[PLASMA 5] How to save current plasma desktop/theme configuration?

[doctordruidphd]

I got a nasty surprise when I booted the system this afternoon -- my whole desktop had changed to a black screen with a bunch of icons, most of my settings gone. I have no idea what happened. So I had to reload the whole system from backup to fix what was probably a kde/plasma problem.

Is there a way to save all the current settings -- icons, colors, decorations, the whole shot -- as basically a new theme that could just be reloaded with a single click? Seems there used to be a setting for something like "save current desktop as new theme" but that is no longer. I did find a widget called "PlasmaConfSaver" but there's a warning that it might be fake and deletes all settings. Any ideas?

[chimak111]

I did find a widget called "PlasmaConfSaver" but there's a warning that it might be fake and deletes all settings. Any ideas?

Where did you find this widget?
Where did you see the warning?

Are you referring to https://github.com/paju1986/PlasmaConfSaver and https://store.kde.org/p/1298955/ ?

Mentioned here: https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comment..._a_kde_config/

And https://github.com/paju1986/PlasmaCo...cripts/save.sh seems to list files being saved.

[doctordruidphd]

Where did you find this widget?
Where did you see the warning?

Both are here: https://store.kde.org/p/1298955

Basically the same thing you mentioned

In spite of the warning message (one never knows about the legitimacy of messages like this) I tried it and could not get it to work, just comes up with error messages about it's own qml file. Do you use this? I did not try the github download.

[chimak111]

Both are here: https://store.kde.org/p/1298955

Basically the same thing you mentioned

In spite of the warning message (one never knows about the legitimacy of messages like this) I tried it and could not get it to work, just comes up with error messages about it's own qml file. Do you use this? I did not try the github download.

I don't. I just read up on these things. One of the "requirements" it mentions doesn't seem to exist by that name in Kubuntu 18.04: Qt.labs.platform.

By the way, on the KDE Store page, someone else reported a qml error but the solution was not to run as root or with sudo.

[Snowhog]

See https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?k...-labs-platform

[doctordruidphd]

1. This is 19.10, and yes the qt.labs.platform package does exist, but did not fix the errors. All of the other listed requirements are installed.

2. I am not running as root or sudo.

[chimak111]

From my reading of https://github.com/paju1986/PlasmaCo...cripts/save.sh, this is what the widget currently stores:

#plasma config files
$HOME/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc
$HOME/.config/plasmarc
$HOME/.config/plasmashellrc
$HOME/.config/kdeglobals

#kwin
$HOME/.config/kwinrc
$HOME/.config/kwinrulesrc

#dolphin config
$HOME/.config/dolphinrc

#config session desktop
$HOME/.config/ksmserverrc

#config input devices
$HOME/.config/kcminputrc

#shortcuts
$HOME/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc

#klipper config
$HOME/.config/klipperrc

#konsole config
$HOME/.config/konsolerc

#kscreenlocker config
$HOME/.config/kscreenlockerrc

#krunner config
$HOME/.config/krunnerrc

#plasma themes and widgets
$HOME/.local/share/plasma

#wallpapers
$HOME/.local/share/wallpapers/

#autostart
$HOME/.config/autostart/

#icons
$HOME/.local/share/icons/

#color-schemes
$HOME/.local/share/color-schemes/

It also records a couple of latte-dock entries which I haven't included in the list above.

(I still haven't got around to trying the widget out myself.)

[chimak111]

Okay, just tried it and got this:

Error loading QML file: file:///home/dkb/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/com.pajuelo.plasmaConfSaver/contents/ui/main.qml:40:34: Type FullRepresentation unavailable
file:///home/dkb/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/com.pajuelo.plasmaConfSaver/contents/ui/FullRepresentation.qml:22:1: module "Qt.labs.platform" is not installed

The same error appears after installing qml-module-qt-labs-platform.

Doh! I just needed to log out and log back in. I removed the widget and reinstalled it for good measure. It now works.

The data is stored in ~/.config/plasmaConfSaver

---

I'm guessing it wouldn't be too difficult to modify ~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/com.pajuelo.plasmaConfSaver/contents/scripts/save.sh to include/exclude stuff. For example, if a user has a css file for styling konsole's tabs, and a conky or so in ~/.config/conky and so on.

I still haven't looked at this and so don't know how well it'll restore stuff.

[doctordruidphd]

Thanks for your info. Given the list of files, it might just be easiest to write a bash script to save and restore them, which would also allow saves of different setups.

[jglen490]

You might try rsync. I use it to backup my data files. The pattern would be rsync -auv <from source directory> <to target directory> and save my stuff to an external drive. A USB thumb drive would work fine for this.

[doctordruidphd]

You might try rsync. I use it to backup my data files. The pattern would be rsync -auv <from source directory> <to target directory> and save my stuff to an external drive. A USB thumb drive would work fine for this.

Yes, I do that to make an entire backup. The idea is to identify the specific files that need to be backed/restored so as to not zap other things in the process. Right now I am saving ~/.config/k* and ~/.config/plasma* but that still captures a lot of stuff that probably shouldn't be overwritten.

[jglen490]

Yes, I do that to make an entire backup. The idea is to identify the specific files that need to be backed/restored so as to not zap other things in the process. Right now I am saving ~/.config/k* and ~/.config/plasma* but that still captures a lot of stuff that probably shouldn't be overwritten.

So, by "shouldn't be overwritten", is it fair to assume that you are talking about being overwritten by a restore? If yes, then whatever is in the other "stuff" has already been set by some other configuration process and presumably works. That being the case, restoring those objects would simply restore the configuration state that has already been defined. No harm, no foul. But maybe I'm missing something ...

[chimak111]

...Right now I am saving ~/.config/k* and ~/.config/plasma* ...

But there are quite a few files not covered by ~/.config/k*
Just to name a few:
baloofilerc
breezerc
dolphinrc
falkonrc
gwenviewrc
okularrc
plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc
plasmarc

[doctordruidphd]

But there are quite a few files not covered by ~/.config/k*
Just to name a few:
baloofilerc
breezerc
dolphinrc
falkonrc
gwenviewrc
okularrc
plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc
plasmarc

Right, and that is the point -- the idea behind my original post is to restore just the theme settings to the way I have customized them, not to restore settings on individual applications (okular, etc) that are independent of desktop appearance, and may get changed on a use-by-use basis. That's why just backing up and restoring .config is not a satisfactory solution. One could just restore the entire system for that matter, but in the process one would lose other settings and updates that are not directly related to the theme.

Of course the more fundamental question is why the desktop theme got whacked in the first place, but having had to restore the system from backup leaves the cause of that gone forever (I hope) .

[jglen490]

Do you frequently update configs? And, the converse, do you frequently need to restore configs?

I'm just asking because frequency may determine what SHOULD be saved which may lead to a better/refined solution.