How to fix a broken account?

[D. Michael McIntyre]

On Saturday 16 December 2006 5:32 am, Thomas Sperre wrote:

> Yes, and no. I am pretty konfident that it will work, but it will also be
> quite time consuming to figure out which files in .kde is safe to keep and
> which should be removed. However, if manual is the only way, then...

The only way I know.  There could be better ways I guess.  I have no idea.  
I've had to do this on occasion.  In all the upgrades and updates since KDE 
2.1 I've had to gut ~/.kde probably no more than three times, so I haven't 
invested a lot of effort trying to come up with a more focused approach.

> Is it an alternative to backup ~./kde and then progressively delete files
> in the installed folder, assuming that kde will replace the missing ones
> with default values? It looks to me like there is a system to get values
> from a default location if there is nothing particular in the user accounts
> ~/.kde/share/config?

That could work, but the number of files you really need to keep is probably 
smaller.  Do you have a clue which config files to start shooting down?

> Another question, where is the more valuable files located, typically? I
> can see that kmailrc is one I would like to keep, but I guess stuff like my
> konqueror bookmarks, contact list from kopete, etc is also donw there
> somewhere?

It varies by application, and it tends to be fairly obvious what config files 
belong to what.

find ~/.kde -name kopete\*

(or use a graphical searcher thingie if you prefer, of course)

I usually catch things on an as-needed basis when I run something and see how 
tall an order it's going to be putting it back the way I had it by hand.

One of the trickier ones is the address book, which stores its stuff in

~/.kde/share/apps/kabc/*

That and my kmailrc are probably the ones I go for first, filling in any 
blanks thereafter case by case.  Just a question of whether it's quicker to 
click a few checkboxes or figure out which file to import, stop the app, copy 
the file, and restart it.

-- 
D. Michael McIntyre