No delete or move to trash in context menu in some directories (gnome)

Question

On archlinux with gnome 3.16.1, in some directories, for example /srv/http/website/public/img/ I don't have options to delete a file , or move to trash, in the rightclick context menu . I have to use shift+del to delete a file.

In others, like /home/username/ I have these options.

It also seems, that I am the owner of the files in both cases and have rwx permissions. What else could be the reason?

Answer 1

My situation may be similar.

I have two Ubuntu gnome systems, one desktop and one laptop. Both have Apache installed in the default location of /var/www. On both I set myself to owner, and sometimes www-data as group.

I was perplexed that, using Nautilus, I could not delete file on the desktop using the delete key, but I could on the laptop. The desktop required right-clicking, and choosing delete. I later find out shift-delete would work, and neither method used the trash bin.

After much hair-pulling (well, not that much, as I don't have much), I realized the difference... my desktop has /var mounted in a separate partition.

It seems that Nautilus won't move a file to trash from a different partition, possibly only if you are not the owner of the root of that partition, so it can access the trash file on that partition. I don't really want to be the owner of the /var partition, so I never tested this out. Perhaps there is a way to mount the partition that would allow it. There is some discussion about a similar problem on launchpad.

One problem with having a trashcan outside the user's directory that is r/w by normal users may be that other users may be able to see each other's files.

I hope at least to point out the possible reason, if not the solution.

Answer 2

This could happen because you'd not have the permission to the "Trash" folder for that particular partition. Every partition has a hidden folder by the name .trash-### (where the hashes denote some number). Perhaps you don't have the permission for that folder. Try changing permissions of that folder.

Answer 3

sudo rm -rf /home/yourusername/.local/share/Trash && 
    mkdir /home/yourusername/.local/share/Trash

Answer 4

I encountered somewhat similar problem in Gnome Files.

For all folder and files in my home dir, Gnome Files shows Move to Trash in context menu. But for files/folder in another device the context menu shows Delete Permanently. For example, if folder /orange is mounted on a separate partition/disk then for all files/folders under it the Move to Trash is not enabled.

This is because Files auto creates Trash dir under $HOME/.local/share. However as there is no Trash for /orange mount point the Move to trash is not enabled for /orange. To overcome this create Trash folder for each user in /orange. If uid of user foo is 1000 then create /orange/.Trash-1000 and change its owner to foo.

sudo mkdir /orange/.Trash-1000
sudo chown foo:foo /orange/.Trash-1000

Now Move to Trash is enabled in context menu of all files/folders under /orange.