Bug 394821

Summary:	KDE config files are found all around the place
Product:	[I don't know] kde	Reporter:	DeMus <jan.mussche>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Unassigned bugs mailing-list <unassigned-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED DUPLICATE
Severity:	normal	CC:	cfeck, shivangs44
Priority:	NOR
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Manjaro
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description DeMus 2018-05-29 08:20:00 UTC

KDE is known to have a 1001 settings which can be changed to suit the users wishes. This can take a long time. When you re-install a distro, or perhaps jump to another, you've got to do it all again.

I have a few questions about this:
1) Is it possible (sure it is) to place each and every KDE config file (for each and every program and part of Plasma, etc) in one directory, now they are everywhere. Making a backup would be so much easier to do.
2) Can you create a backup program to backup the settings, just as you did in Kontact where it is now very easy to create a backup of all your mail from within the program, instead of trying to find all the akonadi files which are scattered around. Kudos for that.

For a modern DE, and I considder KDE to be THE DE this is almost mandatory to have. So if somebody can have a look at this, I and I'm sure many with me, will be very happy Setting up a new installation will then be peanuts compared to what it is now.
Thank you very much.

Comment 1 Shivang Saxena 2018-06-01 20:21:53 UTC

Under ~/.local/share/ I see many folders for KDE apps like Dolphin, kate, kmail, etc. Would it not suffice to copy this folder as into your backups?

But as for #2, I think that's a great idea to have a program that can backup the settings for common KDE apps. It would be a pretty huge undertaking so there would need to be some dedicated people working on this project. I'd be very happy to help but my knowledge of QT and C++ is limited.

Comment 2 Christoph Feck 2018-06-01 21:49:22 UTC


*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 240862 ***

Comment 3 Christoph Feck 2018-06-01 21:54:24 UTC

In the future, please use one ticket for one issue.

1) All KDE applications should use the XDG standard ~/.config/ folder. If not, please report a ticket for the application in question separately.

Note that ~/.config/ is different from ~/.local/share/

The former is used for configuration files, the latter is used for application data. Think "UI colors" and "address book entries" to understand the difference.

2) Marked as duplicate.

Comment 4 DeMus 2018-06-03 07:32:08 UTC

As I see it, and I am only a computer user no somebody who can dive deep into things, placing all files belonging to KDE app in 1 folder would make backing them up very easy: all you need to do is copy that 1 folder and you are sure you have everything. Doesn't have to be so complicated.