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Peter.O
Asked: 2011-01-04 22:09:15 +0800 CST

How can I change the "timeout" duration for Nautilus "find the filename as you type" feature?

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I often get stalled by the long timeout while typing the first few letters of a file name in Nautilus...

The current timeout seems to be 5 seconds. I'd prefer 1 second ...(as per item 2 on this page about Response Times)

I don't use the mouse much, which means I either wait, or press Escape, when I don't find the file...

I realize that this is a feature to some, but I'd rather not wait.

Is there any way to change this timeout behaviour?

nautilus timeout

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Unfortunately, the five second delay is hard-coded into Nautilus. Here's how to hack it:

    • First, set up your build environment:

      sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install devscripts
sudo apt-get build-dep nautilus

      devscripts might ask you to configure Postfix, select anything you want ("No configuration" should be fine, if you don't use Postscript, it shouldn't ask otherwise)

    • Get the source code of Nautilus:

      apt-get source nautilus

      (Notice no sudo here)

    • Now to change Nautilus. Open nautilus-2.32.0/libnautilus-private/nautilus-icon-container.c in your favourite text editor. The line we're concerned with is about line 149. It should say:

      #define NAUTILUS_ICON_CONTAINER_SEARCH_DIALOG_TIMEOUT 5

      Replace the 5 with any amount of time you like. This must be an integer, and ≥ 1. I've change it to one second, as the article recommends. ;-)

    • Now to build the package:

      cd nautilus-2.32.0/
sudo debuild

      This will take a while. It should, at least. If it finishes with an error like "patch does not remove cleanly", run sudo debuild -nc instead). Note also that this may complain about it not being able to sign the package. You don't need a signed package in this case, they're only required if you want to upload them somewhere.

    • You should now have some .deb packages in the parent directory. Install them all:

      cd ..
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

    Afterwards, restart your computer (logging out may be sufficient, I'm not sure), and test the changes. As you know, your changes will be undone with every update of Nautilus.

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