Missing config files after Backup / Restore

[entr0py]

Just migrated my Qubes 3.1 system to new hardware and it went surprisingly smoothly :)

I noticed however that my KDE Window Rules did not get backed up / restored (not sure which).

It's kind of irrelevant at this point since we're moving away from KDE but I'd still like to know why that happened and if there are other config files that I need to copy over manually.

Most of the files in ~/.kde/share/config/ have permissions user:user 600 so it shouldn't be a problem to back up. Is a KDE lock on those files preventing them from being overwritten on the restore? Any other files I should bring back manually? (Just noticed some keybindings not working...)

Thanks.

-------------------------------------------------

ONLY AT VFEmail! - Use our Metadata Mitigator to keep your email out of the NSA's hands!
$24.95 ONETIME Lifetime accounts with Privacy Features!
15GB disk! No bandwidth quotas!
Commercial and Bulk Mail Options!

[Chris Laprise]

On 08/17/2016 03:20 PM, entr0py wrote:
> Just migrated my Qubes 3.1 system to new hardware and it went surprisingly smoothly :)
>
> I noticed however that my KDE Window Rules did not get backed up / restored (not sure which).
>
> It's kind of irrelevant at this point since we're moving away from KDE but I'd still like to know why that happened and if there are other config files that I need to copy over manually.
>
> Most of the files in ~/.kde/share/config/ have permissions user:user 600 so it shouldn't be a problem to back up. Is a KDE lock on those files preventing them from being overwritten on the restore? Any other files I should bring back manually? (Just noticed some keybindings not working...)
>
> Thanks.

If the KDE version stayed the same (4.x) then I'd expect the dom0
restore to include window rules and keybindings.

Did you restart the system after the restore?

Chris

[entr0py]

> On 08/17/2016 03:20 PM, entr0py wrote:

>> Just migrated my Qubes 3.1 system to new hardware and it went surprisingly smoothly :)
>>
>> I noticed however that my KDE Window Rules did not get backed up / restored (not sure which).
>>
>> It's kind of irrelevant at this point since we're moving away from KDE but I'd still like to know why that happened and if there are other config files that I need to copy over manually.
>>
>> Most of the files in ~/.kde/share/config/ have permissions user:user 600 so it shouldn't be a problem to back up. Is a KDE lock on those files preventing them from being overwritten on the restore? Any other files I should bring back manually? (Just noticed some keybindings not working...)
>>
>> Thanks.
>

> If the KDE version stayed the same (4.x) then I'd expect the dom0
> restore to include window rules and keybindings.
>
> Did you restart the system after the restore?
>
> Chris

Yes, more details:

1. Backed up the entire system (all up-to-date): dom0, all templates, all vms;
2. Installed fresh Qubes 3.1 with no pre-configuration (seems fedora-23 was installed anyway)
3. Did an incremental restore as follows:
a. restored dom0 - noticed that the following did not restore: desktop background, sound prefs,
application menu settings (application menu entries were correct)
b. reboot
c. restored service templates & service vms
d. updated dom0 - noticed window rules were not restored
e. reboot
f. restored dom0 AGAIN - thinking that dom0 update might have some effect
window rules did not restore BUT desktop background did.
g. restored all other templates & vms
h. noticed that keybindings did not restore

I think all of these KDE settings are stored in ~/.kde/share/config/. Specifically, the window rules are located in kwinrulesrc. I guess I could reconnect backup drive and go find out if files were backed up to begin with. My hunch is that the problem is on the restore end. How can I tell if files are locked? And if locked can Qubes restore overwrite them?

[3n7r...@gmail.com]

So I took kwinrulesrc from the old system and copied it right into the new system manually with no issues. No idea why restoring dom0 wasn't able to do so. Now I gotta wade through all the other config files... Hopefully, not missing anything else.

[Chris Laprise]

Doesn't dom0 restore move the current home dir into a subdir, then write
the restored files to the correct locations?

The only way I can think of that failing is if the initial move was
piecemeal and didn't catch everything.

Another explanation for the problem is that KDE might store some
settings elsewhere, such as /etc or /usr/share.

FWIW, although I prefer using KDE I have never relied on a restore
process to get my desktop settings back. I think its better to have a
written checklist of customizations that need to be done after an
installation.

Chris

[3n7r...@gmail.com]

Yes, that's the approach I usually take when performing upgrades. Thought I would be lazy this time since everything was remaining constant. Plus, I was anticipating having to do it all over again for 3.2... :)

[3n7r...@gmail.com]

> So I took kwinrulesrc from the old system and copied it right into the new system manually with no issues. No idea why restoring dom0 wasn't able to do so. Now I gotta wade through all the other config files... Hopefully, not missing anything else.

Mystery is partially solved. Upon reboot, the entries in the good kwinrulesrc file were mostly cleared and replaced with references. Window Rules must use some type of unique identifiers that aren't carried over... Maybe an export/import would work. The important thing is that Qubes Restore doesn't appear to have an issue.