Gimp Projects default Unix location - gimp

I am trying to do a series of tutorials to guide others on how to share a full development system to Unix running in VirtualBox. Oddly, the last piece of my tutorial (The Gimp) seems to be the only software that lacks a default Projects directory. Am I missing something?
I use Gimp on Windows and Ubuntu, but have never taken much notice until now of this. It seems pretty common for a software of this type to have a default directory to store projects to. Doing so, would allow directories to be shared between host and guest systems like in VirtualBox, but more importantly assist those that like to write scripts not just for themselves, but others too. eg. I can refer to ~/IdeaProjects in a script in confidence that the directory contains Jetbrains IDEA projects.
*This is a Gimp issue as it is both on Windows and Unix Gimp that have no projects directory.

No, it indeed does not have, and will just save to the system sugested (~/Documents, generally) just like OpenOffice, text editors, and a lot of other programs.
There are directories for the resources GIMP uses, like plug-ins, textures, brushes and so, which can be set in the prefrences dialog (and are stored in a ~/.gimprc file which can be parsed. But no default folder for user images.

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What is a good Sublime Text workflow for sharing a common setup between several platforms

I'm using Windows, Mac and Linux machines in my daily duties. On all machines, I program in C++ and various shells scripts. So far I've adopted the various "main" IDEs on each platform, but the diversity is irritating. I'm therefore looking into the possibility of using Sublilme Text on all platforms.
I have a setup of Sublime Text on Windows that works perfectly and would like to use the same on the other platforms also, so that when I change something in my Sublime setup on, say, my Mac, I can easily pick up the latest setup on my Windows machine the next time I'm there.
Is this possible on the 3 mentioned platforms, without getting (more) grey hair? If so, any suggestions or experiences thereof?
Many folks upload the "Packages/User" folder to GitHub (or your VCS service of choice). Then, they use Package Control to install their packages. Package control, through a settings file, will install any missing packages on a particular machine. I wrote a bit more about it here. You would then clone the git repo onto each machine, pulling updates when you decide to change something.
Alternatively, you could probably use a cloud service + symlinks to keep things auto synced, but I've personally never used it that way.
There are some plugins that are platform specific, so keep an eye out for those.
There's also the Package Package Syncing, which syncs installed packages and settings via some cloud service.
Works quite nicely, and automatically.
Has the advantage that you don't have to push/pull some dotfiles repo all the time.
No idea though whether this will work seamlessly across platforms (meaning whether all the settings will be platform-independent).

Collection of PNaCl ports with compiled .pexe files (Ex: ImageMagick)?

The list of current NaCl ports is here: https://code.google.com/p/naclports/wiki/PortList
I'm curious if there is (or will be) a repository for PNaCl executables (.pexe files) since they only need a .nmf manifest wrapper to run?
Please list any PNaCl resources here, I'm looking for ImageMagick specifically.
I know I could probably build the .pexe myself but I don't have the time to learn Native Client.
The short answer is: this isn't available yet, but we are working on it.
The long answer:
There isn't currently a binary repository for naclports. We are planning to add that soon (likely this quarter).
I took a quick look at the ImageMagick port, and it looks like it currently only generates libraries, not an application binary (i.e. nexe/pexe). My guess is that it wouldn't be too hard to add this, however.
Even with a pexe, you'll need to have a way to launch the application, give it commandline options, and a set of files to process. I've discussed a way to do this with my team, but we haven't started work on it yet (though again, we'll likely work on this in Q1 2014).

How to migrate Delphi or clone Delphi registry settings?

I have two PCs both with XE2. I thought that I had installed identically on both but have problems installing 3rd party packages on one while the other is just fine.
I want the same on both anyway. The easist would probably just to "migrate" the working set-up by moving in into my Dropbox folder. Can I do that? If so, how?
If not, can I (easilly) backup my registry settings on one machine and then import them on the other?
I suppose I could just sort out the problem on the one PC, but am not having much luck so far. I would rather invest the time in only having one Delphi setup. And since I am moving lots of other stuff to DropBox anyway ...
The tool for this is now built into Delphi XE8 and higher.
It's found here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\20.0\bin\migrationtool.exe
Online documentation:
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Rio/en/Settings_Migration_Tool
Install CnPack wizards from http://www.cnpack.org
From the CnPack toolbar select IDE Config Backup/Restore (image below) and save this file somewhere safe
Copy the components to the second delphi machine . Keep the exact same directory structure.
I store my components as follows this helps backing up, moving etc., but you can use your own structure
D:\components_bds\DCU
D:\components_bds\BPL
D:\components_bds\ComponentsThemselves
Use the restore config file from CnPack to restore your components on the new machine
This is also useful if your testing components that you plan to remove later and keeping a backup of your installation incase something goes wrong you can save time with new delphi installation if hard drive dies. Keep a copy on flashdrive or somewhere safe
You may compare/diff the config file created by cnPack using a tool like Beyond Compare and see what the differences are to find out why third party components give problems on one of the machines. It may be a Delphi registry/installation problem or a problem in the paths of the thirdparty components. Components need to be installed in an order perhaps it did not find the needed dcu or dll it depends on.
I don't know of any way to do so with DropBox. Here's an old post I made (related to Delphi 7, but with correction of registry keys still applicable) in the CodeGear newsgroups; hopefully it will help.
(It probably goes without saying, but back up the existing registry settings on the destination machine before starting by using RegEdit and exporting them, just in case. You'll at least be able to get back to the point you're at now if something goes wrong by deleting the imported entries and then importing the saved ones.)
You can't, without some difficulty anyway. (Especially if you have
third party components installed, as they may have placed files in the
%SYSTEM% folder you may not know about.)
You may be able to (for going from the old computer to the new
computer running the same exact version of Windows!) by exporting the
registry keys under HKCU\Software\Embarcadero and
HKLM\Software\Embarcadero from the old machine, and then after
installing Delphi on the new machine (in the exact same folder
location) importing that registry file.
Many of the compiler, linker, and other settings are configured on a
per-project basis, and should transfer over when you move your source
code to the new machine.
Third-party components are a problem, as I mentioned above. You may be
able to get away with using the registry export/import if you copy
each third-party component set from the old computer into exactly
the same location on the new machine before importing the registry
file. You'll probably have to track down some .BPL files that end up
in the $(BDS)\Bin and possibly other folders under the $(BDS)
tree; the IDE will tell you about missing stuff when you try and start
it. Make sure you answer "Yes " when asked if you want to try and load
it again next time!
Most of my development is hobby stuff or wannabe releases. Instead of dying trying to move my XE2 Pro from my Dell Inspiron N7110 Win 7 machine to my new Win 10 SSD machine, I'm seriously thinking of switching to Lazarus. I've used Lazarus 2.x with Indy 10, ZeosLib, and Firebird and successfully created a working distributed internet system. I also created Lazarus version of my XE2 Blackjack program. When compared to XE2, Lazarus (IMO) has only two weakness and neither are deal breakers for me. BTW, I have successfully duplicated Lazarus (with all installed components) from one machine to another simply by copying and pasting the Lazarus directory and it works. Try that with Delphi.
Sam

Why does my program say "folder does not exist" when run on Windows 2008?

We have a Delphi program whose task is like a service program. It watches a particular folder for a certain period, and it works great on Windows XP and 2003, but on Windows 2008r2 64bit, when it wants to create an automatic folder, it will show this message:
The ... folder does not exist. The file may have been moved or deleted.
This message causes the program to halt, which is not good; it should not be interrupted.
What can I do about this?
P.S.: I really don't have any idea whether to post my problem in Stack Overflow or Server Fault, so I've guessed it should be here.
It's likely the VirtualStore, if you're trying to store beneath Program Files (either one). See my writeup:
http://www.clipboardextender.com/off-topic/vista-program-files-hide-and-seek
You've left out the ... folder name. While that's understandable, it wouldn't happen to have anything to do with program files (which on x64 will be split in 2 directories) would it?
Windows Server 2008 is able to use 'virtual' file pathes. That means: 'what you see is not what you get'. The Windows Explorer just shows you the 'display' name. Check the file path with cmd.exe, if the path you are trying to use does realy exist.
The reason is of cause the File Virtualization (see for example http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb756960.aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.06.uac.aspx).
Because we on stackoverflow.com and not on serverfault.com I want add to all other answers that you can use Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection, Wow64RevertWow64FsRedirection and Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection functions (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365743.aspx) to control the File Virtualization in your program. An example of the usage of this functions in C# you can find here http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/kernel32.wow64disablewow64fsredirection.
You'll need to tell us the exact path and how do you go about constructing it. It can be as simple as the app not using env variable expansion but assuming that user's folders are where they were before.
Path virtualization (there are 2 kids actually) that people mentioned will hit you only if your app is trying to mess with system folders.
More puzzling problem will hit you if you are not expanding env vars like APPDATA, LOCALAPPDATA etc. and not expecting that there's more of them on Win7 and 2k8. Not only that default paths of user's files changed but some of them can also be on network shares - for the same user. So if you were running based on expectation that all user's stuff will be at definite paths under say %USERPROFILE% you can get hit by several surprises. Also notice %ProgramData% .
Fastest way to find out - open cmd.exe, run set and if you see some paths that you are constructing in alternative ways, take notice that you need to start expanding env vars for them. Then open cmd.exe as a 32-bit app and check set again. You can also pick them up via Process Explorer from some running 32-bit or 64-bit app.
Switching your app to 64-bit build will resolve most of virtualization issues but not the env var expansion. Also if your app is touching system folders you need to request elevated run from the code or even better make the manifest and declare it there. Then OS will yell at user up front if his UAC is on and your app will avoid that 2nd virtualization. BTW, virtualization is controllable via group policies so it might be present on some boxes and missing on others.

Is it possible to create a custom distribution of OpenOffice, or a way to package it into my java application?

I've got simple java-based ppt->swf sub-project that basically works. The open source software out there, OpenOffice.org and JODConverter do the job great.
The thing is, to do this I need to install OO.o and run it in server mode. And to do that I have to install OO.o, which is allot of software (~160MB) just to convert the source PPT files to an intermediate format. Also, the public OO.o distributions are platform specific and I'd really like a single, cross platform set of files. And, I'd like to not interfer with a system's current settings, like file extension associations.
As things are now, my project is not particularly 'software distribution friendly'.
So, the questions are:
Is it possible to create a custom distribution of OpenOffice? How would one about this?
How lightweight and unobtrusive can I make the installation?
Would it be possible to have a truly cross platform distribution since there would be no OO.o UI?
Are there any licensing issues I need to be aware of? (On my list of things to check out, but if you them already then TIA!)
I have no idea to accomplish such task, but Microsoft has its PPT viewer that is for free and very small, maybe in .NET (C#) you can use some kinda function to save into a intermediate file that you need...
and by the way, how are you handling slide transictions?
I found a software that does that but you need MS PPT installed.
this was just an idea, now regarding your actually question:
you can create your own installation of OO, just jump to the Installation project and follow the lines.
I did not read 'til the end, but from the 1st paragraph it seams what you are searching for.
No, not unless you are neck deep coding in the OpenOffice project.

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