Save configuration into a text file

[nixfan 1]

I've got some basic personalization in my macOS app preferences. I would like to save these into my configuration Git repository ("dotfiles"). Is there a way to do that? If not, my idea is that I should be able to do that.

It seems that some of the settings are saved into Library/Preferences/com.evernote.Evernote.plist but that's not a text file. I moved it over to my new computer and it didn't seem to work.

[DTLow 5,402]

2 hours ago, nixfan said:

I've got some basic personalization in my macOS app preferences. I would like to save these into my configuration Git repository ("dotfiles"). Is there a way to do that? If not, my idea is that I should be able to do that.

It seems that some of the settings are saved into Library/Preferences/com.evernote.Evernote.plist but that's not a text file. I moved it over to my new computer and it didn't seem to work.

Generally, plist files are text files and can be viewed/edited with a text editor

edited: Looks like OS Sierra has caused a problem with the format

Can you explain the benefits of saving these configuration settings and how you would use them?

[nixfan 1]

Yeah, generally plist files are text. I'm not sure why I couldn't open this Evernote one without seeing a bunch of special characters. What I see looks is attached. Further on it looks even worse.

The benefit is that I can easily wipe my machine and get back to exactly where I was before, or send my configuration to someone else. I can also save it to Git and see how my configuration has changed over time.

 

[DTLow 5,402]

1 hour ago, nixfan said:

Yeah, generally plist files are text. I'm not sure why I couldn't open this Evernote one without seeing a bunch of special characters. What I see looks is attached. Further on it looks even worse.

The benefit is that I can easily wipe my machine and get back to exactly where I was before, or send my configuration to someone else. I can also save it to Git and see how my configuration has changed over time.

I think you showed the results from TextEdit
Here are two different apps

[nixfan 1]

Hmm, what do you mean by showing the results with TextEdit? It is opened in Sublime Text. I also see the same when I open it in Atom, another text editor. It doesn't look any better if I open it in TextEdit.

[JMichaelTX 4,074]

3 hours ago, nixfan said:

It seems that some of the settings are saved into Library/Preferences/com.evernote.Evernote.plist but that's not a text file.

I'm not sure what is going on with your system, but on my Mac, this plist file is definitely a text file:

I'm running Evernote 6.9.2 (454158) on macOS 10.11.4.

 

[DTLow 5,402]

2 hours ago, nixfan said:

Hmm, what do you mean by showing the results with TextEdit? It is opened in Sublime Text. I also see the same when I open it in Atom, another text editor. It doesn't look any better if I open it in TextEdit.

It looks like OS Sierra changed the format

In the examples I posted, you can see apps that handle the new format

[nixfan 1]

Might just be something screwy with my system.