Shortcuts pane: "root" label in "run as root" mode

[noyannus]

Introduction

Welcome to the project, if you pick up this Issue because of the "GOOD FIRST USE" label. You will be mentored through the process if you want. First the Issue is explained. At the end you will find some guidance for first contributors. Please do not hesitate to ask questions. Your solution don't need to be perfect.

Participation or contribution is not recommended unless you are familiar with Back In Time and are an active user. This project is not intended for learning basic Python skills or enhancing your profile at Microsoft GitHub.

Problem & suggested solution

In the Shortcuts pane, there is Root and Home that open the respective content lists. When BiT is run as user, it points to the user's home folder, which is fine. Run as root, "Home" points to root's home folder, which is also fine, but the name is misleading here. It would be more clear to rename that pointer to "Root" or "/root". To avoid confusion of / "Root" and /root "Root", what is now "Root" (/) ought to be named more specifically, e.g. "Filesystem" or "Root Filesystem" or "Filesystem Root". If space is at a premium, omit the icons.

Your next steps

1. If this is your first contribution in this project please introduce your self and tell us about your skills, wishes and plans. Also let us know how you found the issue and the project.
2. Read the existing contributors documentation.
3. We can develop the next steps in the further discussion. Don't hesitate to ask.

Original post

Two cosmetic points that might make their way into a general GUI overhaul.

• Get rid of that pesky "Main profile". The name is not meaningful and not editable, so one has to take notes what that profile actually does, or disable it altogether. Still when the GUI is launched, "Main profile" is opened first and complains if it can't find its backup folder. That in turn can be mitigated with a dummy backup folder that is always available (I use /root/.backintime-dummy/ and /home/user/.backintime-dummy/), but this is an ugly situation. I guess "Main profile" is a leftover from very early days of BiT when it had a more limited functionality. It' done it's job and can go now.

• In the Shortcuts pane, there is Root and Home that open the respective content lists. When BiT is run as user, it points to the user's home folder, which is fine. Run as root, "Home" points to root's home folder, which is also fine, but the name is misleading here. It would be more clear to rename that pointer to "Root" or "/root". To avoid confusion of / "Root" and /root "Root", what is now "Root" (/) ought to be named more specifically, e.g. "Filesystem" or "Root Filesystem" or "Filesystem Root". If space is a premium, omit the icons.

[buhtz]

Hello noyannus,

Thank you for taking the time to report and providing the details. I appreciate your feedback.

Your first point (about "Main profile") is covered by this issues:

• #1495
• #1371

Your second point about "root" in the shortcuts pane also does make sense. I edit your initial post to make it more clear for new contributors.

Best regards,

[noyannus]

The edit is fine for me. You might also consider for BiT a visual marker to clearly show whether it runs as root or not. The menu bar holds enough space for a center aligned "Running as root" or so, possibly in red or bold font.

[buhtz]

I would suggest to add new widget to the statusbar like this.

[sharathb5]

Hi! I'm Sharath I’m an incoming rising senior as a CS Major and a lifelong Linux user interested in contributing to tools I actually use. I came across this issue through the good first issue label and it caught my eye because I think this kind of clarity in UI/UX is super important.

I'd love to work on this! I have experience with Python and am familiar with Qt-based applications. I’ve already started reviewing the repo and setting it up locally, and I’m happy to follow any guidance on where to start looking in the codebase (e.g., where the Shortcuts pane is defined). Let me know if it’s okay to take this on!

Thanks, and looking forward to contributing.

[buhtz]

Your message sounds like AI. AI code is prohibited. But you are free to proof that you are human via providing code written by yourself. Will you try?

[sharathb5]

Your message sounds like AI. AI code is prohibited. But you are free to proof that you are human via providing code written by yourself. Will you try?

The message wasn’t AI, but I understand and apologize if it came across that way. I’m genuinely really interested in the product and would love the chance to show my interest through code. Please let me know what I can do or submit to get involved

[buhtz]

Hello sharathb5, Please let me also apologize. It is also one of the dark consequences of "AI" that you lose trust in others. You can't be sure anymore. And especially in open source projects, there is a lot of AI generated code from star-catching kids around. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish.

OK, than go for it.

First of all please check the CONTRIBUTING.md.

The original issue is a bit broad and confuse because I wasn't sure myself how to solve the problem. It contains several issues and tasks. First of all I would say you can ignore the "shortcuts pane" and just work on the "Root-Mode" label in the status bar. This is a quit easy and tiny task to begin with. After that we can think about the "shortcuts pane".

The elements in the main window (including the status bar) are all defined in qt/app.py (statusbar is here). This is to much code for one file but it is how the former developers did it. So if you want you can also separate the status bar code into a new file/class etc. But you don't have to.

Don't hesitate to ask. Christian

[buhtz]

Hello sharathb5, can you please give me short summary of your current progress?

Thanks in advance Christian

[buhtz]

@sharathb5?

[sharathb5]

Hi, Sorry I have been traveling for the last week and a half, but I was able to change the labeling and displaying of the root node so that it displays Running as root node when users are in root mode. Sorry I have not be as active am still understanding the code base but I plan to start working more actively this weekend and in the coming weeks. Is there anything else I should know before resuming work? Best, Sharath

[buhtz]

Hello sharathb5, thank you for reaching out.

If you want, you can still open a PR (maybe put it into Draft mode) if you want some early feedback on your work.

Regards, Christian

[sharathb5]

Hey so a little status update I wanted to run BIT locally but when its giving me a running error saying dbus not installed even though it is. ive looked it up and its apprenlty common on Mac os to struggle on running Dbus cus its so linux based, any tips?

[buhtz]

BIT won't run an Mac for several reasons. Sorry, but this is a minimal info you could have found in the README and the CONTRIBUTING file.

[buhtz]

Let me know what you think about the new root mode indicator. PR #2210 contains a screenshot.

The wording in the shortcuts pane is also modified. See PR #2211.