reset Preferences CFG file

[Edgar]

For those playing along at home…

Code: Select all

void PrefsDialog::OnReset(wxCommandEvent & WXUNUSED(pEvent)) {
   wxMessageDialog dialog(this, _("Do you want to reset Preferences to factory defaults the next time you start Audacity?"),
      _("Confirm Reset Preferences"), wxYES_NO | wxNO_DEFAULT | wxICON_EXCLAMATION);
   int result = dialog.ShowModal();
   if (result == wxID_YES) {
      wxString executablesDirectory(wxGetApp().argv[0]);
      wxFileName executableFileName(executablesDirectory);
      wxString executablesFolder(executableFileName.GetPath());
      executablesFolder.Append(executableFileName.GetPathSeparator());
      executablesFolder.Append(wxT("resetPrefs.txt"));
      wxFileName resetFile(executablesFolder);
      if (!resetFile.FileExists()) {
         wxTextFile textFile(resetFile.GetFullPath());
         if (!textFile.Create()) {
            wxString message(_("Could not create  %s"), resetFile.GetFullPath().c_str());
            wxMessageBox(message);
         }
      }
   }
}

This is functional code which can replace the "do nothing" function in testReset.patch (look at the very bottom of srcprefsPrefsDialog.cpp for this function). Make a copy of your current audacity.cfg file before playing with this stuff.

edit: wxWidgets 3 compatibility

[Gale Andrews]

Patch attached…
This patch does not actually cause anything to happen it just puts up a dialog displaying the full path to the Audacity application.
@Gale - could you try this patch on Mac & Linux and verify that the resulting fully qualified path (ignoring the trailing Audacity.exe) is the exact path in which the Audacity.exe executable resides? If the Mac version is not quite right can the correct folder path the calculated using this information?
@Steve - could you try it on Linux?

Tried it with your real code on Win 7 - seems OK.

Tried on Mac and Linux with the do nothing function. On Mac it finds the Audacity executable in its folder inside the Audacity application folder, so "Audacity.App/Contents/MacOS/Audacity" (which is the path to the embedded app and is not a folder). It wants to replace "/MacOS/Audacity" in that path with "Resources" so that it writes to the folder "Audacity.App/Contents/Resources".

On Linux the path just says "audacity". I installed your patched app, so in that case the path should be "/usr/local/bin".


Gale

[Edgar]

On Mac it finds the Audacity executable in its folder inside the Audacity application folder, so "Audacity.App/Contents/MacOS/Audacity" (which is the path to the embedded app and is not a folder). It wants to replace "/MacOS/Audacity" in that path with "Resources" so that it writes to the folder "Audacity.App/Contents/Resources".

On Linux the path just says "audacity". I installed your patched app, so in that case the path should be "/usr/local/bin".

Is it the case that for Mac OS (when Audacity is installed normally - i.e. not built by a developer) that displayed string will always be:
"Audacity.App/Contents/MacOS/Audacity"
so the resulting target will be:
"Audacity.App/Contents/Resources/resetPrefs.txt"
and if so does manually placing the file there cause Audacity to reset the next time it starts?

On Linux are you saying that the resulting target would be:
"/usr/local/bin/resetPrefs.txt"
and that there is no reference to a Audacity-specific containing folder? If so, I might argue that (in general) the reset file's name might be changed to:
"resetAudacityPrefs.txt"
if it is not too late.

[Gale Andrews]

On Mac it finds the Audacity executable in its folder inside the Audacity application folder, so "Audacity.App/Contents/MacOS/Audacity" (which is the path to the embedded app and is not a folder). It wants to replace "/MacOS/Audacity" in that path with "Resources" so that it writes to the folder "Audacity.App/Contents/Resources".

On Linux the path just says "audacity". I installed your patched app, so in that case the path should be "/usr/local/bin".

Is it the case that for Mac OS (when Audacity is installed normally - i.e. not built by a developer) that displayed string will always be:
"Audacity.App/Contents/MacOS/Audacity"
so the resulting target will be:
"Audacity.App/Contents/Resources/resetPrefs.txt"

The displayed string now is always "<path to the folder containing the Audacity build or installation">/Audacity.App/Contents/MacOS/Audacity". That is reliable for build or normal installation.

So the target is the relative one of "Audacity.App/Contents/Resources/resetPrefs.txt". Written absolutely, it is "<path to the folder containing the Audacity build or installation">/Audacity.App/Contents/Resources/resetPrefs.txt.

Does manually placing the file there cause Audacity to reset the next time it starts?

Yes, reliably so.

On Linux are you saying that the resulting target would be:
"/usr/local/bin/resetPrefs.txt"
and that there is no reference to a Audacity-specific containing folder?

Audacity seems to look in the "share" folder for the installed version of Audacity (which is the same location the Manual is looked for on Linux if a user installs it).

A self-compiled (and installed) build will look in /usr/local/share/audacity for resetPrefs.txt. A build installed by a normal user with a package manager will look in /usr/share/audacity. Audacity will error that it can't write or remove resetPrefs.txt because those locations require root permission, so that is a problem. And it's a problem that a builder who does not install Audacity cannot use resetPrefs.txt.

There are two hidden files in the user's home folder called ".audacity-files" and ".audacity-data" that user has permission to write to. I think if this was to work on Linux we'd have to modify audacity to write to either of those folders.


Gale

[Edgar]

So the target is the relative one of "Audacity.App/Contents/Resources/resetPrefs.txt". Written absolutely, it is "<path to the folder containing the Audacity build or installation">/Audacity.App/Contents/Resources/resetPrefs.txt.

On Linux are you saying that the resulting target would be:
"/usr/local/bin/resetPrefs.txt"
and that there is no reference to a Audacity-specific containing folder?

Audacity will error that it can't write or remove resetPrefs.txt

The only solution I can see is to change where "resetPrefs.txt" is placed - it needs to be in a place whose path can be calculated and where we are absolutely certain an application has write permission. The only folder I can think of which safely satisfies these requirements is the same folder in which audacity.cfg is located. I think we are at a roadblock here.

[Gale Andrews]

So the target is the relative one of "Audacity.App/Contents/Resources/resetPrefs.txt". Written absolutely, it is "<path to the folder containing the Audacity build or installation">/Audacity.App/Contents/Resources/resetPrefs.txt.

On Linux are you saying that the resulting target would be:
"/usr/local/bin/resetPrefs.txt"
and that there is no reference to a Audacity-specific containing folder?

Audacity will error that it can't write or remove resetPrefs.txt

The only solution I can see is to change where "resetPrefs.txt" is placed - it needs to be in a place whose path can be calculated and where we are absolutely certain an application has write permission. The only folder I can think of which safely satisfies these requirements is the same folder in which audacity.cfg is located. I think we are at a roadblock here.

OK I made that comment in http://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_b ... id=363#c10.

Gale

[waxcylinder]

BUMP

do I just need this to the "In-Depth Feature Discussions Archive" section?

[Gale Andrews]

BUMP

do I just need this to the "In-Depth Feature Discussions Archive" section?

Yes, I've archived it. AFAIK there are no "votes" here that have not already been counted. The Proposal http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Propo ... _cfg_Reset already links to this topic.


Gale