|
|
|
|
Xion
|
|
|
|
|
====
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Xion is a JSON interface to Xfconf, using a slightly modified xfconf-query
|
|
|
|
|
bin. Backup and restore Xfce settings in VCS-friendly files.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This can be useful to synchronise custom keybinds across several Xfce
|
|
|
|
|
installations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Usage
|
|
|
|
|
-----
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
```bash
|
|
|
|
|
# Export custom commands to JSON.
|
|
|
|
|
$ xion -e xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts /commands/custom commands.json
|
|
|
|
|
# Import them on another machine.
|
|
|
|
|
$ xion -i commands.json
|
|
|
|
|
# Want to clear existing commands to keep only those in commands.json?
|
|
|
|
|
$ xion -i commands.json -r
|
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More info with `xion --help`.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Features
|
|
|
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Export channel settings, filtering on user-provided root, to JSON files.
|
|
|
|
|
- Import channel settings from those JSON files.
|
|
|
|
|
- Imported settings are immediately applied to your session.
|
|
|
|
|
- Replace entire channel setting trees, or just update with provided values.
|
|
|
|
|
- JSON files have a predictable formatting for easy versioning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Context
|
|
|
|
|
-------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Xion comes from the need to share parts of the Xfce settings between several
|
|
|
|
|
computers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
> Why don't you just version the Xfconf XML files?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I got frustrated with the way Xfconf stored settings on disk: its XML files have
|
|
|
|
|
unpredictable tag sorting and some volatile values, and Xfconf does not read
|
|
|
|
|
those settings unless you log back in, and this is if you don't overwrite them
|
|
|
|
|
in the process. This makes diffing modifications cumbersome, especially when
|
|
|
|
|
trying to share parts of my settings in a Git repository. I needed a way to dump
|
|
|
|
|
and restore only some parts of my settings.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Xfconf is the daemon storing and providing most Xfce configuration values,
|
|
|
|
|
called properties. Sadly, it is not possible to manipulate these values without
|
|
|
|
|
building against libxfconf, which itself uses Glib, which I simply don't know
|
|
|
|
|
and don't want to use, either as a C program or using FFI. The lazy way is to
|
|
|
|
|
use xion-query, a modified build of the xfconf-query CLI tool.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
> Why don't you just use xfconf-query?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It simply does not have a very machine-readable interface, so Xion uses a
|
|
|
|
|
modified build to work smoothly, removing some output aimed at humans and adding
|
|
|
|
|
value types to its output. I tried to make it easy to get xion-query.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Installation
|
|
|
|
|
------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
### Get xion-query
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Go to my [Xfconf fork](https://github.com/Dece/xfconf/releases/) to get a build
|
|
|
|
|
or find instructions on how to build it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you want to build it manually, checkout the tags named "xion-<VERSION>". It
|
|
|
|
|
is possible to build xion-query with Docker if you don't want to mess around
|
|
|
|
|
finding the various dependencies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Once you have your build, name it `xion-query`, make it executable and place it
|
|
|
|
|
somewhere in your path, e.g. in `/usr/local/bin/`.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
### Get xion
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Xion is available on PyPI:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
```bash
|
|
|
|
|
# Install system-wide.
|
|
|
|
|
$ sudo pip3 install xion
|
|
|
|
|
# Install for your user.
|
|
|
|
|
$ pip3 install xion --user
|
|
|
|
|
```
|
