[SOLVED] Can't empty trash

[Teunis]

Since a couple of weeks I'm running 24.04 and encountered a few problems.
This I found out just now, I can't delete anything from the trash folder, yes I am set as owner.
Even right clicking individual files tells me it's not possible.
Any ideas?

[claydoh]

the "trash" is sort of a virtual thing.

The actual files are in ~/.local/share/Trash/ but note the two directories in there. One has the actual files, and the other has info about each file.
You might have a situation where the physical file has been deleted, and not present in ~/.local/share/Trash/files, but the information for it is still in ~/.local/share/Trash/info. This iirc is what apps actually look at for displaying items in the bin. A file missing or manually deleted from /Files but not /Info can cause this sort of problem.

You can try deleting the contents of both directories, and see if newly trashed files behave the same. This isn't overly common, but not unheard of, and I know I have had to do this once or twice over the years.

[Qqmike]

Oh boy ...

Following this. Just had a weird situation in my 22.04:

Trash is empty, right? (Icon indicates empty and when I look in the Trash, it's empty.)
But I look in ~/.local/share/Trash/files, and I see a folder of files I had deleted a month ago.
But, as I say, it shouldn't be there, as the Trash is supposed to be empty.
However, this file was empty: ~/.local/share/Trash/info.

So I delete that folder from ~/.local/share/Trash/files (highlight it, press Delete on keyboard).
Now, ~/.local/share/Trash/info is NOT empty: it shows information on that folder I just deleted.
Lo and behold, my Trash icon (in system tray) now shows something in it.
I open the Trash icon, and I see that folder (that I had deleted) and its contents.

Next, I right-click and empty Trash.

Then everything is as it should be:
That folder (I deleted) is gone: Trash is empty, and Trash shows "empty"!
These two folders are also empty: ~/.local/share/Trash/files, and ~/.local/share/Trash/info.

Weird! But consistent with claydoh's post.

(Aside: It's concerning that I was able to access that folder and contents I thought I had deleted a month ago. It's contents was a bit sensitive.)

[claydoh]

tmi:

https://specifications.freedesktop.org/trash-spec/1.0/

[skyfishgoo]

if i want something gone i use the delete key or rm it in a console... then it's gone like yesterday.

you might want to also purge ur backups if the thing you wanted gone was around long enough to get backed up.

[Qqmike]

Thanks for the link, claydoh.
Thanks for the tip, skyfishgoo. 👍

[Teunis]

I think I've solicited a couple of interesting replies!

Anyhow, today I was traveling and switched the laptop off.
Now it's running again I was able to empty the trash...

So although I don't know the core of the problem, presently it has been solved.