Run Gramps from a portable drive - Revision history

Patsyblefebre: Gramps

2013-01-26T06:19:45Z

Gramps

Patsyblefebre: Patsyblefebre moved page Run GRAMPS from a portable drive to Run Gramps from a portable drive: Gramps

2013-01-26T06:15:57Z

Patsyblefebre moved page Run GRAMPS from a portable drive to Run Gramps from a portable drive: Gramps

Dm1407: Category

2009-02-15T04:25:12Z

Erikdr at 20:20, 3 July 2008

2008-07-03T20:20:11Z

Diggernet: /* How it works */

2008-04-03T06:22:20Z

‎How it works

Diggernet: /* Usage */

2008-04-03T06:03:38Z

‎Usage

Diggernet: /* `gramps.sh` */

2008-04-03T06:02:59Z

‎<code>gramps.sh</code>

Diggernet: /* `gramps.sh` */

2008-03-27T05:46:01Z

‎<code>gramps.sh</code>

Diggernet: Move from sandbox

2008-03-26T07:35:52Z

Move from sandbox

New page

[[Category:How do I...]]

Some users want to keep their GRAMPS data on a removable drive, either for portability between computers or for security. This document describes how to accomplish that, and should work whether using a floppy disk, a flash drive, or an external hard drive. Unfortunately, there are no easy instructions for installing GRAMPS and its dependencies on a removable drive, so these instructions assume and require that GRAMPS be installed on any computer to which you connect the drive.

{{man warn| Make Regular Backups |Since removable drives can be more fragile and more easily lost than the hard drive in your computer, be sure to make regular backups of your data if you use this technique. For that matter, you should always make regular backups of important data anyway, because stuff can happen to your hard drive, too. But be especially careful if your data is stored on floppies or flash drives.}}

==What this does==
The magic is done in scripts that you use to start GRAMPS. The scripts figure out the location of the directory they are run from, on your removable drive, then tell GRAMPS to use that directory as its home directory. They do that using the <code>GRAMPSHOME</code> environment variable, which GRAMPS checks to see if its home directory should be somewhere other than the user's home directory. GRAMPS will then read and write its configuration and data to a subdirectory named <code>gramps</code> in directory that contains these scripts.

==Installation==
Save the scripts below in the directory you want to use as your GRAMPS home directory on the removable drive. When run, the scripts will direct GRAMPS to the directory they are installed in. Edit the SETTINGS section of the scripts you will use, so that the values there are correct for your computer.

If you keep your media files on the removable drive with your GRAMPS data (what use are they otherwise?), be sure to make them use relative paths. Doing so will allow the paths to continue working as you move between computers (with adjustments to the media base path), while absolute paths are almost certain to break.

You will probably need to change the media base path setting in GRAMPS each time you run it on a different computer. You may also need to edit some settings in the scripts for different computers. If there are certain computers which you use regularly that need different settings in the scripts, you can easily make separate script copies for each one, to avoid the need to re-edit them.

==Windows==

===<code>gramps.bat</code>===
<pre>
@echo off

REM Make changes to environment variables local to this block
setlocal

REM START OF SETTINGS

set PYTHON_COMMAND=C:\Python25\pythonw.exe
set GRAMPS_DIR=C:\Program Files\gramps

REM END OF SETTINGS

REM Set GRAMPSHOME to the drive and path of this script
set GRAMPSHOME=%~dp0
REM Go to this script location for good measure
%~d0
cd "%~p0"
REM Run GRAMPS
"%PYTHON_COMMAND" "%GRAMPS_DIR\gramps.py"

REM End the local environment block
endlocal
</pre>

===Usage===
# Make sure GRAMPS is installed and working on the target computer.
# Attach your drive to the target computer.
# If necessary, edit the settings in this batch file (or a copy of it) to match the target computer.
# Edit gramps/keys.ini and remove database-path from the [behavior] section, if present.
# Double click the batch file to run GRAMPS.
# If necessary, edit the media base path in GRAMPS to match your removable drive.

===How it works===
The <code>setlocal</code> command tells Windows that you want to use a temporary copy of the environment that will be discarded later. The <code>endlocal</code> command tells Windows to go ahead and throw away that temporary environment. What this does is ensure that any changes made to the environment in the script (especially to <code>GRAMPSHOME</code>) do not carry on past the end of the script.

Batch files use <code>%0</code> to refer to the drive, path and name of the batch file itself. You can also insert codes to reference specific parts of the batch file location. For example, <code>%~d0</code> refers to just the drive letter, and <code>%~p0</code> refers to just the path. These codes can be combined. Thus, <code>%~dp0</code> refers to the drive letter and path where the batch file is located. The batch file uses these to set the value of <code>GRAMPSHOME</code>, then change drive and directory to that location.

Once that is set up, the batch file runs GRAMPS.

==Linux==

===<code>gramps.sh</code>===
<pre>
#!/bin/bash

# You MUST use the full path to this script when you run it.

# START OF SETTINGS

GRAMPS_COMMAND="/usr/bin/gramps"
DIRNAME_COMMAND="/usr/bin/dirname"

# END OF SETTINGS

# Go to this script location for good measure
cd `$DIRNAME_COMMAND "$0"`
# Set GRAMPSHOME to the path of this script
# Run GRAMPS
GRAMPSHOME=`$DIRNAME_COMMAND "$0"` "$GRAMPS_COMMAND" &
</pre>

===Usage===
# Make sure GRAMPS is installed and working on the target computer.
# Attach your drive to the target computer and mount it.
# If necessary, edit the settings in this script (or a copy of it) to match the target computer.
# Edit gramps/keys.ini and remove database-path from the [behavior] section, if present.
# Run this script using its full path to run GRAMPS.
# If necessary, edit the media base path in GRAMPS to match your mount point.

===How it works===
This is a little less forgiving than the Windows version, because bash doesn't have the equivalent of the Windows %0 modifiers. $0 only contains exactly what was used to start the script, so if you don't use the full path to the script (for example, if it's on the search path), the script has no way to determine where it is located.

The script uses "<code>dirname $0</code>" to change directory to the location of this script, and to set the value of <code>GRAMPSHOME</code>.

Once that is set up, the script runs GRAMPS. Because the value of <code>GRAMPSHOME</code> is set on the same line as the command to run GRAMPS, that value is only used for that command and will not carry on past the end of the script.

==Software Versions==
While these instructions help you easily move your GRAMPS data between computers, '''''no''''' testing has been done to explore compatibility between different software versions. It is recommended that you only move your data between computers that share the same GRAMPS, Python, database and operating system versions. The more those versions differ, the greater risk of database corruption and data loss. You are encouraged to export your database to GRAMPS XML for safety when moving the data between computers with differing (or unknown) software versions. Do this on your known safe computer before moving to an unknown computer, and again when you have finished with GRAMPS on the new computer before moving back to your regular computer.

===GRAMPS===
GRAMPS 2.x and 3.x are ''NOT'' compatible with each other. The instructions and scripts here are intended for use with GRAMPS 3.0, and it is highly recommended that you ensure the '''same''' version of GRAMPS is installed on each computer. A similar technique to that described here could be used with GRAMPS 2.2, but doing so is discouraged due to the risk of [[Recover corrupted grdb|database corruption]].

===Python and Database===
GRAMPS stores its data with the BSDDB engine bundled with Python. While the Python and BSDDB developers do make an effort to keep new versions of their software backward compatible, the risk of incompatibility increases with the distance between versions. To determine the versions of Python and BSDDB on a computer, enter the following commands in a terminal window (the input prompts are <code>></code> and <code>>>></code>):

<pre>
> python
Python 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Mar 7 2008, 03:41:45)
[GCC 4.1.2 (Ubuntu 4.1.2-0ubuntu4)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import bsddb
>>> bsddb.__version__
'4.4.5.2'
>>> exit()
</pre>

===Operating System===
Moving your GRAMPS data between computers with different operating systems seems possible, but is '''''NOT''''' officially supported. '''Do so at your own risk!'''

{{man warn| Backup, backup, backup! |If you do try to move your data between operating systems like this, '''''ALWAYS''''' export your database to GRAMPS XML before changing operating system. If you don't, you may live to regret it.}}

You can experiment with this by simply putting both the above <code>gramps.bat</code> and <code>gramps.sh</code> scripts in the same directory on your removable drive. If you then run <code>gramps.bat</code> on Windows and <code>gramps.sh</code> on Linux, GRAMPS will use the same configuration and data files on both operating systems.

Since this behavior is neither encouraged nor tested, there are any number of possible problems you may encounter. Here are some of the known problems you will see:
* When first opening a database after changing operating system, you may get an error that says "Low level database corruption detected" and instructs you to use the Repair button to fix the problem. This seems to work, but ''it is not known for sure whether any data loss may occur in the process''.
* You will need to update the media base path in Preferences every time you switch operating system.
* If your media files are referenced with any directory information (either absolute paths or relative paths with subdirectories), each path will only work on the operating system on which it was entered.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{languages|Run GRAMPS from a portable drive}}
@@ Line 121: / Line 119: @@
 * You will need to update the media base path in Preferences every time you switch operating system.
 * If your media files are referenced with any directory information (either absolute paths or relative paths with subdirectories), each path will only work on the operating system on which it was entered.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:20, 3 July 2008
Line 1:		Line 1:
	[[Category:How do I...]]		[[Category:How do I...]]
		+
		+	{{languages\|Run GRAMPS from a portable drive}}

	Some users want to keep their GRAMPS data on a removable drive, either for portability between computers or for security. This document describes how to accomplish that, and should work whether using a floppy disk, a flash drive, or an external hard drive. Unfortunately, there are no easy instructions for installing GRAMPS and its dependencies on a removable drive, so these instructions assume and require that GRAMPS be installed on any computer to which you connect the drive.		Some users want to keep their GRAMPS data on a removable drive, either for portability between computers or for security. This document describes how to accomplish that, and should work whether using a floppy disk, a flash drive, or an external hard drive. Unfortunately, there are no easy instructions for installing GRAMPS and its dependencies on a removable drive, so these instructions assume and require that GRAMPS be installed on any computer to which you connect the drive.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{languages|Run GRAMPS from a portable drive}}
+{{languages|Run Gramps from a portable drive}}
-Some users want to keep their GRAMPS data on a removable drive, either for portability between computers or for security.  This document describes how to accomplish that, and should work whether using a floppy disk, a flash drive, or an external hard drive.  Unfortunately, there are no easy instructions for installing GRAMPS and its dependencies on a removable drive, so these instructions assume and require that GRAMPS be installed on any computer to which you connect the drive.
+Some users want to keep their Gramps data on a removable drive, either for portability between computers or for security.  This document describes how to accomplish that, and should work whether using a floppy disk, a flash drive, or an external hard drive.  Unfortunately, there are no easy instructions for installing Gramps and its dependencies on a removable drive, so these instructions assume and require that Gramps be installed on any computer to which you connect the drive.
 {{man warn| Make Regular Backups |Since removable drives can be more fragile and more easily lost than the hard drive in your computer, be sure to make regular backups of your data if you use this technique.  For that matter, you should always make regular backups of important data anyway, because stuff can happen to your hard drive, too.  But be especially careful if your data is stored on floppies or flash drives.}}
 ==What this does==
-The magic is done in scripts that you use to start GRAMPS.  The scripts figure out the location of the directory they are run from, on your removable drive, then tell GRAMPS to use that directory as its home directory.  They do that using the <code>GRAMPSHOME</code> environment variable, which GRAMPS checks to see if its home directory should be somewhere other than the user's home directory.  GRAMPS will then read and write its configuration and data to a subdirectory named <code>gramps</code> in directory that contains these scripts.
+The magic is done in scripts that you use to start Gramps.  The scripts figure out the location of the directory they are run from, on your removable drive, then tell Gramps to use that directory as its home directory.  They do that using the <code>GRAMPSHOME</code> environment variable, which Gramps checks to see if its home directory should be somewhere other than the user's home directory.  Gramps will then read and write its configuration and data to a subdirectory named <code>gramps</code> in directory that contains these scripts.
 ==Installation==
-Save the scripts below in the directory you want to use as your GRAMPS home directory on the removable drive.  When run, the scripts will direct GRAMPS to the directory they are installed in.  Edit the SETTINGS section of the scripts you will use, so that the values there are correct for your computer.
+Save the scripts below in the directory you want to use as your Gramps home directory on the removable drive.  When run, the scripts will direct Gramps to the directory they are installed in.  Edit the SETTINGS section of the scripts you will use, so that the values there are correct for your computer.
-If you keep your media files on the removable drive with your GRAMPS data (what use are they otherwise?), be sure to make them use relative paths.  Doing so will allow the paths to continue working as you move between computers (with adjustments to the media base path), while absolute paths are almost certain to break.
+If you keep your media files on the removable drive with your Gramps data (what use are they otherwise?), be sure to make them use relative paths.  Doing so will allow the paths to continue working as you move between computers (with adjustments to the media base path), while absolute paths are almost certain to break.
-You will probably need to change the media base path setting in GRAMPS each time you run it on a different computer.  You may also need to edit some settings in the scripts for different computers.  If there are certain computers which you use regularly that need different settings in the scripts, you can easily make separate script copies for each one, to avoid the need to re-edit them.
+You will probably need to change the media base path setting in Gramps each time you run it on a different computer.  You may also need to edit some settings in the scripts for different computers.  If there are certain computers which you use regularly that need different settings in the scripts, you can easily make separate script copies for each one, to avoid the need to re-edit them.
 ==Windows==
@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 %~d0
 cd "%~p0"
-REM Run GRAMPS
+REM Run Gramps
 "%PYTHON_COMMAND" "%GRAMPS_DIR\gramps.py"
@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 ===Usage===
-# Make sure GRAMPS is installed and working on the target computer.
+# Make sure Gramps is installed and working on the target computer.
 # Attach your drive to the target computer.
 # If necessary, edit the settings in this batch file (or a copy of it) to match the target computer.
 # Edit gramps/keys.ini and remove database-path from the [behavior] section, if present.
-# Double click the batch file to run GRAMPS.
+# Double click the batch file to run Gramps.
-# If necessary, edit the media base path in GRAMPS to match your removable drive.
+# If necessary, edit the media base path in Gramps to match your removable drive.
 ===How it works===
@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 Batch files use <code>%0</code> to refer to the drive, path and name of the batch file itself.  You can also insert codes to reference specific parts of the batch file location.  For example, <code>%~d0</code> refers to just the drive letter, and <code>%~p0</code> refers to just the path.  These codes can be combined.  Thus, <code>%~dp0</code> refers to the drive letter and path where the batch file is located.  The batch file uses these to set the value of <code>GRAMPSHOME</code>, then change drive and directory to that location.
-Once that is set up, the batch file runs GRAMPS.
+Once that is set up, the batch file runs Gramps.
 ==Linux==
@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 # Set GRAMPSHOME to the path of this script
-# Run GRAMPS
+# Run Gramps
 GRAMPSHOME="${0%/*}" "$GRAMPS_COMMAND" $*
 </pre>
 ===Usage===
-# Make sure GRAMPS is installed and working on the target computer.
+# Make sure Gramps is installed and working on the target computer.
 # Attach your drive to the target computer and mount it.
 # If necessary, edit the settings in this script (or a copy of it) to match the target computer.
 # Edit gramps/keys.ini and remove database-path from the [behavior] section, if present.
-# Run this script to run GRAMPS.
+# Run this script to run Gramps.
-# If necessary, edit the media base path in GRAMPS to match your mount point.
+# If necessary, edit the media base path in Gramps to match your mount point.
 ===How it works===
 Shell scripts use <code>$0</code> (or alternately <code>${0}</code>) to refer to the path and name of the script itself.  There are also operators that let you modify that value.  The <code>%</code> character is used to remove part of the end of the string, and what follows that character tells what to remove, with <code>*</code> being a wildcard.  So <code>${0%/*}</code> says to remove the last <code>/</code> and everything after it from the path and name of the script, leaving the directory where the script is located.
-The script uses that to set the value of <code>GRAMPSHOME</code>, then runs GRAMPS.  Setting <code>GRAMPSHOME</code> on the same line as the GRAMPS command makes the value available to GRAMPS.  The other way of making the value available, with the <code>export</code> command, would cause the new value to carry over into the environment of the shell that ran this script after GRAMPS has run.  That could cause problems running GRAMPS normally later, so we do it this way instead.
+The script uses that to set the value of <code>GRAMPSHOME</code>, then runs Gramps.  Setting <code>GRAMPSHOME</code> on the same line as the Gramps command makes the value available to Gramps.  The other way of making the value available, with the <code>export</code> command, would cause the new value to carry over into the environment of the shell that ran this script after Gramps has run.  That could cause problems running Gramps normally later, so we do it this way instead.
 ==Software Versions==
-While these instructions help you easily move your GRAMPS data between computers, '''''no''''' testing has been done to explore compatibility between different software versions.  It is recommended that you only move your data between computers that share the same GRAMPS, Python, database and operating system versions.  The more those versions differ, the greater risk of database corruption and data loss.  You are encouraged to export your database to GRAMPS XML for safety when moving the data between computers with differing (or unknown) software versions.  Do this on your known safe computer before moving to an unknown computer, and again when you have finished with GRAMPS on the new computer before moving back to your regular computer.
+While these instructions help you easily move your Gramps data between computers, '''''no''''' testing has been done to explore compatibility between different software versions.  It is recommended that you only move your data between computers that share the same Gramps, Python, database and operating system versions.  The more those versions differ, the greater risk of database corruption and data loss.  You are encouraged to export your database to GRAMPS XML for safety when moving the data between computers with differing (or unknown) software versions.  Do this on your known safe computer before moving to an unknown computer, and again when you have finished with Gramps on the new computer before moving back to your regular computer.
-===GRAMPS===
+===Gramps===
-GRAMPS 2.x and 3.x are ''NOT'' compatible with each other.  The instructions and scripts here are intended for use with GRAMPS 3.0, and it is highly recommended that you ensure the '''same''' version of GRAMPS is installed on each computer.  A similar technique to that described here could be used with GRAMPS 2.2, but doing so is discouraged due to the risk of [[Recover corrupted grdb|database corruption]].
+Gramps 2.x and 3.x are ''NOT'' compatible with each other.  The instructions and scripts here are intended for use with Gramps 3.0, and it is highly recommended that you ensure the '''same''' version of Gramps is installed on each computer.  A similar technique to that described here could be used with Gramps 2.2, but doing so is discouraged due to the risk of [[Recover corrupted grdb|database corruption]].
 ===Python and Database===
-GRAMPS stores its data with the BSDDB engine bundled with Python.  While the Python and BSDDB developers do make an effort to keep new versions of their software backward compatible, the risk of incompatibility increases with the distance between versions.  To determine the versions of Python and BSDDB on a computer, enter the following commands in a terminal window (the input prompts are <code>></code> and <code>>>></code>):
+Gramps stores its data with the BSDDB engine bundled with Python.  While the Python and BSDDB developers do make an effort to keep new versions of their software backward compatible, the risk of incompatibility increases with the distance between versions.  To determine the versions of Python and BSDDB on a computer, enter the following commands in a terminal window (the input prompts are <code>></code> and <code>>>></code>):
 <pre>
@@ Line 109: / Line 109: @@
 ===Operating System===
-Moving your GRAMPS data between computers with different operating systems seems possible, but is '''''NOT''''' officially supported.  '''Do so at your own risk!'''
+Moving your Gramps data between computers with different operating systems seems possible, but is '''''NOT''''' officially supported.  '''Do so at your own risk!'''
 {{man warn| Backup, backup, backup! |If you do try to move your data between operating systems like this, '''''ALWAYS''''' export your database to GRAMPS XML before changing operating system.  If you don't, you may live to regret it.}}
-You can experiment with this by simply putting both the above <code>gramps.bat</code> and <code>gramps.sh</code> scripts in the same directory on your removable drive.  If you then run <code>gramps.bat</code> on Windows and <code>gramps.sh</code> on Linux, GRAMPS will use the same configuration and data files on both operating systems.
+You can experiment with this by simply putting both the above <code>gramps.bat</code> and <code>gramps.sh</code> scripts in the same directory on your removable drive.  If you then run <code>gramps.bat</code> on Windows and <code>gramps.sh</code> on Linux, Gramps will use the same configuration and data files on both operating systems.
 Since this behavior is neither encouraged nor tested, there are any number of possible problems you may encounter.  Here are some of the known problems you will see:

@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 <pre>
 #!/bin/sh
 # START OF SETTINGS
 GRAMPS_COMMAND="/usr/bin/gramps"
 # END OF SETTINGS
 # Set GRAMPSHOME to the path of this script
 # Run GRAMPS
-GRAMPSHOME=`$DIRNAME_COMMAND "$0"` "$GRAMPS_COMMAND"
+GRAMPSHOME="${0%/*}" "$GRAMPS_COMMAND" $*
 </pre>

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 ===<code>gramps.sh</code>===
 <pre>
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/sh
 # You MUST use the full path to this script when you run it.
@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 # Set GRAMPSHOME to the path of this script
 # Run GRAMPS
-GRAMPSHOME=`$DIRNAME_COMMAND "$0"` "$GRAMPS_COMMAND" &
+GRAMPSHOME=`$DIRNAME_COMMAND "$0"` "$GRAMPS_COMMAND"
 </pre>

Run Gramps from a portable drive - Revision history

Patsyblefebre: Gramps

Patsyblefebre: Patsyblefebre moved page Run GRAMPS from a portable drive to Run Gramps from a portable drive: Gramps

Dm1407: Category

Erikdr at 20:20, 3 July 2008

Diggernet: /* How it works */

Diggernet: /* Usage */

Diggernet: /* gramps.sh */

Diggernet: /* gramps.sh */

Diggernet: Move from sandbox

Diggernet: /* `gramps.sh` */

Diggernet: /* `gramps.sh` */