File management

2026-01-09T21:20:37Z

Zardoz: Add note about brasero

File management and storage access in Alpine Linux [[Desktop environments and Window managers|desktop environments (DEs)]] involve various components. In Alpine Linux, [[#File managers|file managers]] require additional software packages to:-

* Automatically mount removable media
* Browse storage across shared networks
* Display and access partitions using different [[Filesystems|filesystems]] with other installed operating systems

== Prerequisites ==

* Enable [[Polkit]] for privileged operations using a GUI

== File managers ==

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_manager File managers] provide a user interface for file management i.e to manage files and folders. A partial list of file managers available in Alpine Linux is given below:

{| class="wikitable" align="center" style="width:100%; border:1px #0771a6 solid; background:#f9f9f9; text-align:left; border-collapse:collapse;"
|-style="background:#333333; color:#ffffff; font-size: 1.2em; text-align:center;"
|width="25%" | Tool
|width="10%"| Graphical/TUI/CLI
|Brief Notes
|-
|{{pkg|caja}} ||Graphical||The file manager for the [[MATE|MATE desktop]]
|-
|{{pkg|clifm}} ||CLI||The shell-like command line terminal file manager
|-
|{{pkg|dolphin}} ||Graphical||File manager for [[KDE]] Plasma desktop
|-
|{{pkg|konqueror}} ||Graphical||[[KDE]] file manager and web browser
|-
|{{pkg|krusader}} ||GUI||Twin panel, Commander-style file manager
|-
|{{pkg|lf}} ||TUI||Terminal file manager written in Go with {{pkg|vim}}-style keybindings
|-
|{{pkg|lomiri-filemanager-app}} ||Graphical||Convergent file manager: for mobiles, desktops e.g. [https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/lomiri Lomiri] DE, [https://postmarketos.org postmarketOS]
|-
|{{pkg|mc}} ||TUI||Midnight Commander file manager/shell that emulates Norton Commander
|-
|{{pkg|nautilus}}||Graphical||[[Gnome|GNOME]] file manager also known as [https://apps.gnome.org/Nautilus/ 'GNOME Files']
|-
|{{Pkg|nemo}} ||Graphical||File manager for [https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon Cinnamon] desktop environment
|-
|{{pkg|nnn}} ||TUI||The unorthodox terminal file manager
|-
|{{pkg|pcmanfm}} ||Graphical||Extremely fast and lightweight file manager for [http://www.lxde.org LXDE]
|-
|{{pkg|pcmanfm-qt}} ||Graphical|| Qt port of {{pkg|pcmanfm}}
|-
|{{pkg|ranger}} ||TUI||{{Pkg|vim}}-inspired file manager for the console
|-
|{{pkg|spacefm}} ||GUI|| File manager (GTK2 version) from a legacy {{pkg|pcmanfm}} fork
|-
|{{pkg|thunar}} ||Graphical||File manager for [[Xfce]]
|-
|{{pkg|vifm}} ||TUI|| {{Pkg|vim}}-like file manager using {{Pkg|ncurses}}
|-
|{{pkg|xfe}} ||GUI|| Commander-like file manager for X
|-
|{{pkg|yazi}} ||TUI|| File manager written in Rust with asynchronous I/O, {{Pkg|vim}}-like input and bulk rename
|}

== Automounting removable storage ==

The tools [[#GVfs|GVfs]] and [[#Udisks|Udisks]] enable automatic mounting of removable storage such as USB drives, external HDDs, and network drives. To install them, issue the command: {{Cmd|# apk add gvfs-fuse udisks2}}

To mount encrypted devices, ensure that appropriate packages such as {{pkg|device-mapper}} and {{pkg|lvm2}} are installed.

=== Udisks ===

[https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/udisks/ udisks] makes managing disks, including removable drives such as USB, much easier by providing a {{ic|udisks}} daemon and {{ic|udisksctl}}, a cli-based tool.

Note: Brasero and K3B rely on udisks2 to be installed, but only K3B errors at runtime about the lack of it.

{| class="wikitable" align="center" style="width:100%; border:1px #0771a6 solid; background:#f9f9f9; text-align:left; border-collapse:collapse;"
|-style="background:#333333; color:#ffffff; font-size: 1.2em; text-align:center;"
|width="50%" | Action
|Command
|-
|To see the mounted disks|| udisksctl status
|-
|To mount a disk {{Path|/dev/sdb1}}|| udisksctl mount -b /dev/sdb1
|-
|To unmount a disk, {{Path|/dev/sdb1}}|| udisksctl unmount -b /dev/sdb1
|}

=== GVfs ===

Many GUI file managers rely on [https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gvfs GVfs], a userspace virtual filesystem implementation. GVfs comes with a set of backends for SFTP, SMB, HTTP, DAV and many others. Depending on what devices you intend to mount, additional packages may be installed from the list below:-

{| class="wikitable" align="center" style="width:100%; border:1px #0771a6 solid; background:#f9f9f9; text-align:left; border-collapse:collapse;"
|-style="background:#333333; color:#ffffff; font-size: 1.2em; text-align:center;"
|width="15%" | Package Name
|Brief Notes
|-
| {{Pkg|ntfs-3g}} || Stable, full-featured, read-write NTFS (driver)
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-cdda}} || CDDA support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-afp}} || AFP support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-goa}} || GNOME Online Accounts support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-mtp}} || MTP support for gvfs to mount android devices
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-smb}} || Windows fileshare support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-lang}} || Languages for the gvfs package
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-afc}} || Apple mobile devices support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-nfs}} || NFS support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-dev}} || Backends for the gio framework in GLib (development files) - Alpine Linux v3.19-v3.20 only.{{Pill||v3.19.x-v3.20.x|orange|goldenrod}}
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-archive}} || Archiving support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-dav}} || WebDAV support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-fuse}} || FUSE support for gvfs to mount external storage devices
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-gphoto2}} || {{Pkg|gphoto2}} support for gvfs
|-
| {{Pkg|gvfs-avahi}} || DNS-SD support for gvfs
|}

To list descriptions of all ''gvfs-'' packages:{{cmd|$ apk info -d gvfs-*}}

In addition to the packages above, {{ic|fuse}} service from {{pkg|fuse-openrc}} package is required for automounting a number of filesystems. To install it:{{Cmd|# apk add fuse-openrc}}

Start the fuse OpenRC service as follows:{{Cmd|# rc-service fuse start}}

If the desktop sessions are already in progress, they need to be restarted for the changes to take effect i.e. log out and log in again.

The fuse service can be added to start up automatically at boot time:{{Cmd|# rc-update add fuse}}

When [[Polkit#Using polkit with seatd|polkit is used with seatd]], additional [[Polkit#Example1|configuration]] is required for automounting to work.

=== Network browsing ===

For browsing of network shares that works seamlessly with file associations, install the {{Pkg|gvfs*}} packages for the required network protocols. For example, to browse in a SMB/cifs windows network:{{Cmd|# apk add gvfs-smb}}

== Enabling privilege escalation GUI ==

When using file managers, to enable the privilege escalation GUI for an [[Setting_up_a_new_user#Admin_user|admin user]], implement the following:-
* Install an appropriate [[Polkit#Authentication agents|polkit authentication agent]] for the desktop environment
* Enable [[Polkit#Using polkit with elogind|polkit to be used with elogind]]
* Authentication agent is autostarted along with the desktop environment
* A [[Display manager|display manager]] is used to start the desktop session (recommended)

If the steps above are completed, whenever {{ic|admin://}} is typed in the address bar of the [[File_management#File_managers|file manager]], a password dialogue will appear.

== Troubleshooting ==

=== Error due to missing polkit ===

''Error mounting /dev/sda1: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.UDisks2.Error.NotAuthorized: Not authorized to perform operation (polkit authority not available and caller is not uid 0)''

If [[Polkit|polkit]] is not available, then the error above will occur. In this case, either install and enable [[Polkit|polkit]], or using [[Setting up a new user#doas|doas]] is recommended.

== See also ==

* [[Polkit]]
* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/File_manager_functionality Archwiki - File manager functionality]
* [[Default applications|Change default application]] associated with a filetype

[[Category:Storage]]
[[Category:Desktop]]

Alpine Linux - User contributions [en]

File management