Automatically deleting files?

[davidlow]

I encountered a problem where my files in the current working directory are deleted without my intention. I posted it to jupyterlab but it might be a bug in jupyterlab-latex..

I am running Jupyterlab version 1.1.4. In this folder were pdfs and latex (.tex, .aux, etc) files along with some other non-latex files. There was no code running besides maybe the jupyterlab/latex extension. The files were not changing, however, so I do not believe jupyterlab/latex was re-compiling the pdfs or anything. This is a debian system.

I've used jupyterlab with latex and python without this problem for over a year. When I first found this problem, the files from two distinct folders were erased. Both folders contained latex files and there was a jupyterlab workspace whose working directory was each of the folders. I recovered the files from backups and closed one of the workspaces. The folder corresponding to that workspace did not lose files. The other workspace was left running. That folder now has no files.

I first observed the problem when I accessed the workspaces from a different computer. The two workspaces were still open on my host machine but no processes were running. When I logged in, I noticed that all the files were gone.

[davidlow]

Update: I tried to re-create the bug naively by creating a folder with latex files and accessing it with jupyterlab. This did not result in any files being deleted. I recalled that I was accessing the same workspace from two different computers so I tried that. While I was unable to delete any files, I am able to produce the following latex error just by refreshing browsers:

{"message": "Unhandled error", "reason": null, "traceback": "Traceback (most recent call last):\n File \"/opt/conda/lib/python3.7/site-packages/tornado/web.py\", line 1699, in _execute\n result = await result\n File \"/opt/conda/lib/python3.7/site-packages/tornado/gen.py\", line 748, in run\n yielded = self.gen.send(value)\n File \"/opt/conda/lib/python3.7/site-packages/jupyterlab_latex/build.py\", line 199, in get\n out = yield self.run_latex(cmd_sequence)\n File \"/opt/conda/lib/python3.7/contextlib.py\", line 119, in __exit__\n next(self.gen)\n File \"/opt/conda/lib/python3.7/site-packages/jupyterlab_latex/build.py\", line 53, in latex_cleanup\n os.remove(fn)\nPermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'var'\n"}

I have no idea if this is at all related to the deleting files bug. I do remember that when I first discovered the missing files, the jupyterlab workspace was filled with latex errors. Unfortunately, I neglected to copy them down.

I will continue attempting to re-create this bug.

[RealYHD]

Before anything, I would like to disclose that I'm using a very simple modified version of this extension, but only to the extent of being able to use tectonic (see #113). To my understanding, my (unmerged) changes should not cause these issues.

I may be having the same issue. If this is not some sort of user error, it is of my opinion that this issue should be treated with a very high priority. This has happened to me twice now in what is intended to be a production environment. I have backups, but some users may not be as fortunate.

I would also propose changing the issue title to be more informative of this being a unintential deletion rather than some feature for automatically deleting things after not being used (for example). Perhaps something like "Files being deleted without user action" or "Workspace files being deleted seemingly randomly", or any other variety that has emphasis that no user action intended for the deletion of working files. I hope that a more informative title will result in this issue getting more attention if this is a wide-spread issue.

[v-photo]

Yes,

Both me. My files have disappeared too.