My apologies.
Quite obviously 25 lines too long.

Both

catfish --path=%f%d

and

catfish --path=%f

work.

But in my case, both go on 'searching' forever without finding s simple txt file on my desktop.

I cannot reproduce that behaviour.
Could it be that your Thunar is aware of a path mine does not know of. (?)

Probably because your db file never got to be more that seven days old due to having a cron job that updates the db once a day.
I still have to get  to that cron job part.

If I click the configuation button in Catfish (gear at the top right) and select 'Update Search Index', this happens:

and

and

Obviously, I used my root PW.

Yes ...
This works as you describe.

Another thing I've found is that running Catfish from a terminal, as root or as a user finds me the file in a flash, but also get me this:

root@groucho:/home/groucho# catfish
Error creating proxy: The connection is closed (g-io-error-quark, 18)

** (catfish.py:13635): CRITICAL **: atk_object_set_description: assertion 'ATK_IS_OBJECT (accessible)' failed

groucho@groucho:~$ catfish

** (catfish.py:14028): CRITICAL **: atk_object_set_description: assertion 'ATK_IS_OBJECT (accessible)' failed

Maybe this is related?

Thanks in advance,

A.

I have a catfish search launcher in the Xfce panel with this command:

catfish --path=%f%d

But just now I added a new launcher by typing "catfish" in the dialog and the command "catfish" and the catfish icon were automatically entered.  Both launchers seem work the same - will search wherever/whatever I want.  I have NEVER been asked to update the database or for root PW when using catfish.

So that's not launched in Thunar but here's something I discovered by accident the other day.  Go to a directory in Thunar.  Then if you "ctrl + s" a "search pattern" dialog should pop up.  Has not yet failed to find what I need but it's localized to that directory.

I'm trying to get acquainted with the XFCE desktop that comes with Devuan 1.0.0.

One thing I am needing is a bit more functionality.
eg: by configuring actions I am used to having in other file managers I have used in the past (in Mint and PCLinuxos), which can be configured as custom actions in Thunar.

One of them is the 'Search' function for which I need to configure one of these custom actions.

I found instructions for implementing the this here:
https://iwf1.com/how-to-make-xfces-file … re-usable/

---
Search
Requirements:
Catfish – a GUI search tool
mlocate – a CLI search tool

-> Done

1. Add new Custom Action button
2. Fill in the following details:

Name: Search
Description: Search for files and folders
Command: catfish –path=%f
Icon: choose or leave empty

-> Done

Appearance Conditions
Fill the following:

File Pattern: *
Appears if selection contains: Directories

-> Done

---

All fine and dandy up to here.

Now, when started, Catfish gives you the option to update the database if it is not up to date.
As this has to be done as root, if you opt to update you are asked for your root PW.

The problem I have is that Catfish will not accept my PW.

This can be solved by updating the database from a terminal as root, but it is still a problem.
Why doesn't Catfish accept my PW?
It is the same root PW I use for everything else.

I have the feeling that there's more to this, as Catfish search takes forever (I end up closing it down) but the same system wide search done from the terminal (as root) get done in a flash.

I have the idea that there's a permision/ownership problem somewhere, probably Catfish related.

Any clues?

Thanks in advance.

A.

Note:

[rant]
I would have posted this question at the XFCE Forum (https://forum.xfce.org/) but they have very unfriendly registration process.

---
Are you an human?

What is the output of this command :
Linux: date -u +%jXfce|sha256sum|sed 's/\W//g'
FreeBSD/OpenBSD: date -u +%jXfce|sha256|sed 's/\W//g'
NetBSD: date -u +%jXfce|sum -a sha256|sed 's/\W//g'
---

Unfortunately, I don't have a Linux installation at the office, which is the place I post from during my lunch hour/free time.
So I'll have to wait to register till I get home.

But ...

Should any of the strings above have an incorrect syntax or your rig does not have the date/time set properly (UTC/GMT) or whatever else can happen to anyone who is starting to get acquainted to Linux and needs help with XFCE, you get this:

The following errors need to be corrected before you can register:
Please prove that you are human and know how the Linux terminal works.

I think this is called a Catch-22?

[/rant]