Split config file

[przepompownia]

I like the idea how the accels.ini keeps configuration. It doesn't need to keep all the defaults from data/accels.ini. It can contain user overrides only. This is not the case of geeqierc.xml. It keeps defaults, permanent configuration and session data.

I have my config files versioned so I need to commit any changes more carefully than usual because of session data that are partially private data. The geeqierc.xml contains also the information about version under which it was written. I haven't checked whether this is subsequently parsed by Geeqie or if it might only be needed when reporting a bug.

From this perspective, the ideal setup would be to have:

• a session configuration (panel sizes, paths, and locations previously held in the main config) that is volatile by design (f.e. session.xml)
• a permanent compact configuration for settings unaffected by session variables (which might contain only overrides) - apparently our old geeqierc.xml.

Each configuration file could retain the existing XML structure (facilitating compatibility), while Geeqie could load settings in this order: session settings first, then fill by permanent settings, and finally fill in any gaps with hard-coded defaults (perhaps inserting system-wide settings before the defaults, for distribution purposes, if such a configuration existed).

I have no idea how complex (against the current master) the logic would be for deciding what should be persistent and what should be session-scoped.

[caclark]

For what is available right now, I see only:

The <layout section in geeqierc.xml can have multiple entries. I think the only way to access them is via the window menu entry.
However it would be trivial to have an additional command-line option geeqie --layout-window=some-name. Please make a feature request if that would help you.

The command line option --config-load= can point to any file that complies with the required syntax.

The command line parameter XDG_CONFIG_HOME= can point to anywhere, thus allowing you to have multiple configurations.

[przepompownia]

The idea is to keep the main config compact and stable (touched only by Preferences). For example, the whole geeqierc.xml could be

<gq>
    <global
            recent_folder_image_list_maxsize = "11"
>
    </global>
</gq>

It turns out that the --config-load=myconfig.xml works, so I can even version myconfig.xml now, although it's far from convenience. Let's try to summarize:

• we already have such overriding logic implemented somewhere,
• any desired changes made in the Preferences window must be transferred manually from the default rc file where they were saved,
• we need to explicitly load the "stable" user configuration.