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Locked Hidden folder .jmri #linux

 

Is there a reason that the user files are located in a hidden folder in Linux? I'd much rather that they were not. Can that be defeated by the user somewhere within the existing software?
?
Thanks
George
 

George,

I create a symbolic link to provide an alternate path.

cd
ln -s .jmri jmri

Dave Sand

----- Original message -----
From: George Hofmann <george.hofmann@...>
Subject: [jmriusers] Hidden folder .jmri #linux
Date: Thursday, October 31, 2024 10:25 AM

Is there a reason that the user files are located in a hidden folder in Linux? I'd much rather that they were not. Can that be defeated by the user somewhere within the existing software?
?
Thanks
George
 

Where are you trying to access this folder?
In the file manager, Ctrl H will unhide the hidden folders in file manager. Not sure where else that works.

--
Peter Ulvestad
Linux Mint 21.3, JMRI 5.95plus, Java 21.0.4
JMRI Users Group Moderator ( /g/jmriusers )
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It's a shame it doesn't respect the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME env variable (as defined by ); that way it could be something like ~/.config/jmri
 

Is there a reason that the user files are located in a hidden folder in Linux? I'd much rather that they were not. Can that be defeated by the user somewhere within the existing software?

I don't know if it helps, but I've just noticed that the startup scripts in the JMRI directory (PanelPro, DecoderPro etc.) can take a --settingsdir=/path/to/my/settings command line option (on Linux at least)

So, you could alter your PanelPro.desktop file to something like:

[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Encoding=UTF-8 Name=PanelPro Comment=JMRI Panel Pro Icon="${HOME}/JMRI/resources/PanelPro.gif" Exec=sh -c "${HOME}/JMRI/PanelPro --settingsdir=${HOME}/jmri" Terminal=false;

 

On Tue, Nov 5, 2024 at 08:04 AM, Jimmy The Dog wrote:

So, you could alter your PanelPro.desktop file to something like:

Sorry, just noticed that the icon will be lost if you use $HOME, so it should be something like:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=PanelPro
Comment=JMRI Panel Pro
Icon=/home/.../JMRI/resources/PanelPro.gif
Exec=sh -c "${HOME}/JMRI/PanelPro --settingsdir=${HOME}/jmri"
Terminal=false;

 

Thanks JTD. I will look into that, although I have kinda solved my issue by renaming .jmri to jmri when moving it to Dropbox. But as Dave pointed out, settings folder is still .jmri.
?
It's just that I don't get why the user files are located in a hidden folder by default. If I show hidden folders so that I can get at the .jmri folder from the GUI then it is lost in a sea of other normally hidden linuxy crap that I must pick through. Also when browsing for files within the app (JMRI) hidden folders don't show up, requiring a right click to see them. Just seems odd and an unnecessary hindrance.
?
George
 

Back when JMRI was first being written, 25 years ago, dot-prefix files and directories in the user home directory was the standard place to put application-specific preferences on Linux. That¡¯s still the case now, which is why you have ¡°crap that (you) must pick through¡±.

The .jmri directory isn¡¯t something that you¡¯re expected to directly reference. The files contained within that are meant to be read and written by JMRI itself, and it knows how to locate that directory. So making them a preferences directory make some sense.

Maybe there¡¯s something here we need to fix. Why do you commonly need to access that directory directly? Is there some browser within JMRI that¡¯s starting at your home directory, instead of some more useful location?

Bob

On Nov 7, 2024, at 10:21?AM, George Hofmann via groups.io <george.hofmann@...> wrote:

Thanks JTD. I will look into that, although I have kinda solved my issue by renaming .jmri to jmri when moving it to Dropbox. But as Dave pointed out, settings folder is still .jmri.
It's just that I don't get why the user files are located in a hidden folder by default. If I show hidden folders so that I can get at the .jmri folder from the GUI then it is lost in a sea of other normally hidden linuxy crap that I must pick through. Also when browsing for files within the app (JMRI) hidden folders don't show up, requiring a right click to see them. Just seems odd and an unnecessary hindrance.
George
¡ª
Bob Jacobsen
rgj1927@...

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