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Downloading problem files from server

Downloading problem files from server

by Patrick Spencer -
Number of replies: 4
Hi,

We would like to upload our problems to the national problem database. I tried downloading the folder with the file manager but it says you can't download folders. Is there another to do this without access to the server files?

If not, then in which directory on the server can we ask the server administrator to look in so that they can get us the files? 

We have Webwork 2.9 and all our files are in a folder called MizzouLibrary located in the base directory shown in the file browser. Also, In the file browser it says MizzouLibrary@. I'm not sure what the @ symbol means here.

- Patrick Spencer
In reply to Patrick Spencer

Re: Downloading problem files from server

by Danny Glin -
You can download a folder using the "Make Archive" button in the File Manager:
  1. Highlight the folder(s) you wish to download, then click Make Archive.  This will create a file in that directory called [your_coursename].tgz.
  2. This file is a gzipped tar archive of those directories, which you can download from the server to your local machine.
  3. Expand the archive on your local machine.  On linux or a Mac, you can just double-click on the file.  On windows, you will need a tool like 7zip.
Hope this helps.

Danny


In reply to Danny Glin

Re: Downloading problem files from server

by Patrick Spencer -
I was able to use MakeArchive command, though it turns out the @ symbol next to the folder signified it was a symbolic link to another folder so all I could download was the link.

I should note, for people wanting to do this in the future, that I wasn't able to untar the file just by clicking on it in Mac. I had to untar it with the command line. This was probably because it was a link and not a folder.

I think I'll have to contact the server administrator to get the real folder since it's not showing up in the file browser. 

Does anyone know what base folder the file browser starts off in?

- Patrick
In reply to Patrick Spencer

Re: Downloading problem files from server

by Danny Glin -
Sorry I forgot to mention that.  The @ symbol indeed indicates that it is a symbolic link.

If you click on the link, then it should put you in the MizzouLibrary directory (i.e. it will follow the symlink).  In that directory you should be able to highlight all of the subdirectories and files, and Make an Archive that has the actual files.  This may or may not work because there are some rules about following symlinks in the file manager.

I'm surprises that double-clicking didn't untar the file, since it does on my Mac.  This could be based on some Safari settings which automatically unzip zip files that I download.

In answer to your last question, if WeBWorK is installed in the standard location then the file manager starts in /opt/webwork/courses/[coursename]/templates

Danny