Command Line Use

Tip

This section is of interest to those who are proficient at Linux. This section can be skipped if you are an end-user.

When versioning for a folder is enabled, there will be a (hidden) “.archive” subfolder that will contain versions with a colon (“:”) and a numbered suffix, with the number increasing for later versions.

_images/cli.png

Contents of an example ".archive" folder.

For reasons of safety, these file versions are “immutable” to prevent accidental deletion. If you need to manually remove these files or the entirety of a “.archive” folder, you will need to do so as the linux root account using either “sudo” or “su”, along with the “rm” command.

Configuration Files

The following are essential files used by repliversion.

  • /etc/repliversion/dirs.txt: This file contains a list of absolute folder paths that are being versioned. Since repliversion versions any subfolders for a given folder being versioned, you cannot have a path that is already versioned by another entry.

  • .archive/version.xml: In any folder being versioned, this file contains the per-folder “prune”, “skip”, and “repo” directives.

  • /etc/repliversion/version.xml: This is the global settings file for “prune”, “skip”, and “repo” directives.

  • /etc/repliversion/repos.xml: This file contains “access tokens” for various repositories. Note that for security considerations this file is only viewable by the system root account. This file might contain multiple “<repo…” XML elements, each with the attributes: git_url and access_token.

Directives in version.xml

  • prune: Expressed with one or more “<prune…” XML elements, having the following attributes: filename, max_versions, max_age, max_size, and frequency. See the “Prune Directives” section for more info on what these attributes govern.

  • skip: Expressed with one or more “<skip…” XML elements, having the following attributes: path, and comment. See the “Skip Directives” section for more info on what these attributes govern.

  • repo: Expressed with a single “<repo…” XML element, having the following attributes: git_url, type (“gitlab” or “github”), owner, and folder_base (“watched” or “root”). See the “Git Directives” section for more info on what these attributes pertain to.

After you manually edit any directives in version.xml (be it the global “/etc/repliversion/version.xml” or a “.archive/version.xml”…), you will need to restart the repliversion service.

systemctl restart repliversion

This is a privileged operation that you will need to perform with “sudo” or “su”.

Tip

When editing “version.xml” manually (as opposed to using the Dolphin file manager context menu for editing per-folder or global directives…), you will probably want to check the repliversion log (“/var/log/repliversion.log”) to confirm that the service restarted without errors, to make sure no mistakes were made.

Note

The need to restart the repliversion service after editing “version.xml” might be removed in a future version of repliversion; check out the Wishlist.

Commands

The following commands can be invoked from a Linux command shell.

repliversion [+|-]<folder_path>

Specify a folder to be versioned. A plus prefix indicates a folder to be versioned; a minus prefix indicates a folder to no longer be versioned (the folder’s “.archive” folder with its versions will still remain…) This is analogous to the Dolphin file manager context menu commands “Actions”, “Enable Versioning…”|”Disable Versioning…” If you are running a graphical desktop, you should receive a popup notice when this is initiated.

repliversions <file_path>

List the file versions that are available for a file in a versioned folder. The version files listed are to be found in the “.archive” subfolder. This is analogous to the Dolphin file manager context menu command “Show Versions…”.

Examples:

repliversion +/home/developer/test

Versions of files edited in the folder “/home/developer/test” will be recorded in the folder “/home/developer/test/.archive”; any files edited in subfolders of “test” will be retained in respective subfolders of the “.archive” subfolder.

repliversion -/home/developer/test

Versions will no longer recorded in the folder “/home/developer/test/.archive” (though the folder will remain…) If you need to remove the “.archive” subfolder and any versions in it you will have to do so as the Linux root account, using either “sudo” or “su”, along with the “rm” command.

repliversions /home/developer/test/test1.txt

This will list all versions of “test1.txt” stored in the folder “/home/developer/test/.archive”; a date, time, and file size for each will be shown.