Software space is going to full

Something strange, I have noticed the software space is almost full, this is the default setup, and no other additional software is installed.

While I have checked the storage, it looks good on the disk space.

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one shows available, the 2nd allocated ?

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You have about 20MB available... far from full. You're only using 2% of the available space on the router. Are you expecting a larger free-space size?

Also, it's easy to misread the free space bar in your first screen grab... it's showing the free space, not the used space, meaning that a 'full bar' means 100% free/available.

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The LuCI approach to that is extremely counter-intuitive and I have to constantly remind myself that it's backwards.

Not to say that it's incorrect, of course, only that it's confusing compared to almost any external point of reference. I'm curious why it was implemented this way.

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it's an open source project, feel free to modify it.

That style of rebuttal is one of the most negative aspects of open source development. Not every user is a programmer, obviously. Nor should any one random individual have the right to change everyone else's experience on a whim anyway.

To reiterate, I'm not saying the current implementation is wrong. Objectively, it's not. The free and used space are correctly portrayed. Subjectively, it seems backwards compared to most other comparable software out in the wild. I don't see any reason for anyone to feel insulted by someone asking for the rationale behind that choice. The whole point of LuCI appears to be making OpenWrt more accessible to less technical users (myself included) who might be more easily mixed up by counterintuitive design.

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Are you implying that most other software tells you how full a given file space is, instead of how free?

Then how would you know how much space is left? :thinking:

I honestly can't determine from your responses and screenshots.

If so, can you provide examples?

I only ask because I cannot find a single device or OS that does what you describe (except some mobile devices that also give you the amount used with the total (i.e. like a fraction - as on the main page you screenshoted already).

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

In Windows, volumes are displayed graphically in terms of how full they are (i.e. used space "fills up" an empty bar representing the total space).

GParted in Linux does likewise.

I have a rented server slot with a fixed space allocation and their WebUI uses the same approach.

My GMail account displays my used/available space in the same way.

Is it really necessary to provide screenshots of all these cases?

No, as this is the same example I described.

Really?

screen702

This is from Kparted, maybe its different.

screen703

OK, you're referring to the graphic, not the written words and numbers. Gotcha.

Not to be facetious - but honestly understand your concern (and keeping in mind people don't usually fill their flash); if you turned off or removed graphics on LuCI (or if the colors were inverse on the graphical bar), would you then agree everything looks the same as all other OSes with the written words/numbers?

Please note that I'm not the original poster (I didn't provide the LuCI screenshots).

However, yes, you've hit the exact issue. The graphics are the counterintuitive part. As I said, they're not incorrect, but they are reversed from what I think most people expect when looking at bar graphics representing free and used space in volumes.

Regardless of how the text is phrased, I think that most people expect the "used" space to be coloured/filled and the "free" space to be background/blank/empty, since this is typical of other applications/systems.

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(post deleted by author)

what's stopping you from contributing ?

if something's so bad, why don't you roll up your sleeves, and make it better ?

The community responses lately to various forum questions are quite disappointing.

  1. The majority of users are not programmers/developers
  2. The GUI should be intuitive to the community, not just a small minority.
  3. Openwrt has been around since January 2004, yet documentation is still lacking.

I could list plenty more reasons than those but let's stay on point. You're in a public space, inside a community. Sometimes the responses aren't meant to be harsh or even rude, but some clearly are directed towards someone out of personal ego. Try rewording your responses with some tact. Courtesy and kindness are free.

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My apologies, I was meaning to respond to community as a whole.

I do contribute to answers and have requested many times in the past to contribute to formal documentation.

No worries, thank you for the clarification.

Who is wrong or right?

  • In Electronics: Black wires usually denote the ground or negative terminal. It's a common convention in DC circuits, like those found in small electronic devices, vehicles, or battery-powered systems. This means that the black wire is often connected to the negative side of a power source or to the device's chassis to complete the circuit.
  • In Electrical Systems: In household and industrial electrical systems, which operate on AC (Alternating Current), the black wire is typically used as the "hot" wire. This wire carries the live current from the power source to the outlet or device. It's the wire that provides the actual electricity that powers your devices. In these systems, the neutral wire is usually white or gray, and the ground wire is green or green with a yellow stripe.
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This is indeed a common confusion I've seen multiple times in the forum before. @daleylay @ahuman is this what you expected?

The changes are in https://github.com/dannil/luci/commit/cbbb3e7cae3f3791ceb35cf4685827b5f7894e1d, I could open a PR if I get some feedback first.

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I like it. Thank you for your initiative!

Feedback: in the parentheses, instead of just "(75.80 MiB)" my personal preference would be to see "(75.80 MiB of 78.96 MiB)". I've backed out the total more than once from this screen (75.8/0.96 in this example) in the past, so it would be convenience to go ahead and provide the total.

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Yes, that's more what I think most people would expect, @dannil.

But... without having any idea how difficult this might be, what would be the chances of labelling the bar on both ends?

What I mean is instead of the "Free space: 96% (75.80 MiB)" in your screenshot being at the left end of the bar, could it be moved to the right end of the bar (right justified), and then "Used space: 4% (3.16 MiB)" placed on the left end of the bar (where the "Free space" text is now)?

A simpler alternative would be just replacing "Free space" with "Used space", and ideally make the value ("3.16 MiB") a fraction ("3.16 MiB of 78.96 MiB").

It seems like either of those would still provide the same information but make it virtually impossible for anyone to be confused, either at a glance or closer inspection.

EDIT: Partially ninja'd by @eginnc.

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