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What is the future of support for SettingsDirectory?

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October 10, 2014 - 2:05pm
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Go2Null
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What is the future of support for SettingsDirectory?

I'm trying to move all my PortableApps/${AppNamePortable}/Data directories under PortableApps/Data/${AppNamePortable} but am finding that more apps do NOT support the SettingsDirectory option that those that do.

Here is a summary of my installed apps. (All updated to latest stable version.)

YES | 7-Zip
NO  | AntRename
YES | Dia (creates PortableApps/DiaPortable/Data but uses SettingsDirectory)
YES | DiaShapes
NO  | Evince
YES | Firefox
NO  | FoxitReader
NO  | Geany
NO  | GIMP
NO  | Git
NO  | GnuCash
YES | GoogleChrome
NO  | gVim
NO  | KeePass
NO  | LibreOffice
NO  | Notepad++
NO  | PortableApps.com
No  | PuTTY
YES | SeaMonkey
YES | Thunderbird
YES | VLC
NO  | WinSCP
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October 10, 2014 - 2:15pm
John T. Haller
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Not Universal, Removing, No Need, Backup Options

The ability to set a SettingsDirectory using the AppNamePortable.ini was never supposed to be universal. Just for specific apps. It wasn't intended to be used to set paths outside of the app directory. It's also being removed as apps are switched to the PortableApps.com Launcher. Plus, it breaks upgrades that attempt to update your settings via the PA.c Installer when an app's settings are changed.

There's no need to keep all your app settings in a single directory. As they all use the same layout, you can easily using the PA.c Platform backup utility to backup the data from all your apps without needing to backup the apps themselves to save time and space. Or you can configure your backup utility to backup X:\PortrableApps\*\Data\* or a similar expression just as the PA.c Backup utility does with 7-Zip.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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October 11, 2014 - 8:19pm
(Reply to #2)
Go2Null
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Thanks for the prompt, and

Thanks for the prompt, and informative, response.

And I agree that a common Data directory is is not necessary for backups.

However, splitting out the Data dir is a great feature to have as it enables having the Data and App dirs in different encrypted containers (when limited by the 4GB FAT32 limit), or when using a common network App dir be with user specific Data dirs, or when the App dirs are on various local computers (work, home) and using a USB stick for Data.

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