Add option --copy-only

[dracorp]

All submissions

• [x] I have followed the Contributing Guidelines
• [x] I have checked to ensure there aren't other open Pull Requests for the same update/change

Adding/updating Application X Support

• [x] This PR is only for one application
• [x] It has been added to the list of supported applications in the README
• [x] Changes have been added to the WIP section of the CHANGELOG
• [x] Syncing does not break the application
• [x] Syncing does not compete with any syncing functionality internal to the application
• [x] The configuration syncs the minimal set of data
• [x] No file specific to the local workstation is synced
• [x] No sensitive data is synced

Improving the Mackup codebase

• [x] My submission passes the tests
• [x] I have linted the code locally prior to submission
• [ ] I have written new tests as applicable
• [x] I have added an explanation of what the changes do

[huyz]

~~I find the name copy-only hard to understand. I had to look at the code changes to understand. I think preserve-source might be clearer.~~

Never mind, I changed my mind.

[huyz]

I feel like this behavior should be the default. Unless I'm mistaken, the idea of symbolic links doesn't really work for many apps, e.g. Preferences file. As soon as an app rewrites the Preferences file, the symbolic link is broken.

I figure the default model should be copy/sync, possibly merge, but not symlinking, unless we can be assured that symlinks don't get deleted.

Am I understanding mackup right? I'm new to this app.

[martimlobao]

Would it be possible to enable this per-application as well? I just realized that iStat Menus also breaks using the symlinks created by Mackup, and so it would nice to be able to modify a .cfg file with a flag to have it only copy files instead.

[dracorp]

I feel like this behavior should be the default. Unless I'm mistaken, the idea of symbolic links doesn't really work for many apps, e.g. Preferences file. As soon as an app rewrites the Preferences file, the symbolic link is broken.

I figure the default model should be copy/sync, possibly merge, but not symlinking, unless we can be assured that symlinks don't get deleted.

Am I understanding mackup right? I'm new to this app.

So, I've added a few apps to ignore, vim, iterm2 etc.

[huyz]

Would it be possible to enable this per-application as well?

You mean make it part of the config file for each app? That sounds like a good idea.

[martimlobao]

You mean make it part of the config file for each app? That sounds like a good idea.

Yeah, unless I'm reading it wrong, this PR currently only provides a CLI flag, so it's all or nothing. Having the granularity to configure which apps use the copy/paste method instead of symlinks will probably address a lot of the issues some apps appear to be having with symlinks.

[huyz]

So, I've added a few apps to ignore, vim, iterm2 etc.

@dracorp What do you mean there? I don't see any changes in the code that would do what @martimlobao is asking for.

[dracorp]

@dracorp What do you mean there? I don't see any changes in the code that would do what @martimlobao is asking for. It's not up to me anymore. I only cared about copying.

So, I've added a few apps to ignore, vim, iterm2 etc. This is in my mackup configuration.

[victor-falcon]

IMO, the copy option should be by default, because right now Mackup is not working properly with a lot of apps :(. Maybe we can do that with a global flag in the config file if we don't want to modify the default behavior.