Backing up your desktop settings

bin · 2016-11-17 17:42

Wow!

Yes I use the XPQ4OS themes as a starting point and then fiddle until I like the result.

I must admit I felt a bit like Alice going down the rabbit hole trying to work out what is stored where - xfce is soooo much easier

I'm not totally sure the catchall approach would be ideal - although I do understand why you'd want to adopt it - nightmare!!

Thinking about typical use cases here certainly the files you mention - in fact anything in the root of the user home that is not a TDE file would need to be excluded I'd have thought. Looking in my .config.....there are loads of application specifc folders with blahblahrc files. Now, most of these I would want to re-use on a reinstall, but having them reverting to a previous version if they've been updated after the last config backup could be awkward.

Reflecting on your comments and ideas, on balance I think that if there's a choice it is better to have a few items go awol as originally reported - and of no real consequence, just something I noticed - rather than creating something which requires too much user intervention or knowledge of what the files are.

What do you think - better to keep it simple?

Dai_trying · 2016-11-17 18:28

I'm happy to go with what works best really, I think the middle ground might be to have a config file containing a list of files that are outside the scope of general use but the user might want to include, that way the user can simply add the files to config and themebackup would read it and include the files (so long as they actually exist).
I'll work on this and post an update, or if you think of an alternative solution please post and I will see what I can do.

Dai_trying · 2016-11-17 20:52

Ok, Version 0.0.2-10 uses a config file aptly named config.file which is placed in ~/.config/daithemebackup/ with the backup files when the app is first run, it contains at the start just two files and more can be added at one file per line. I have put in some brief instructions for using the file which can be seen when viewing it.
Let me know if you think this is a better option.

bin · 2016-11-18 08:22

I think this is a very workable solution - thanks for your efforts! It may also encourage folks to get to grips with all those hidden but so useful bits and bobs

Dai_trying · 2016-11-18 09:44

You are welcome, I quite like this solution as you can add any files that you would like to have restored, I have included my conkies so that I will always have a backup of them too.

Dai_trying · 2017-02-06 14:02

I have modified the program a little by adding an "are you sure" option to resetting to default theme and will be working on giving the option to restore a backup from another user in the very near future, but for now the latest version 0.0.2-11 is available from the first post and my website

Thanks to Werner Holtfreter for the very useful feedback

Dai

crosscourt · 2017-07-30 19:27

Not sure how I missed this but the devs mentioned it in a support post and gave it a try. Very nice!

Dai_trying · 2017-07-30 21:51

I hope you find it useful, I certainly do. I have it set to run once only each day at startup ( I use a cron job to run a script to check if todays has been run already first.)

crosscourt · 2017-07-31 01:10

Its great as Ive been using it on my test system.

Dai_trying · 2017-10-26 13:05

Unfortunately this package will not (currently) work with Scorpion, I will be looking into whether I can sort it out, but for the time being it will not function, Sorry ppl.

crosscourt · 2017-10-26 20:20

I realized that early on, but Im sure youll come up with something.

Dai_trying · 2017-10-26 22:46

Yes, I have simply copied the required file from Orion for now and it will work, but I'm sure there would be omissions doing it this way, so definitely wouldn't recommend it for now.

crosscourt · 2017-10-27 00:15

I appreciate the effort you put into it to start!

Dai_trying · 2017-12-29 16:53

New Version available to work on Scorpion installs, Not FULLY tested but so far has worked in my tests, went from Debonaire theme back to my first backup without any issues. Please let me know if anyone finds any issues.

crosscourt · 2017-12-29 23:08

Will do!

Nurrv · 2019-08-19 16:13

Dai_trying wrote:

New Version available to work on Scorpion installs, Not FULLY tested but so far has worked in my tests, went from Debonaire theme back to my first backup without any issues. Please let me know if anyone finds any issues.

I've run into the issue with desktop settings getting cleared when changing themes using Centaurus. My memory is hazy but I think I tried to install one of the scripts last week - can't remember which version/option. Some files appeared that I thought where going to be the ones that saved the settings but I think the settings didn't actually get written to the file.

Since the last version was for Scorpion do you think it will work on Centaurus?

Dai_trying · 2019-08-19 16:23

I haven't attempted to port this to Centaurus due to the amount of different possible desktop options which would be a nightmare to attempt to get backed up, so I would not recommend using this at all with Centaurus.

Nurrv · 2019-08-19 19:23

Do you know if there are any options at all for saving desktop settings in Centaurus? Are there work arounds or is the only option to setup the desktop the way I want and then don't ever change themes?

Dai_trying · 2019-08-19 19:47

Not that I am aware of, that was why I wrote this in the first place, if you are familiar with python you could look through the code and see how I managed to do it, basically there was a tar file used to give a clean default desktop so I used that as a template of which files to back up as it should contain all the required files to save the desktop, I did find that there would be occasion where another file was required and so added the option to include custom entries into the backup.

I might revisit this though when I have more time as I have just noticed there appears to be the tar files available. (/usr/share/apps/q4os_system/share if you are interested )

Q4OS Forum

#26 2016-11-17 17:42

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#27 2016-11-17 18:28

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#28 2016-11-17 20:52

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#29 2016-11-18 08:22

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#30 2016-11-18 09:44

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#31 2017-02-06 14:02

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#32 2017-07-30 19:27

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#33 2017-07-30 21:51

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#34 2017-07-31 01:10

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#35 2017-10-26 13:05

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#36 2017-10-26 20:20

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#37 2017-10-26 22:46

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#38 2017-10-27 00:15

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#39 2017-12-29 16:53

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#40 2017-12-29 23:08

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#41 2019-08-19 16:13

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#42 2019-08-19 16:23

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#43 2019-08-19 19:23

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

#44 2019-08-19 19:47

Re: Backing up your desktop settings

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