doc

Configuration

All the configuration is done in a file named .mackup.cfg stored at the root of your home folder.

To configure Mackup, create a file named .mackup.cfg in your home directory.

vi ~/.mackup.cfg

Storage

You can specify the storage type Mackup will use to store your configuration files.

For now, you have 4 options: dropbox, google_drive, icloud, copy and file_system.

If none is specified, Mackup will try to use the default: dropbox. With the dropbox storage engine, Mackup will automatically figure out your Dropbox folder.

Dropbox

[storage]
engine = dropbox

Google Drive

If you choose the google_drive storage engine instead, Mackup will figure out where your Google Drive is and store your configuration files in it.

[storage]
engine = google_drive

iCloud

If you choose the iCloud storage engine, Mackup will store store your configuration files in the ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com\~apple\~CloudDocs/ folder.

[storage]
engine = icloud

Copy

If you choose the copy storage engine, Mackup will figure out where your Copy folder is and store your configuration files in it.

[storage]
engine = copy

File System

If you want to specify another directory, you can use the file_system engine and Mackup won't try to detect any path for you: it will store your files where you explicitly told it to, using the path setting. The path can be absolute (from the / of your drive) or relative to your home directory. The path setting is mandatory when using the file_system engine.

[storage]
engine = file_system
path = some/folder/in/your/home
# or path = /some/folder/in/your/root

Note: you don't need to escape spaces or wrap the path in quotes. For example, the following paths are valid :

path = some/path in your/home
path = /some path/in/your/root

Custom Directory Name

You can customize the directory name in which Mackup stores your file. By default, if not specified, Mackup creates a Mackup directory in the storage engine you chose, e.g. ~/Dropbox/Mackup.

[storage]
directory = Mackup

For example:

[storage]
engine = file_system
path = dotfiles
directory = backup

This will store your files in the ~/dotfiles/backup directory in your home.

You can also select a subfolder:

[storage]
engine = icloud
directory = .config/mackup

Switching Storage

If you ever change your mind and switch storage solutions after Mackup is already setup (ex: from dropbox to icloud), complete the following steps.

1. Run mackup uninstall on all computers
2. Copy your Mackup files to the new storage location
3. Change the storage provider details in your .mackup.cfg file (see above)
4. Run mackup backup on the main computer and mackup restore on all others

Applications

Only sync one or two applications

In your home folder, create a file named .mackup.cfg and add the application names to allow in the [applications_to_sync] section, one by line.

# Example, to only sync SSH and Adium:
[applications_to_sync]
ssh
adium

Use mackup list to get a list of valid application names. Don't use fancy names (with spaces) here.

A sample of this file is available in this folder. Just copy it in your home folder:

cp mackup/doc/.mackup.cfg ~/

Don't sync an application

In your home folder, create a file named .mackup.cfg and add the application names to ignore in the [applications_to_ignore] section, one by line.

# Example, to not sync SSH and Adium:
[applications_to_ignore]
ssh
adium

Use mackup list to get a list of valid application names. Don't use fancy names (with spaces) here.

A sample of this file is available in this folder. Just copy it in your home folder:

cp mackup/doc/.mackup.cfg ~/

Get official support for an application

Open a new issue and ask for it, or fork Mackup and open a Pull Request. The stock application configs are in the mackup/applications directory.

Remember to follow the guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md to get your Pull Request merged faster.

Add support for an application or (almost) any file or directory

You can customize the Mackup engine and add support for unsupported applications or just custom files and directories you'd like to sync.

NOTE: Files and directory to be synced should be rooted at $HOME.

Let's say that you'd like to add support for Nethack (config file: .nethackrc) and for the bin and .hidden directories you keep in your home.

In your home, create a .mackup directory and add a config file for the application you'd like to support.

mkdir ~/.mackup
touch ~/.mackup/nethack.cfg
touch ~/.mackup/my-files.cfg

Edit those files

$ nano ~/.mackup/nethack.cfg
[application]
name = Nethack

[configuration_files]
.nethackrc

$ nano ~/.mackup/my-files.cfg
[application]
name = My personal synced files and dirs

[configuration_files]
bin
.hidden

You can run mackup to see if they are listed

$ mackup list
Supported applications:
[...]
 - my-files
 - nethack
[...]

All good, you can now sync your newly configured files:

mackup backup

If you override an application config that is already supported by Mackup, your new config for this application will replace the one provided by Mackup.

You can find some sample config in this directory.

Locally test an application before submitting a Pull Request

You can add and test an application by following these steps:

• fork this project
• create a branch (usually containing the name of the application)
• add the appropriate application config file in the mackup/applications folder
• from the top-most folder (mackup) run make develop that replaces the currently installed mackup with the local modified one
• simply run mackup backup to test if everything is ok
• if everything works as expected:
  • run make undevelop to revert to the official version
  • commit and push the change to your fork and then create the Pulls Request

Add support for an application using the XDG directory

For application storing their configuration under the ~/.config folder, you should not hardcode it. The .config folder is the default location but it can be named differently on other users' systems by setting the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable.

See https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html

Mackup supports this mechanism and provide a dedicated xdg_configuration_files section for those applications.

If any path starts with .config, remove the .config part and move the path to a dedicated xdg_configuration_files section.

Instead of:

[application]
name = Git

[configuration_files]
.gitconfig
.config/git/config
.config/git/ignore
.config/git/attributes

Use this:

[application]
name = Git

[configuration_files]
.gitconfig

[xdg_configuration_files]
git/config
git/ignore
git/attributes