In short: The current xfdesktop still shows the unexpected behaviour described 
in the OP, which is that drag-and-drop from/to the Desktop copies the files 
instead of moving it. This is observed on an up-to-date Wheezy distribution 
with xfdesktop 4.8.3-2.

In more detail: The most common behaviour of file managers on Linux (and some 
other systems) is that drag-and-drop file operations default to moving when the 
target directory is on the same device as the source, and defaults to copying 
otherwise. As such, for example dragging-and-dropping a file from the Desktop 
into a sub-folder should by default move the file, not copy it. The XFCE 
root-window Desktop instead chooses to copy by default (that is unless the 
shift modifier or the context-menu is used to specify otherwise). Note that in 
all tested cases the graphical feedback always corresponds to the resulting 
operation, so that the unexpected operation can at least be anticipated by the 
observant user.

Here is a detailed list of the default operation proposed by dragging and 
dropping a file '/home/user/Desktop/foo' onto a directory 
'/home/user/Destop/bar/'. Source and target icons are either on the root-window 
or in a thunar (1.2.3-4+b1) or a nautilus (3.4.2-1+build1) window showing the 
/home/user/Desktop directory.

root-window     -> root-window:   copy
thunar-window   -> thunar-window: move
nautilus-window -> nautilus-window: move

root-window     -> thunar-window: move
thunar-window   -> root-window:   copy

root-window     -> nautilus-window: copy
nautilus-window -> root-window: copy

nautilus-window -> thunar-window: move
thunar-window -> nautilus-window: copy

Note the asymetries (e.g. root->thunar vs thunar->root). The thunar->nautilus 
case shows that the root-window-manager is not the only component at fault, but 
clearly the whole is an unpredictable mess. It would be nice if 'moving' could 
become the default operation either unconditionally or at least via a 
configuration option.

cheers,
Adrian


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