Minion Damaging Filesystem? Odd Permissions?

Burtelby · 04/25/14, 07:48 AM

I have been using Minion for few weeks with little problem until today. I decided to remove all my addons and try a new layout. When attempting to delete the directory for Harvest map it told me it was not empty.. when attempting to access it windows errors told me it was empty. After allowing windows to repair the filesystem on the drive i was able to delete the directory. By this point I had already rebooted into safe mode to attempt the delete so i know it was not in use. I had also attempted renaming it etc.. So... Either minion damaged the filesystem while extracting/writing the files or it is settings some odd permissions even a brute force delete attempt from dos did not overcome. I am hesitant to start using it again and have manually reinstalled my UI and all is working. Anyone else seeing this sort of issue?

***Dolby*** · 04/25/14, 08:15 AM

Hi Burtelby,

Thank you for your concern.

Some authors accidentally include .git or other .dot folders that may be hidden on some operating systems due to file viewing options. I'm guessing one of the addon folders had a hidden file? There is no way to damage a file system by simply unzipping/unraring a file which is what Minion does. It uses the permissions its given by windows, windows UAC prevents it from doing anything other than that. There is nothing in Minion that changes permissions, its simply not that advanced.

You will want to go into your file options and have your os display hidden files and see if you find anything.

Another possible cause is that Minion was running and still had a process that was touching that folder however your rebooting would have cleared that up. So I don't think thats it.

Burtelby · 04/27/14, 11:20 AM

First let me say, i have been doing tech support on the windows and other operating systems for 18 years. I know how to find hidden files and i know how to manipulate them in dos. I know how UAC works and If an application has the ability to read and write it has the ability to damage a filesystem. File corruption in windows doesnt happen within the boundries of UAC permissions. If the only method to recover from an issue is by using chkdsk to repair it, it isnt as simple as a process locking a file or a hidden file. It could be the first signs of a failing drive but i have had no other issues with the drive so far.

Several folks in my guild have experienced issues with Minion corrupting files during install and update as well. All have solved the issues by removing the app and manually extracting the addons. I look forward to this app becoming more stable as i am generally lazy about mods but for now i will observe.

Originally Posted by Dolby

Hi Burtelby,

Thank you for your concern.

Some authors accidentally include .git or other .dot folders that may be hidden on some operating systems due to file viewing options. I'm guessing one of the addon folders had a hidden file? There is no way to damage a file system by simply unzipping/unraring a file which is what Minion does. It uses the permissions its given by windows, windows UAC prevents it from doing anything other than that. There is nothing in Minion that changes permissions, its simply not that advanced.

You will want to go into your file options and have your os display hidden files and see if you find anything.

Another possible cause is that Minion was running and still had a process that was touching that folder however your rebooting would have cleared that up. So I don't think thats it.

Fathis Ules · 04/27/14, 11:37 AM

there is a problem sometimes with reserved names in windows like "aux" and lots of others

Sample:
For example if you attempt to create a folder or file named "aux", Windows will simply refuses

But if you attempt to build the kernel source headers on Windows, you will end up with a file named "aux" somewhere in the directory architecture and Windows will refused to delete it and you will have to use a workaround like MSYS2 command prompt and rm <directory> -fr

Just to show problems with undeletable files does not always means the files is corrupted

Tonyleila · 04/27/14, 05:47 PM

Hey Dolby, if you guys check all addon uploads for virus then woud it be too much work to check for:

readme.txt files
Hidden DS store files
__MACOSX folders

There are still addons around that contain this and they all unzip into the eso folder and make a great mess.
From Curse I know that the Mods check for this things but here and at wow interface I even accidentally uploaded an exe file (png converter) with my interface and noone saw it.
Also it shoud be possible to mark your own addon to be not downloadable with Minion so you can upload fixes or textures for other addons.

***Cairenn*** · 04/27/14, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Tonyleila

here and at wow interface I even accidentally uploaded an exe file (png converter) with my interface and noone saw it.

Just because we never said anything about it doesn't mean we didn't see it. Bad assumption is bad.

A lot of folks had/have that png converter in their files, we know about it but don't say anything because we also know that it's clean. It is one of those executables that we let slide. That also doesn't mean that we don't still check it, too.