Tool Backup Plasma Settings?

Brainstorm
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21

I used Konsave - but now I rarely bother.

22
24

I now use this tool to see wich config files are changed or added my an app.

25

if i understand this tool correctly it will identify all the user files that are touched when an application is run and then closed… is that correct?

so if the application changes a setting and saves that somewhere it will get recorded by the script, however if the application does not touch a file during the session, then it will not be recorded… is that correct?

this sets up a condition for incomplete capture unless during the session EVERY option and setting is exercised and of course it assumes the application will always touch the same file name each time it’s run.

what is really need is for something like this to be running all the time, so that no matter what order or when a user makes a settings change to an app, that file will now be included in the set of files to backup/restore for that application.

this script is a foot in the door, but a more powerful version is needed to complete the vision.

note: also moved this thread to brainstorm as it seems like a better place to capture this.

3 Likes
26

Correct.

Thanks for the reply.

The script is used to run an app for the Firth time so the creation of configuratie files is triggered and therefor recorded.

27

Oh, so rather than save a snapshot of your current configuration, it attempts to capture a live snapshot of your running configuration?

So this isn’t something to be used for saving different plasma settings for different jobs?

28

the recent tool i mentioned “config-watch” is a tool to capture what config files are added to .config and .local . Very usefull if you want to know what to include in de backup.

My gitlab KDE-Plasma-settings i now use for backing op the base KDE Plasma settings, KDE app configs, Custom App configs and user folders. I created templates for this.

It is perhaps not yet what it should be, but it does the job for now.
Hopefully Kbackup will include a default KDE-plasma settings preset so alto new users understand what to backup :slight_smile:

29

dexter’s script is not a backup tool… but it can help you decide which files to include in a backup.

it’s a step toward building the database that is needed for a robust settings backup utility.

backing up the files is the easy part… knowing which files to back up is the hard part.

1 Like
30

Well said :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
and lets make it usable and understandable for new users

1 Like
31

your settings tool is moving the bar.

after just a cursory browse, it seems to enable a process for manually finding and capturing the relevant settings files into a kup profile that can then be scheduled.

nice work.

1 Like
32

Thanks,
It is not yet where it should be. Hopefully i’ll get there.

33

question. are there any apps wich somtimes change the location or name of the config files?
Or are the locations forever the same?

34

that’s a good question… and i don’t think the answer is that they are always the same or that there is only the one file.

it makes this goal quite a challenging thing.

you also have configuration data for flatpak which is in a different location from native packages and you have different versions of packages doing different things.

to top all that off, this is all on the honor system… there’s no enforcement of any of the guidelines.

1 Like
35

build a binary version of config-watch witch just focusses on the detection of creation of .config and .local files.

/config-watch --help
config-watch 1.0.0
Usage: ./config-watch [OPTIONS]  [arguments…]

Tracks which files are created or modified in watched directories when a program starts.

Options (placed before ):
–timeout    Stop automatically after  seconds
–watch      Directory to watch (repeatable; default: ~/.config ~/.local)
–save      Save detected paths to
–edit            Open saved file in $VISUAL/$EDITOR (uses a temp file if --save is omitted)
–verbose, -v     Show the program’s stdout and stderr (hidden by default)
–plain           Print only the bare file list, one path per line
–include-state   Include ~/.local/state/ in the output
–version, --ver  Show version
–help, -h        Show this help
36

I think the safest solution is to simply backup ~Home then you have whatever is needed to restore.

I recommend https://kopia.io/ - but Borg or restic do a similar job. I then use an exclude list to keep things tidy for when I need to restore:

# -------------------------------------------
# Archive Exclude List for /~
# -------------------------------------------
**/!!!*
**/*.bak
**/*.dmp
**/*.err
**/*.lck
**/*.lock
**/*.temp
**/*.tmp
**/*[Cc]ache*/
**/.cache/
**/.thumbnails/
**/.Trash*/
**/.xbak
**/.xkopia
**/[Ll]og/
**/[Ll]ogs/
**/[Tt]emp/
**/[Tt]emporary/
**/node_modules/
.backup/
.backups/
.bash*
.bun/
.cargo/
.cmake/
.config/@opencode-ai/
.config/ai.opencode.desktop/
.config/alacritty/
.config/chromium*/
.config/Claude/
.config/Electron/
.config/github-desktop/
.config/go/
.config/google-chrome/
.config/gopls/
.config/micro/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/*ovfs/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/crashes/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/datareporting/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/gmp*/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/minidumps/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/saved-telemetry-pings/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/security_state/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/sessionstore-backups/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/sessionstore-logs/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/shader-cache/
.config/mozilla/firefox/**/storage/default/https*
.config/mozilla/firefox/*-backup-crashrecovery-*
.config/mozilla/firefox/Crash Reports/
.config/mozilla/firefox/Pending Pings/
.config/net.imput.helium/
.dart-tool/
.dotnet/
.eclipse/
.java/
.kajonggserver/
.local/lib/
.local/share/NuGet/
.local/share/recently-used.xbel
.local/share/baloo/
.local/share/containers/
.local/share/flatpak/
.local/share/goverlay/.fgmod_original/
.local/share/goverlay/fgmod/
.local/share/lutris/
.local/share/Ollama/
.local/share/pipx/
.local/share/Python/
.local/share/shelly-icons/
.local/share/Steam/
.local/share/torbrowser/
.local/share/Trash/
.local/share/zed/languages/
.local/state/
.mozilla/firefox/**/cache2/
.mozilla/firefox/**/jumpListCache/
.net/
.npm/
.nuget/
.pki/
.pub-cache/
.pulse-cookie
.steam/
.steampath
.steampid
.themes/
.Trash-1000/
.var/
.wget-hsts
.wine/
.zshrc
Downloads/**/*.!qB
Downloads/**/*.aac
Downloads/**/*.avi
Downloads/**/*.flac
Downloads/**/*.iso
Downloads/**/*.mkv
Downloads/**/*.mp3
Downloads/**/*.mp4
Downloads/**/*.mpeg
Downloads/**/*.mpg
Downloads/**/*.opus
Downloads/_convert
Music
Music/
Projects/**/.vscode-test/
Projects/**/[Bb]in/
Projects/**/[Bb]uild/
Projects/**/[Dd]ebug/
Projects/**/[Dd]ebugPS/
Projects/**/[Dd]ebugPublic/
Projects/**/[Dd]ist/
Projects/**/[Ee]xpress/
Projects/**/[Oo]bj/
Projects/**/[Oo]ut/
Projects/**/[Pp]ublish/
Projects/**/[Rr]elease*/
Projects/**/[Tt]arget/
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Negative excludes go last
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
!.cspell
!.gitconfig
37

This results in a log of space needed to backup it al .. some needed files also all unneeded files. This way you start with a fresh install and restore a lot of bloat.

38

Also it works for you, but it is rather unexplainable for all new users. Backup should be a standaard. Witch is dificult on Linux, i know :slight_smile:

39

typically the short and long options would go something more like this

-t, --timeout
-w, --watch
-s, --save
-e, --edit
-v, --verbose
-p, --plain
--include-state
--version
-h, --help

with short options only needed for frequently used options.

some of these might be better as commands than options

might want to include the ~/.var/app and ~/.snap directories as well since many ppl use flatpak and snap which also have settings and preferences

but here is the rub with just watching for changes… ./snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox/… is where firefox saves your preferences, but it’s also got a shitton of other traffic all the time and you would not want to save any of that.

so there also needs to be an --exclude option so certain directories or files could be ignored from the save list.

and now we have already well exited the “new user” space

this looks more and more like the job of some kind of heuristic rather than a wrote set of planed directories to watch.

40

That should ALWAYS be backed up regardless…

I also don’t see so much appeal in this approach to backing up Plasma Settings for the purpose of setting up a new machine - I would just use the backup to take what I want…

I do feel, however, that it’s valid to want to set up your machine a certain way and snapshot with a subset of those settings though - I keep a ‘resource’ folder which contains some assets that aren’t easily available or installable, and in there I keep my Konsave settings so that I can apply a set of theming options, which includes custom settings for Kate/terminals and so on.

To some extent, this is what Activities should do (and hopefully will do better in future).

41

It results in only the space needed. That’s what the exclude list is for.

It really is not that difficult. It takes a bit of RTFM but it’s not L33t H4ck3r level!

I agree. I should also be dating Brie Larson. But here we are, stuck with reality. :slight_smile: