I run Mylar on my Xubuntu server to manage my comic collection. I found out recently that there’s a tool that can convert the embedded .jpgs to .webp to save space, but it only works on cbz files and not cbr (zipped vs rar for those who don’t know). I wanted to convert all of my cbr to cbz so that I could run the tool on all my comics, so I needed to search hundreds of subdirectories for them and move them to the same folder to be processed.
Under Windows, I’d just type *.cbr into the search bar built into Explorer from the root comic directory, hit enter to get a list of files, select them all, and move them to the new folder. On Xubuntu, it’s nothing like as simple.
I found the search option in Thunar which opened Catfish, typed in *.cbr, and got a no files found message. After looking through the very limited options, I started searching for a way to do it. About thirty minutes later I’d found dozens of links telling me to use different, Terminal only, tools, but nothing about how to search subdirectories from the Catfish GUI. Purely by accident, I found a post from 2012 that mentioned the fact that Catfish doesn’t use wildcards, so just search with .cbr, something that’s not mentioned in the official docs.
I tried it, and it searched the subdirectories too, and found my files! Except there was no way to copy or cut and paste, just open, show in file manager, copy location, save as, or delete. No good options for almost 500 files across several dozen locations.
I ended up asking Chat GPT how to do it, and doing it through the Terminal, using this:
‘find . -type f -name “*.cbr” -exec mv {} /path/to/destination ;’
This is pretty basic functionality, and I had to resort to getting help to use the Terminal :(
Anyone expecting to use Linux the same way they are using Windows, without any changes, is going to be disappointed. You cannot reasonably expect to keep the same learned workflows from one system and use them on a completely different system without having to at least tweak some of it.
Learning is part of such switchovers, and loudly complaining that “Thing X is not working like I know it to, this is why people don’t like Linux” is not making anyone more likely to help you nor is it going to solve your problem. I’m glad that you managed to find a way to do what you need in any case, and maybe that command will stick around in the back of your head for when you need something similar sometime in the future :)
Right, but this is fundamentally at odds with the ‘Linux for everyone’, ‘Linux for gaming’, and ‘Linux can replace Windows for most use cases’ rhetoric.
If you enjoy Linux for its own sake and you like fiddling around with it and learning its ins and outs, it’s fantastic. But if you just want the OS to get out of the way so you can get back to what your were doing, it leaves some room for improvement.
We can’t have both, and that’s fine. There’s also an argument to be made for people getting used to dealing with a command line because it’s something of a prerequisite for getting away from increasingly shady corporate overreach. But that doesn’t help me when the solution to getting my extra mouse buttons and precision mode is to create a well documented bug report for Solaar and then wait. I just want my push to talk to work, you know?
That gap is definitely shrinking as time goes on, but it’s still an obstacle and it’ll always be part of the conversation around GNU until it’s no longer a concern for one reason or another.
You’re missing my point. It’s not a case of me wanting to do something in the same way that Windows does it, it’s a case of the Linux way is massively over complicated for no good reason.
Yes, the terminal is vastly more powerful, but there’s no reason at all that you should be forced to use the terminal for something as simple as this.
Terminal isn’t over complicated, it’s the most basic interaction with operating systems and was the first mainstream UI to ever exist because it’s a natural extension of what interacting with a computer truly is.
Terminal has very basic, particular syntax: Command <optional parameters> [required parameters]
It has some useful additions as well, like
| to pass the output of the precious command to another command
> to write to a file
< to read from a file
This basic structure allows additional tools to be installed and run without having to learn a unique GUI with all the quirks of the GUI designer for each application. You just add new commands and move on with your life, maybe referencing the manual page to check which parameters you need.
Windows has a very particular GUI design that everyone knows because of the way Microsoft captured the market in the early days, before laws prevented them from doing so. Windows is esoteric, it has a variety of GUI philosophies all jumbled together. Explorer/control panel exists next to “Metro” apps, now “Windows apps” and they both do separate things without ever integrating the two properly.
Windows is arcane and understanding it fully is thousands of hours of practice, if you actually try new things. Linux is perfectly usable from command line with just a few dozens of hours of practice.
I say all this as a primarily Windows desktop user who uses Linux when it comes to actually getting things done. If we taught Linux to our children in schools and if businesses provided as much Linux training to workers as they do windows training, the discussion we’d be having would be about how windows is too complicated and just needs a UI similar to the ones available with Linux.
Command <optional parameters> [required parameters]
Aren’t the kinds parentheses the other way around?
Probably? I didn’t check on whether angle brackets or square brackets are for optional parameters. It’s an arbitrary thing and my meaning is entirely decipherable in any order.
It’s not complicated though. It’s just different than windows. It’s also not an issue with Linux. Thunar just doesn’t behave the way you want it to. Files in GNOME works fine, but wildcards don’t require a * to search.
The problem here is not that things work differently, but that GUI programs are often just dumb, or have the functionality but in a very strange way. And I’m not a new Linux user.
I read it more as: "The way to do this (normally simple) thing is incredibly cumbersome, and could be greatly improved.
This is a Thunar issue, not Linux in general. It works with Dolphin’s filter bar.
That isn’t even a Thunar issue anymore, it was fixed in the last version half a year ago. It’s more about stable release distros provide inferior experience yet again.
This will search through whatever directory you select (and all subdirectories) for cbz, cbr, zip, or rar files. It will check the contents of each file to determine if it contains any jpg or png files. For all cbzs with jpg or png files, it will extract all data to a temp folder, convert the jpgs/pngs to webp images, and then create a new cbz file with the converted images. Any other contents of the cbz (such as ComicInfo.xml) will be retained. The final file will overwrite the existing file, so ensure you have a backup first.
https://github.com/azuravian/cbz_jpg-to-webp
All that for something that was unnecessary in the first place. The tool you’re trying to use already supports the file format you have and works recursively. No need to move files or convert them first.
Yep, and that’s very frustrating. I replied to someone else while you were writing this, but the gist of it is, I read somewhere else that it couldn’t handle cbrs yet, and did the prep before I checked. I should have done it the other way around, but it’s done now :/
If you are expecting a more windows-like experience, I would suggest using Ubuntu or Kubuntu (or any other distro using Gnome/KDE), as these are much closer to a modern Windows GUI. With Ubuntu, I can use the default file manager (
nautilus) and doCtrl+Fand filter files via*.ext, then select these files then cut and paste to a new folder (drag and drop does not seem to work from the search results). In Kubuntu, the search doesn’t recognize*as a wildcard in KDE’s file manager (dolphin) but does support drag/drop between windows.Thanks for replying :)
I don’t want a more Windows like experience, I’m just shocked that something as basic as moving files requires the terminal in Xubuntu. It’s just Ubuntu with a different desktop environment, it shouldn’t force me to the terminal for basic tasks.
Catfish lets me find the files in the same way as you said Nautilus does in Ubuntu, but it doesn’t let me do very much with them. It seems pretty pointless.
Unfortunately the choice of desktop environment matters a lot when talking about features like this
I suggest trying KDE instead, as XFCE is far from the user friendly interface your used to with Windows. Some DEs are good for new users, XFCE isn’t one of them
Whoever suggested Xubuntu for a Windows user is a bit optimistic
I’m sorry to see so many “Don’t expect Linux to work the same way” responses.
Have you tried logging a bug requesting the functionality? It seems reasonable.
I’d like you to consider another workflow, too - if you take the knowledge that you’ve gained about using
findand-execyou might find that you don’t even need to move them all to one place to preprocess - you could probably find, convert to cbz, and run through the webp conversion all in-place. You could probably even usefind ... | xargsand some trickery to do it in parallel quickly.It’s not unreasonable to expect bash skills on a server; it’s incredibly uncommon for servers to even have GUIs, and your use case probably hasn’t been considered by the developers.
I would just mention ‘I want to select and copy/move multiple search results’ as the bug and ignore your specific context though. :)
Edit:
It’s the rather snappily named cbz_jpg-to-webp by azuravian and the Github page is here:
I’d suggest reading the docs though; it supports cbr and cbz.
I’m sorry to see so many “Don’t expect Linux to work the same way” responses.
Thank you, it is a bit infuriating. There’s a definite feel of if you don’t like how something works, you’re not a part of the clique, and must be a Linux bashing noob.
The reason for moving them was that I use Mylar. It processes comics and should automatically convert them to cbz and move them back to the correct directories. Part of the workflow should be that it tags them and updates the comic info too. I had some files that I’d put in place before turning that option on in Mylar, but it only converts files that it thinks are new, hence the move.
I’d suggest reading the docs though; it supports cbr and cbz.
Somewhere on a forum or another site, I’d read that the cbr support wasn’t working properly yet, but didn’t think to confirm it before trying to convert the files. I’ve been burned by comic converters in the past, so wanted to prep everything first. Lesson learned though :)
You should be able to report the bug / request the enhancement here. :)
Thanks for the link :)
I’ll send one as soon as my backup is finished/
Some gui have more benefits that others, even some terminal commands are better to use than others, not really a Linux issue.
Sidenite, what’s this tool called that can convert the jpgs?
It’s the rather snappily named cbz_jpg-to-webp by azuravian and the Github page is here:
https://github.com/azuravian/cbz_jpg-to-webp
I haven’t used it at all yet, so I have no idea how well it works. As usual, test it out on a copy of your files first :)
So let’s imagine in a weeks time you have a slightly different issue, you need to do the same operations, but only up to 3 subdirectories deep.
On windows you’d be back to square one. on linux you just add -maxdepth 3 to the command you found and congrats it’s done.
You have learnt a permanent skill now.
I like your optimism :)
I haven’t learned a new skill, I just copied and pasted some commands from a website. As it is, I’ve been using Xubuntu on this server for a few years, and Mint on my laptop (on my PC now and then too, and permanently once I can get rid of Adobe), and I’m comfortable with the terminal. I grew up using DOS, and could set up gaming boot disks in my sleep. I just think it’s silly that to do something as basic as copying files, I had to resort to this. Someone new to Linux coming from Windows is not going to have a clue how to do it, and is likely to go back, all over one of the most basic operations a GUI should be able to do.
Someone new to Linux coming from Windows is not going to have a clue how to do it, and is likely to go back, all over one of the most basic operations a GUI should be able to do.
If they don’t want to learn the basics perhaps they should?
The basics doesn’t involve having to drop into the terminal because the file manager can’t do basic file operations. You’d probably complain about Windows making you switch between Settings and Control Panel because it’s bad design, but because this happened in Linux, it’s fine.
If you keep trying to use GUI to do what you want you’re gonna have a bad time. The majority of Linux users doing power stuff like this will use the terminal. Because of that, the GUI is unfortunately underdeveloped.
It’s good once you learn it though. Let’s say that tool never existed. I could easily write a bash script to compress images in cbr or cbz myself. Or autoconvert all cbr files to cbz. Or watch my downloads directory for new files and do that automatically. It’s very flexible and empowering if you learn it. Nobody can make a GUI for every single thing people want a script for.
Since xfce 4.18 Thunar can search files w/o catfish perfectly fine btw. Do Xubuntu still uses the previous version?
Thunar is currently on 4.16.10. I just checked for updates, and Thunar isn’t in the list. It may be part of one of the other packages that are available, but I haven’t had a chance to check properly yet.
It’s good to know that Catfish is being phased out though, I’m not a fan of it.
I assumed Xubuntu to have the latest xfce version since Linux Mint updated their not so long ago, but it seems they did it on their own.
4.18 is a really good update for xfce and especially Thunar - search for files in subdirectories is as simple as to press ctrl+F and start typing. I really hope Xubuntu will get it soon.
Your title is a bit provocative but I feel you. The biggest plus for Linux is also a bit of a negative: there are so many different ways to do things. There are multiple file managers for example, that all behave differently in some ways. So at the beginning it can be frustrating at times to figure out how things work and how to accomplish your goal.
It was anxiety inducing to read your post as I thought you’d accidentally end up deleting your entire collection!
Hah, no I’m not quite that bad :D
Despite the apparent theme here of others assuming that complaining means that I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ve been using Linux on and off since at least Ubuntu 6.something, and have had my server and laptop running Xubuntu and Mint for the last few years.
Oh honestly I love to hear people bitch about gnu Linux. Sometimes I’m just tired of hearing about windows you know.