Google shows instances of this bug going back to at least 2009. I had 19 of these files covering the first 13 days of May, starting when I installed Pangolin and ending when I installed Mint 12/Cinnamon to overcome an intractable printer problem. In my case all 19 files were zero bytes.
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to nautilus in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/984785 Title: .goutputstream files polluting $HOME Status in “nautilus” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in “nautilus” source package in Precise: Confirmed Bug description: .goutputstream files polluting $HOME. Which software or operation is creating these and why? ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04 Package: xauth 1:1.0.6-1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic 3.2.14 Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64 NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia & ati ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu4 Architecture: amd64 Date: Wed Apr 18 13:29:31 2012 InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" ProcEnviron: PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: xauth UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/984785/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp