What Is the Basic Root Folder in Inventory For?

[Prokofy Neva]

It's never been explained, it's not in the Knowledge base that I can see, and I fear it is something that might be removed although it's been here for more than a year.

Why do I ask? Because it seemed like a handy inventory organizer at first. It had sub-folders and it seemed like a nice place to tuck away hundreds of things I need to decorate rentals, but which then won't clutter the view of the whole inventory.

But if it is removed for some arcane reason in some future patch, whoops, there goes all the inventory in it.

Somebody said on an early forums post that it might be related to "direct delivery" but since that goes below all the inventory files in that "received items" folder, then how could it be related?

[Theresa Tennyson]

---

Prokofy Neva wrote:

It's never been explained, it's not in the Knowledge base that I can see, and I fear it is something that might be removed although it's been here for more than a year.

Why do I ask? Because it seemed like a handy inventory organizer at first. It had sub-folders and it seemed like a nice place to tuck away hundreds of things I need to decorate rentals, but which then won't clutter the view of the whole inventory.

But if it is removed for some arcane reason in some future patch, whoops, there goes all the inventory in it.

Somebody said on an early forums post that it might be related to "direct delivery" but since that goes below all the inventory files in that "received items" folder, then how could it be related?

---

There's no folder of that description in the standard inventory setup that I can see. If you're seeing one it may have been created during an inventory repair operation.

[Qie Niangao]

Is this something different from the "My Inventory" folder, which distinguishes all our own stuff from the stuff in the "Library" folder?

Incidentally, something I noticed recently: in the "RECENT" tab, when you get new direct-delivery Marketplace stuff, it shows in its own "Received Items" system folder under the "My Inventory" folder (as well as in the lower Recieved items pane). That "Received Items" folder doesn't seem to show in the "MY INVENTORY" tab. (Just in case that's maybe evidence for the theory that direct delivery is relevant here somewhere.)

[Prokofy Neva]



 

[Prokofy Neva]

No, it's just a folder that is separate, see photo above.

[Theresa Tennyson]

I don't see the "All" or "Basic Root" system folders on any of my accounts, even if I un-hide empty system folders.

[Innula Zenovka]

I can't find it in my viewer (Second Life 4.1.1.319856 (Second Life Release)).   This is what I see



Are there any special settings I should use to find it?

Or is it in one of the Release Candidate viewers, maybe?

[Whirly Fizzle]

Your image shows 2 known inventory "bugs".

Both the "Basic Root" and the "All" folder are system folders & you won't be able to delete them.

I was actually given an explanation about the Basic Root folder when I filed https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-9877 but I can't actually remember the details.  I wish I'd added a comment on that JIRA issue now.

As far as I can remember, it was a bug that happened when certain accounts were migrated over to direct delivery.

As for storing stuff in that Basic Root folder, I think it's probably safe to do that but I wouldn't do that myself for fear of future bugs affecting that folder. Probably best to err on the side of caution & not use it for storage.

The "All" system folder you have is actually your "Calling Cards" system folder.  Some accounts have had the Calling Cards folder renamed to All. The usual cause of that bug was having an inventory repair done by Linden Lab support. I think that All bug is fixed now, so new inventory repairs will not cause it to happen.

So your "Calling Crds" folder structure will be All -> Friends -> All, rather then Calling Cards -> Friends -> All.

[Whirly Fizzle]

---

Qie Niangao wrote:

Incidentally, something I noticed recently: in the "RECENT" tab, when you get new direct-delivery Marketplace stuff, it shows in its own "Received Items" system folder under the "My Inventory" folder (as well as in the lower Received items pane). That "Received Items" folder doesn't seem to show in the "MY INVENTORY" tab. (Just in case that's maybe evidence for the theory that direct delivery is relevant here somewhere.)

---

Yeah that's expected behaviour. On the LL viewer, the Received Items folder is deliberately hidden from the main inventory tab - not really sure why because it's handy to have it displaying in normal inventory as well as in the big bottom folder. Firestorm has a preferences option to display the Received items folder in normal inventory.

For one thing, when using inventory search, it won't display items in the Received Items bottom folder. Also right clicking an inventory link -> Find original will not work if the original is the bottom Received Items folder.

You can force the Received Items folder to show in your My Inventory tab by ticking "Always Show Folders" in inventory filters.

Search results will then display for the Received Items folder too & "Find original" for links will also work.

 

 

 

[Prokofy Neva]

I don't care about the Calling Cards because there's another bug affecting them, making them repeat, so that each card has like 20 copies in a row, and deleting them doesn't make them go away, so I just never use that folder.

My hunch is that Basic Root could be trouble if it was inserted as a fix to something else that mysteriously happened (some inventory corruption that required Linden fixing -- this has happened multiple times, once after a griefer directed objects to spam by the thousands into my inventory, and another time because some corrupt object was in there for something, who knows, also probably grief-related).

This is a HUGE chore to move this out, so my next question is this: if you make a folder called RENTALS or anything, and then make dozens of sub-folders inside THAT folder, i.e. CHAIRS, DESKS, FLOWERS, etc. is that also cause some problem with the way the pointers go to the asset server?

I have had tenants who have lost thousands of expensive inventory items, breedables, clothing etc. I don't know why this happens. Why don't they have a snap shop or an earlier version? If not, why not? Your inventory is just a list of pointers, not "the actual things". So what's the big deal? Restore all the pointers and be done with it. If the items still exist inworld, e.g. a lot of suits and horses, why can't they just put the pointer to them back??? I find this indefensable. 

I went through long periods (years) where only a quarter or half of my inventory would load on any given session, and never the same amount. Even notecards I had just made would be lost. I put things in storage inworld like a squirrel. I tried everything, clearing cache, clean boot etc. Finally I ticketed this and got some action, but it took several tries. Now, on some patches, it won't load, and I have to do clear cache again. I don't know why this is necessary. A browser has hundreds of book marks. An email program has hundreds of addresses. These point to things. So why can't the SL inventory be like that?

[Whirly Fizzle]

---

Prokofy Neva wrote:

I don't care about the Calling Cards because there's another bug affecting them, making them repeat, so that each card has like 20 copies in a row, and deleting them doesn't make them go away, so I just never use that folder.

---

The duplicating Calling Cards bug should be fixed now.  If you delete all your Calling Cards, empty Trash & then relog, you should get one CC recreated for each friend, plus your own CC and those then shouldn't duplicate. I think you use the LL viewer, but just   in case you use Firestorm, Firestorm will no longer recreate any Calling Cards if you delete them and relog, you will need to login once on the LL viewer to get all friends Calling Cards back after deletion.

The bug report for the duplicating Calling Cards is here: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-10703  (now fixed).

---

Prokofy Neva wrote:

 

.... so my next question is this: if you make a folder called RENTALS or anything, and then make dozens of sub-folders inside THAT folder, i.e. CHAIRS, DESKS, FLOWERS, etc. is that also cause some problem with the way the pointers go to the asset server?

---

No, it's fine to do that.

Infact  that's the best way to organize inventory. The more subfoldering you do within your inventory, the better.

A very large and flat inventory structure can cause login timeouts. When you login, your inventory structure is loaded up from your inventory cache. If your inventory is very flat (thousands of items in the main root folder or thousands of items within any single folder or folders (where an item is a folder or a loose asset), creating inventory views from cache can take a very long time and it causes the login to time out.

This is why people with a very flat inventory structure report that they have to clear cache to be able to get logged in.

Linden Lab support can fix that problem - they have a tool that will automatically deflatten an inventory by creating subfolders where they are needed.

[Prokofy Neva]

Here is the definitive answer from an old actual Linden in response to my ticket, i.e. not one of those new CS people but an actual old Linden who knows things:

"I did some digging around on this issue, and it looks like this folder relates to an old project that was not completed and has been shelved. I don't see any reason that it would be removed or modified, but it is possible that a code update could unintentionally do so. As a result, for safety I would recommend against using it for storage."

So I immediately moved everything out of that folder, which only took a minute because you can move things in batches such as on Windows.

And the second I removed all the sub-folders with their objects, and then the objects not in sub-folders in "BASIC ROOT" the folder simply POOFED. It's gone. It's not in trash; it's just gone.

SO I'm glad I did that because if it was that poofable, anything could have gone wrong.

I think this was originally a thing to repair a broken inventory which they fixed for me several times, that's what I recall. So it's likely not a widespread phenomenon. I don't even know what Basic Root means but anyway, it's gone.

[Whirly Fizzle]

---

Prokofy Neva wrote:

 

So I immediately moved everything out of that folder, which only took a minute because you can move things in batches such as on Windows.

And the second I removed all the sub-folders with their objects, and then the objects not in sub-folders in "BASIC ROOT" the folder simply POOFED. It's gone. It's not in trash; it's just gone.

---

Hmm it may still be there.

The LL viewer hides all empty system folders by default & that Basic Root folder is a system folder.

If you set DebugHideEmptySystemFolders to FALSE in debug settings, does Basic Root reappear?

[Prokofy Neva]

No, it doesn't show with "FALSE" and that, it's gone.