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[globetrotters1]

Hi there,
1) I just installed Linux Mint 18.1 Serena and wanted to restore my settings from my Windows version (which by the way is highly customized). The Program freezes... I just wanted to restore my settings, nothing else - not the library itself which is of course different because of the path. Yesterday I ran a Library Import, 400'000 music tracks, which finished successfully after 6 hours. Restore possible or not?
In the meantime I found out that it restored my zones (without showing them in my left vertical bar...), but custom library fields, specially designed left tree items are nowhere. The import reports 'successful', but at least half the settings are missing. Oh yes and: there is a little window with something like 'Library import working' or so, for endless time. After an hour or so I xkill'ed my MC program and restarted
2) My OK button in Audio settings crashes the MC program, it simply disappears. How do I change these settings? I read in another post that someone reported this problem and it has been found out that in the next update it will be fixed. It seems that no update is still available for Mint, still version 93... when will it be available?
Thanks for making this program available on Linux!!! Love it!!! Was the only program I waited for to get into a mature state
Thanks for a quick help

[blgentry]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think restoring settings across different platforms isn't supported.  Coincidentally, just recently I installed MC22 on Raspbian (Raspberry Pi Linux).  I then restored my MC22 library backup that I made on my Mac.  "Settings restore" was checked by default and I pressed OK.  It finished, but it messed up MC and I mean really messed it up.  The display and menus became unusable.  I think it had restored a high DPI setting (Retina mode) from the Mac version and the Linux version didn't like that at all.  I'm not really 100% sure.

In the end I had to delete ~/.jriver to get it reset back to normal.  Then I restored my backup file again, but this time I unchecked the settings button.  This worked like a champ and I got to see my whole library from my Mac.  After I changed the paths using the RM&C tool, everything worked as expected.

But I've had to do my settings one by one as I remember them.  No big deal.

Brian.

[Awesome Donkey]

Well, settings will likely work, depending if they're supported on Linux (or Mac for that matter). The biggest issue you'll encounter is if you have a library full of files using Windows paths (which aren't supported without conversion, which can be VERY time consuming) - in that case you'd probably be better off restoring settings (but not the library and playlists) and manually re-importing everything. You'd likely have to change paths for everything else in MC's Options (encoding, ripping, conversion cache, temp files, library backups, etc),

But yeah, for cross-platform I typically write down the settings I use on Windows, then deploy them for Linux and Mac after properly mounting the drive(s) in each.

[blgentry]

The biggest issue you'll encounter is if you have a library full of files using Windows paths (which aren't supported without conversion, which can be VERY time consuming) [...]

Using the Glynor method might be the fastest way if you have that issue.  Namely to export an MPL playlist of your entire library, then post process that list to convert the paths, and finally to import this playlist into your target system.  What's neat about this procedure is that it grabs ALL of the metadata that exists for your source library:  Play counts, date imported, etc.  Because all of that gets put into the MPL file.

Brian.

[globetrotters1]

No, I don't restore the whole library, I know the paths are different.

But re 'settings': I have special library fields defined, many special views defined - can really say this is NOT 'no deal' - it is a bigger deal, print out all the settings in Win and entering the whole setup in Linux --- days! If you have a standard MC, then it's of course no deal at all. Not for nothing I have 400'000 music tracks and tweaked MC a lot in the past. But that's the price I pay porting my whole network to Linux, because I'm just sick of the constant Windows mess.

And no, restoring library settings simply doesn't work in Mint 18.1.

So let's go to work...

Thanks

[blgentry]

But re 'settings': I have special library fields defined, many special views defined - can really say this is NOT 'no deal' - [...]

Well, I think I have good news for you.  Library fields and Views are NOT settings.  They are part of the library.  So, what you want to do is something sort of like this:

1.  Back up your Windows MC library.
2.  Restore that library into your Linux MC, and uncheck settings.
3.  Now you will have all of your views and custom fields, etc.  You will also have all of the broken media entries that point to windows paths so..
4.  Highlight ALL files and press delete.  Take the default of "delete from library".  Now you will have an empty library, but with all of your views and fields still there.
5.  Import your media files.

Good luck.

Brian.

[globetrotters1]

Hi Brian,

thanks a lot for your efforts, but it simply freezes the whole program!
Too bad, but I'm already tinkering with all the settings I have to move to the Linux install

[mwillems]

Just to offer a quick contrarian note: I've imported and reimported libraries from windows to Linux on several occasions, and in fact did it weekly for a while as part of an (otherwise kind of doofy) MC workflow.  I'm not aware of any reproducible issue with importing settings or library items except for the file path issues ventilated above.  However, deleting all the files and reimporting them may be a poor solution for someone with lots of custom fields/tags, as that approach hoses certain metadata (the date orignally imported, play counts, and any tag data that isn't stored or can't be stored in the files).   

The file path issues can be reliably fixed using the "update" sub function with find and replace in the rename, move, copy library tool.  Depending on your file structure, it can potentially be done in a single pass (if all your files were on the same letter drive, for example).  I've used that to fix file paths after a migration from windows to linux and vice versa and it works great, and often can be done in twenty or thirty minutes (its even better since MC now fixes the seperators automagically).  It takes a little more elbow grease than just deleting and reimporting, but will preserve all of your metadata, not just what lives in the files.  I did a delete and reimport once and regretted it because I have lots of custom tags that can't be stored in the files themselves.  Thank heavens for library backups.

Otherwise Brian's steps are spot on IMO.

Hi Brian,

thanks a lot for your efforts, but it simply freezes the whole program!
Too bad, but I'm already tinkering with all the settings I have to move to the Linux install

Can you clarify what you mean by "freezes the program"?  One recurring issue on linux is that the "ok" dialog box for the completed library restore pops *under* the "loading library" dialog, which gives the unwary user the impression that the library load never finishes.  In fact, if you alt tab a bit you can get to the "library restore complete" box and click ok. If you mean different by freezes it would be worth figuring out what's causing it.

[globetrotters1]

Thanks for your valuable input (and time you spent), mwillems!

Well, I'm just getting used to (for me) new O/S and found out that I might have been too impatient. I don't know why this happens, but sometimes closing a dialogue window needs like 10 minutes or even more. But that's not always the case.

When I do the library import (only settings of course) then the system throws a "Import successful" message box and over that it says something like "Importing" in another message box. And nothing else, no reaction to clicks, nothing - I let it run for an hour, no result. Of course the system is working fine in the meantime, so you can use other programs without hiccup.

What I also found out is the fact that the MC program gets completely unresponsive if a library import is running (a background process) and you want to play music. It starts the music play and that's it, no sound, nothing. It works again after finishing the import process.

But hey, all these 'problems' (which are in fact no problems, probably little annoyances) won't keep me from using MC on Linux!

Best
Martin

[globetrotters1]

Did a WHOLE Library restore, not just the 'settings' and guess what?
My library is complete and intact
I renamed the paths and it all works as intended!
Very happy here, to say the least...

A big THANKS to all who helped
Martin