Portable configuration data

[Royi]

@probono

Example on how to use this.

Imagine you want to use the Leafpad text editor, but carry its settings around with the executable.

You can do the following:

# Download Leafpad AppImage and make it executable
wget -c "https://bintray.com/probono/AppImages/download_file?file_path=Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage" -O Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage
chmod a+x Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage

# Create a directory with the same name as the AppImage plus the ".config" extension
# in the same directory as the AppImage
mkdir Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage.config

# Run Leafpad, change some setting (e.g., change the default font size)
# then close Leafpad
./Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage

# Now, check where the settings were written:
linux@linux:~> find Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage.config
(...)
Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage.config/leafpad/leafpadrc

Note that the file leafpadrc was written in the directory we have created before.

This use case should be shown in the README.md in GitHub.

Moreover, have you thought about extending this approach?
Think of the following use case, we have a software which supports Plug In’s.
It expects the Plug In’s to be in a certain location which is not ~/ related.
So could we have something like AppData folder next to the AppImage which can be configured to be copied to somewhere to allow Plug In’s functionality?

Really like the Portable Data Feature.
I think this is your edge over FlatPak and Snap (Allowing Portable Use Case).

All needed now it Portable AppImage which is a Menu System to launch other AppImages (Think like the PortableApps Menu which is a portable application by itself, no system wide installation).