add legend to Recent Uploads and Downloads page, explain LIT

[T_X]

When I download a file from a directory on tahoe-lafs via 'tahoe get', then I only get "retrieve" and "mapupdate" entries on the "Recent Uploads and Download" page. I'm having this issue in a simple setup within one VM host, one node dedicated as a storage node, one as a dedicated gateway node.

Could be related to #1079.

Example "Recent Uploads and Download" page output:

    Recent Operations:
    Started         Type    Storage Index   Helper?         Total Size      Progress        Status
    05:49:35 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:49:25 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:49:23 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:49:12 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:49:11 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:49:00 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:58 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:48 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:46 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:35 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:34 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:23 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:21 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:11 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:48:09 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:47:58 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:47:56 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:47:46 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:47:44 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:47:43 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished
    05:47:32 01-Aug-2011    retrieve        zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      206B    100.0%  Finished
    05:47:32 01-Aug-2011    mapupdate MODE_READ     zb24cwlnpwynz7dtqszava76cm      No      -NA-    100.0%  Finished

[zooko]

Is it a mutable or immutable file that you are downloading from the directory?

[T_X]

$ ./tahoe list-aliases -d ~/.tahoe-2
  tahoe: URI:DIR2:...

And as I'm always using the alias 'tahoe' for any 'tahoe put' or 'tahoe get', I guess it's a mutable directory/file.

[T_X]

Okay, after the IRC discussion the download entry now appears on the status page. It turned out that I was "uploading" a very small file (19B) only with a LIT capability. So previously the 'tahoe put' returned:

200 OK
URI:LIT:...

Now with a slightly larger file (95B) I get the following response and the download is listed on the web page as expected:

200 OK
URI:CHK:...

I didn't know or expect that very small files would be treated differently somehow - or that if so this would be transparent to the user :).

[zooko]

So I guess the solution to close this ticket is to add a legend and "help text" or a hyperlink to a document so that users can discover and learn what the "Recent Uploads and Downloads" page really shows.

[warner]

updating title to match, and recording some thoughts..

I can't decide if I want the legend to be between the "current ops" and "recent ops" sections, or at the bottom after "recent ops". It should probably be in a smaller font. I don't want to have to scroll down to see the first 4 or 5 items in the list. It should probably teach the following lessons:

• immutable files are marked as "upload" (copied into grid to servers) and "download" (copied from grid from servers)
• reading a mutable file does a "mapupdate MODE_READ" followed by a "retrieve"
• creating a new mutable file does a "publish"
• modifying an existing mutable file does a "mapupdate MODE_WRITE", then a "retrieve", then a "publish"
• small immutable files (below about 65 bytes) are stored as LIT filecaps and do not appear on this list at all
• directories are usually stored in mutable files, so directory changes will appear as mutable-file modifications

[davidsarah]

If the legend is at the bottom, there should be an intra-page link to it at the top.