Liveupdate on 23rd September - Menu Overwritten!

Just a warning - the Liveupdate that I have installed on my Aspire One this morning has just overwritten my 'group-app.xml' file WITHOUT MAKING A BACKUP!!

I've stuck with the Linpus implementation and the standard menu design but heavily customised the system installing my own apps, etc and adding them to the menu.

Of course, I hadn't backed-up the 'group-app.xml' file or the various *.desktop files - my guess is some of those have also been screwed!

ACER - Never, ever, overwrite config files during an update without making a copy!!!

If I'm wrong about the files not being backed-up then I'll be delighted but I haven't managed to find them anywhere on the disk. If anyone can tell me that there are back-ups and where they are I'll be delighted.

I now have a long night ahead fixing the errors in the group-app file again and restoring all my additional apps.

Ho-hum.

 

Further to my earlier post - I have a recent copy of the 'group-app.xml' file and so copied that in to at least get Thunderbird and my 3G card driver on the menu.

After restarting the Aspire One it's not picking-up the menu file but is sticking with the standard menu - not good.

At first glance it looks like Acer have changed the structure for this but I haven't time to investigate further until tonight - will feedback when I understand more of what is going on.

 

Side question: why don't you just use the normal xfce desktop ? I admit the Acer interface looks prettier, but that is about the only advantage I can find...

 

Yeah, the update did the same thing to me, so I took your advice and couldn't be happier now that I have a "normal" desktop!

 

seems like the new group-apps.xml might be a of a slightly different format. i cp over my backup and while its exactly as it should have been, there are spaces where te apps should be. maybe the sequence system is different? could someone post the new updated version of the group-apps.xml ?
or has someone worked out something else?

 

Yeah.. This pretty much pissed me off in a big way. This update altered my personal files, not system ones!

It seems you need to alter /etc/xdg/...../group-app.xml now, as any changes to the one in .config just get overwritten..

I am sick to the back teeth of linpus and this shoddy distro. I thought I could stick it until ubuntu get fully supported, but if its going to start undoing all the hard work I had to put in just to get it working how I want (because everything has to be done via a hack instead of just right click etc...) then screw it.. Half working is better than this crap.

 

I tried Gnome, KDE, XFCE and OpenSUSE on the Aspire One and none of them was stable enough as a 'proper' desktop to use them day in, day out as a work platform. If there's one thing I've realised in the last few months Linux is definitely not Enterprise ready! (I tried OpenSUSE on 3 'proper' laptops as part of my test - not one loaded out the box and and two just would not work except at command line level, even with 'correct' drivers). I started my career in IT working with Unix systems for 5 years so, yes, I do know what I'm doing.

Using the standard desktop, I've built a solid 'enhanced PDA' which works every time, is much quicker to stop and start than my Windows laptop, more convenient on the train, in the car, etc. I've got the Vodafone 3G driver for my t-mobile 3G modem and then t-mobile WiFi access. It all works and I now find it easier to use the Aspire One netbook than either my personal or work laptops.

But that's just my opinion...

Following the liveupdate, the 'live' "group-app.xml" file is now in the /etc/xdg/xfce4/desktop folder.

The structure is different in that the numbering for the <APP> lines now starts at '0' (zero) instead of '1' and the 'sequence' number for the Arrow ("<app is_arrow" line) has now changed to '-10' for each of the Groups. To get back to your previous desktop, do the following: -

1) I tend to work at the shell prompt so I'd suggest you start a terminal session, 'su' to root and then do the following.

2) 'cd' to /etc/xdg/xfce4/desktop

3) 'mkdir backup-20080926' to create a back-up file.

4) 'cp * backup-20080926' to copy all the existing files to the backup folder.

5) Copy your 'group-app.xml' file from your user account '.config/xfce4/desktop' folder

6) Edit the 'group-app.xml' file as described earlier to change the sequence numbers.

7) After you've made the changes to your 'group-app.xml' and all is tested and working, create another 'backup' folder and again copy the contents of /etc/xdg/xfce4/desktop into the new backup folder.

(By the way, I installed a hard drive in my Aspire One so I'm not worried about space - if you're on an 8Gb machine then just copy the file(s) you've edited).

Hope this helps,
Martin

 

Hi,

I just did the liveupdate and my group-app.xml was overwritten. I happened to have a backup which I copied into ~/.config/xfce4/desktop. Then all was well on the next reboot. No editing was needed, the format hasn't changed. I think the file in /etc/xdg/xfce4/desktop is only used if the file in ~/.config does not exist.

Jon

 

My experience was that after the update, the file in ~/.config/xfce4/desktop was indeed overwritten and when examined had the new sequence number setup. When I restored it from my backup and rebooted, gaps and shifts appeared in the screen layout.

I simply needed to correct the sequence numbers to have a 0 base, include 7 as a valid seq# (it used to need to be excluded) and set the arrows at -10 (as suggested by "deskdata"). After a reboot, all was fine. I did not need to go to other locations.

It would seem that they have corrected a bug with sequence numbers, although it is now rather difficult to drag and drop icons around - I think that that part of the interface now has a bug :?:

Cheers
bjc