Total Commander

Screenshot: http://flint-inc.ru/Temp/tcbeta75/sync_dirs_no_signs.png

This happens sometimes when remote directory contains files with same names in different case. (I can upload the full list of file names in this directory, if necessary.)

I don't have a link ready, but this is by design.
TC don't know which of the two "identical" filenames should be synched.

You have to delete the unwanted file on remote side and you will get a sign for this file.

Indeed this is a new feature of TC 7.55! It happens when a file exists twice, only different in upper-/lowercase. TC shows a warning/error dialog in this case.

For example, when you have files
xt_mark.co
and
xt_MARK.co

then TC doesn't know how to handle the sync, because Windows drives do not allow both on the same side. Therefore these duplicates are excluded from the sync to avoid that any harm is done.

The only exception to this rule is when
1. On one side, there is an FTP connection
2. On the other side, there is a local drive
3. The multiples are on the FTP side
4. A single file is on the local drive which has the same case (upper/lowercase) as one of the files on the ftp side.

In this case, TC will allow to copy the matching pair, but will not touch the "duplicates".

The case of Samba shares with such mixed case files isn't currently handled, because the Windows disk cache can return data from the wrong file in some cases. Therefore data corruption can occur even if the files are accessed by their correct names.

ghisler(Author)
I see. Two questions still remain:

1. Why not show some special sign for this situation? This empty area looks like there's a bug (actually, that's the main reason of my report: I know about possible problems with such names, but did not expect the user interface to behave like this). Probably, a disabled empty checkbox (or disabled checkbox with a question sign) would fit better.

2. Why some file pairs are shown sid-by-side, while some others are displaced? E.g. (on my screenshot) the left xt_mark.ko is on the same line with the right xt_mark.ko, but the left xt_tcpmss.ko is shown below its right counterpart, as if each of them was missing on the other side.

PS: Please, move this to the "Suggestions" sub-forum, since this is not a bug.

1. There was no time to design a new symbol. I'm open for suggestions.

2. The name matching is currently only done when one side is ftp. Support for such names on SMB hasn't been added, so the files are matched randomly as they are inserted into the list, and don't get aligned. I did get some reports from people whi display first "file.txt" and then "FILE.txt" but Lister shows the same data although the files are different (caused by Windows disk cache). Since I don't know when it works and when not, I'm currently not going to enable synching for such files to SMB.

1. Well, I gave two variants above: a disabled checkbox, either empty or with a red question sign.

2. I understand the problems when trying to work in Windows with files having equal names, so it's OK for me. All I ask is just showing such names aligned in the SyncDirs dialog, so that it was easy to see if the names are equal or different, and to compare the sizes and date/timestamps. Since it does not need reading files themselves but only working with their names, I hope it would not be too hard to implement. Syncing itself is not needed.

1. The problem with a disabled checkbox would be that it looks quite similar to a normal checkbox. That's why there is no checkbox at all when there is an equal sign "=", because the user cannot check anything. I'm looking for a symbol which shows that the files cannot be synchronized. The question mark is currently for files which cannot be compared or which haven't been compared yet.

2. I understand, I will check whether this can be done somehow.

1. OK, I see your point. Well, maybe an exclamation mark then? Or a sign in the form of diagonally crossed circle? (Like mouse pointer when drag&drop is not possible.)

2. Thanks for considering this!