Unwanted directory creation/invitations sent when using the filesystem from fish shell

[siavashs]

I recently started using keybase and I noticed a strange behavior when accessing the filesystem. I use the fish shell, when you type a path it tries to check if it really exist or not and highlights it. So for example if you try to type/paste this path in the shell:

/keybase/private/siavashs,someone@twitter/

and then try to edit the username, it will result in creation of these directories:

siavashs,someo@twitter
siavashs,someon@twitter
siavashs,someone@twitter
...

And the worse part is that keybase sent an invitation to all those false usernames. Being a shell user my expectation is that a filesystem will be modified only when I execute a command. For example:

mkdir /keybase/private/siavashs,someone@twitter/ # Create directories manually
echo "My msg!" > /keybase/private/siavashs,someone@twitter/secret.txt # Only send an invitation when a file is created

[strib]

Thanks for the report. The desired behavior you describe is the intended behavior. Would you be willing to do a keybase log send to help us figure out why it created multiple directories for you?

Also, in case it wasn't clear, when we pop up an invitation code for you to use, we don't actually send out invitations to the twitter user. It just generates a code for you to use. You can always reclaim that invitation code via the website.

[siavashs]

I sent the log, here is my log ID: 3fa0f784ae1e9de4908cf41c Regarding the invitations, you're right. I reclaimed the invitations 😄

[strib]

Thanks @siavashs. We've actually been working on a PR (keybase/kbfs#95) that will fix the issue with the invitation codes getting generated. Hopefully it will go in soon.

However, you may still experience some sadness when those incomplete folders (e.g., siavashs,so@twitter) are added to your "favorites" list, which means they'll show up in the GUI and when you ls /keybase/private/. They are removable with rmdir (and eventually in the GUI), but it will still be a little annoying. It's a tradeoff with another feature though (being able to use mkdir to add a favorite), and I'm not sure if there's an easy way to get both.

[siavashs]

Is it possible to make this an option on the user side? or maybe use another method for adding a favorite? (for example adding an empty .fav file, like a .keepme file in git)

[strib]

Definitely possible but we like to avoid knobs whenever possible. We'll have to think more about what the right thing to do is.

[siavashs]

I see. Another nice way to set a favorite can be assigning a sticky bit to the directory.

[issmirnov]

+1, facing the same issue with ZSH.