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All prefs lost on installation, how to get back? #2035

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jtheletter opened this issue Jul 7, 2024 · 7 comments
Open

All prefs lost on installation, how to get back? #2035

jtheletter opened this issue Jul 7, 2024 · 7 comments

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@jtheletter
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I thought this was supposed to back up all my prefs, but instead it reset them all to defaults. How do I get them back? Where did I go wrong?

From the README, all I did was run brew install mackup and mackup backup, exactly as indicated in the first and only two instructions.

@jussapaavo
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jussapaavo commented Jul 24, 2024

Yes, mackup does not work correctly in Macos Sonoma, since it doesn't support symlinked files for preferences as it previously. For more information, see #1924 and especially this comment.

@jtheletter
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This app should be removed from GitHub, or at least its destruction of all app and OS preferences should be clearly indicated as a warning to future users atop the readme.

@chrisbloom7
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Yes, mackup does not work correctly in Macos Sonoma, since it doesn't support symlinked files for preferences as it previously. For more information, see #1924 and especially this comment.

😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱

Um, maybe that should be communicated via the app itself!?!?! I just lost all my configs after doing a backup - I even ran with the dry-run option first to make sure it was going to add what I expected. Rebooted this morning, all preferences are gone and iCloud does not keep backups.

Yeah, this is an egregious abuse of user trust.

@jtheletter
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Here is a pull request to add a warning to users.

#2043

chrisbloom7 added a commit to chrisbloom7/homebrew-core that referenced this issue Aug 19, 2024
`mackup` works by moving config files to an
off-disk backup location (usually a cloud storage
provider like iCloud or Dropbox, etc.) and then
replacing the original file with a symlink to the
backed up version. The intended use is to make
sure program configuration settings and
preferences can be restored if you need to replace
computers, factory reset, etc.

As documented
[here](lra/mackup#2035),
[here](lra/mackup#1924),
[here](lra/mackup#1969 (reply in thread)),
`mackup backup` no longer works on MacOS Sonoma
(likely due to [security
changes](lra/mackup#1924 (comment))
in the app sandbox in Sonoma) and running either
the backup or restore commands on MacOS Sonoma
will result in the loss of all preference files.
Users who backup to a storage provider that has
versioning or backup snapshots may be able to
restore preferences to an older version. For users
backing up to other storage providers that do not
have this feature, such as iCloud, the command
results in total data loss. This issue has been
known to the developer for over a year but there
is no fix, no mention of the issue in the project
README, no warning when running the command, and
no indication in the program output that the
backup process may not have completed properly -
neither in the dry-run mode nor in live mode.
chrisbloom7 added a commit to chrisbloom7/homebrew-core that referenced this issue Aug 19, 2024
`mackup` works by moving config files to an
off-disk backup location (usually a cloud storage
provider like iCloud or Dropbox, etc.) and then
replacing the original file with a symlink to the
backed up version. The intended use is to make
sure program configuration settings and
preferences can be restored if you need to replace
computers, factory reset, etc.

As documented
[here](lra/mackup#2035),
[here](lra/mackup#1924),
[here](lra/mackup#1969 (reply in thread)),
`mackup backup` no longer works on MacOS Sonoma
(likely due to [security
changes](lra/mackup#1924 (comment))
in the app sandbox in Sonoma) and running either
the backup or restore commands on MacOS Sonoma
will result in the loss of all preference files.
Users who backup to a storage provider that has
versioning or backup snapshots may be able to
restore preferences to an older version. For users
backing up to other storage providers that do not
have this feature, such as iCloud, the command
results in total data loss. This issue has been
known to the developer for over a year but there
is no fix, no mention of the issue in the project
README, no warning when running the command, and
no indication in the program output that the
backup process may not have completed properly -
neither in the dry-run mode nor in live mode.
@chrisbloom7
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FYI: This workaround worked for me to restore the missing preferences even though iCloud was not showing all the preferences I was expecting to see backed up. 😌

@simphide
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simphide commented Nov 3, 2024

Stupid question, but macOS Sonoma is explicitly mentioned to be broken - does the tool work for macOS Sequoia?

martimlobao added a commit to martimlobao/dotfiles that referenced this issue Nov 4, 2024
- use more straightforward logic for bootstrapping and unboostrapping
- mackup is broken and there are no signs of a fix
- see: lra/mackup#1924 lra/mackup#2035
martimlobao added a commit to martimlobao/dotfiles that referenced this issue Nov 4, 2024
- use more straightforward logic for bootstrapping and unboostrapping
- mackup is broken and there are no signs of a fix
- see: lra/mackup#1924 lra/mackup#2035

## Summary by Sourcery

Remove the mackup dependency and implement custom logic for managing
dotfiles and application settings using new functions 'dotlink' and
'dotunlink'. Update scripts to use rsync for copying files and managing
symbolic links.

New Features:
- Introduce new functions 'dotlink' and 'dotunlink' for managing
symbolic links in the home directory.

Enhancements:
- Replace mackup dependency with custom logic for managing dotfiles and
application settings.
@chrisbloom7
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@simphide As of Mackup v0.8.41, it is affecting macOS Sonoma and all later versions. The bug wasn't something introduced into Mackup but rather the result of a change that Apple made to security settings for the underlying filesystem that caused Mackup's existing functionality to no longer work as expected. As this was a deliberate change by Apple it seems unlikely that a fix will come from their side, so Mackup itself would need to be patched to work around the new restrictions.

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