dolphin-network-metadata

Dolphin shows only the basics (type, size, dates) for files on mounted network shares, both in tooltips and in the Information panel. This brings the full details back:

• video: duration, resolution, codecs, bitrate, frame rate
• audio: artist, album, title, bitrate
• images: dimensions, camera and other EXIF data
• documents: page count, author, word count
• folders: number of items (and hidden items)
• tags, rating and comments in the Information panel (stored as extended attributes on the share, if the server supports them)

It's a long-standing KDE issue: bug 452924. Dolphin treats network filesystems (cifs and NFS; from KDE Frameworks 6.31 also sshfs, rclone and other remote mounts) as "slow" and skips reading metadata from them, even on a fast home network.

Upstream fix

A proper fix is in progress in baloo-widgets MR 82. Once it's in your distribution, Dolphin shows the full details for single files on network shares by itself, and this library only adds item counts for folders. If you don't need those, run ./uninstall.sh.

Install

You need a C compiler (gcc or clang) and Dolphin from KDE Frameworks 6.

git clone https://github.com/mskpluk/dolphin-network-metadata.git
cd dolphin-network-metadata
./install.sh

Then close all Dolphin windows and start it again.

Everything goes into your home directory, no root needed:

• ~/.local/lib/dolphin-network-metadata/dolphin-network-metadata.so
• ~/.local/bin/dolphin: a small wrapper that starts the real Dolphin with the library loaded
• ~/.config/systemd/user/plasma-dolphin.service.d/dolphin-network-metadata.conf: the same for Dolphin started in the background by Plasma

~/.local/bin has to come before /usr/bin in your PATH. Most distributions add it at login, but only if the directory already exists, so if the installer had to create it, log out and back in once. The installer tells you if that's needed, or if PATH is set up differently.

Uninstall

./uninstall.sh

Then restart Dolphin.

How it works

The library is loaded into Dolphin with LD_PRELOAD and changes one answer: when the metadata widget asks whether a file is on a slow filesystem, it says no. Everything else in Dolphin still gets the real answer, so things like the size limit for remote previews keep working. It doesn't depend on how KDE detects network filesystems, so it keeps working when that changes.

Programs you open from Dolphin don't inherit the library.

Limitations

• Reading metadata means reading part of the file over the network. On a slow link, tooltips for files on shares will take longer to appear.
• Only Dolphin is covered; other programs (file dialogs etc.) behave as before.
• If Dolphin is started some other way (e.g. by its full path), it runs without the library and simply behaves as before.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later