#252 "Portable" JabRef

[Anonymous]

Hello,

First I want to congratulate you for the awesome work, I would really like to help but I do not have the free time I'd like. However I use your program A LOT.

Now, what I have done (something I find very practical) is to put the jabref.jar file into a USB drive and make the PDF/PS directory a relative path like ".\pdf\" after this, I can plug my USB key to any PC and start jabref (wether it is Unix, Windows or OSX) to use it.

The problem I find is that I *believe* some configuration settings are registry based, I think it would be nice if that could be changed for some kind of .conf or .ini (for example if the program looked in current directory for a config file). This, in order fo improve the portability of the program.

I know there is an option to export the preferences in an XML file, it is a bit cumbersome to have to import them everytime I use the program. Another possibility would be if the program could look for a default.xml or something similar in the current folder when it is starting. I know also that it is possible to import the preferences via command line option but again, that would mean creating a .bat, .sh or whatever every program is using to start it.

Thank you again for your work, it is an terrific application.

Omar.

[Joseph Wright]

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I don't know about anyone else, but this is exactly what I
do on Windows, with no problems. Yes, the registry is used
on each PC for settings, but that is not disastrous (I just
set up each machine I use the same). PDF links, etc. all
seem to wrk fine.

[Morten Omholt Alver]

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Configuration settings are stored in the registry when
running under Windows. Under Linux, they are stored in an
XML file, and I suppose that is true for OSX as well. All
of this is handled by a preferences API that comes with
Java.

[Mario Valle]

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Or adding a command line option like -config {config_file}

[Morten Omholt Alver]

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I have a comment regarding relative paths for PDF/PS files.
Currently, a path relative to the bib file cannot be
specified. The next version will change this, so if you
specify a relative PDF/PS path in Database Properties,
JabRef will attempt to find the a in the location
BIBFILE_PATH/RELATIVE_PDF_PATH/FILE, where FILE is the
value set in the PDF field of your entry. This should help
improve portability.

[Nobody/Anonymous]

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I would also love a portable JabRef!

I think the idea of having a default preferences file in the same folder as JabRef.jar is a very simple and neat solution, à la:

Check whether the file exists when loading prefs.
If so -> use it. (ie call "import")
If not-> invoke the Java prefs API, just as up to now.

This shouldn't be too much coding, and a great feature!
To perfect it you could add a checkbox "make JabRef portable by using a local preference file" under 'preferences'

[Samuel Bronson]

Want muchly. Would be very handy!