Allow mounting archives instead of extracting them
I am a packager for NixOS distribution. Most of the time I open an archive, I only need to look a few specific files (Makefile.am
, configure.ac
…) and will no longer need the files after I close them. Currently I have three options:
- Open the archive in Nautilus:
- This will start extracting the whole archive. I have to wait until the archive is extracted for a directory containing the extracted directory to open, then enter the directory. Finally, I need to delete the whole extracted directory.
- Open the file with File Roller:
- This is much better. The directory listing will open immediately and I can just open the files I need. Only the necessary files are extracted to
XDG_CACHE_DIRECTORY
in the background and when I close the File-roller they are cleared.- Unfortunately, it requires and extra application for browsing what is basically another directory tree.
- Additionally, other applications like text editors just see a single file in
XDG_CACHE_DIRECTORY
. I cannot open extra files in the same directory through file chooser dialogue of the editor.
- This is much better. The directory listing will open immediately and I can just open the files I need. Only the necessary files are extracted to
- Open the archive in Archive Mounter (
gvfsd-archive
):- This works best for my use case. The directory listing is available immediately, other applications are aware of the directory tree and no files remain after the directory is unmounted.
- It does not fully integrate with desktop, though. When I double click an archive or try to open a downloaded file in a browser, it will just mount it, not open the mount in File Manager. It might be also nice if closing the Nautilus tab with the archive would unmount it.
- This works best for my use case. The directory listing is available immediately, other applications are aware of the directory tree and no files remain after the directory is unmounted.