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Software files and User settings files (M)

There are two type of files when running Ancestris.

  • The software files run the application,
  • The user settings files store user preferences.

You may loose the software files, because you can always get them from the Ancestris website ;
but you should backup you user settings files as they are specific to you.

Software files

Ancestris software files will be inside the ancestris folder used during the installation.

You can type whereis ancestris on a terminal to find out what that folder is.

This ancestris folder contains the following sub-folders.

  • ancestris
  • bin
    • ancestris : executable file to start Ancestris under MacOS and Linux
    • ancestris.exe : executable file to start Ancestris under Windows
    • ancestris64.exe : executable file to start Ancestris under Windows with Java 64bit architecture
    • ancestris.gif : Ancestris icon to use when creating an application launcher
    • other Ancestris icons.
  • etc
  • harness
  • platform

When you reinstall Ancestris, you simply replace the software files.

User settings files

Ancestris user settings files are in the user's folder.

You can see the location of this folder on the About dialog. This dialog can be accessed from the main menu bar, Help menu.

This location depends on your operative system.

  • Windows : C:\Users\[your name]\.ancestris\<version>
  • MacOS : ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/ancestris/<version>
  • Linux : ~/.ancestris/<version>

Where <version> is the installed version number.

  • 10 : in this case, the main version 10
  • trunk : in this case, the daily version 11

There are two specially important files in the user's folder for startup and diagnostic of eventual bugs.

  • The configuration file : <user's folder>/etc/ancestris.conf
  • The log file : <user's folder>/ancestris/ancestris.log

Here are also located your preferences and customized templates.

  • Your preferences : <user's folder>/ancestris/config
  • Your personal templates : <user's folder>/ancestris/blueprints
  • Your almanacs : <user's folder>/ancestris/almanac
  • Your individual and family record templates : <user's folder>/ancestris/gedart
  • Your history of changes : <user's folder>/var/cache/ModificationsHistory

Please check the user guide to learn what these templates are for.

 

Detailed description

  • /.ancestris/trunk
    • ancestris
      • almanac
      • blueprints
      • gedart
      • ancestris.log
    • config
      • Modules
      • Preferences
      • shortcuts.html
      • Toolbars
      • Windows2Local
    • etc
      • ancestris.conf
    • modules
    • update_tracking
    • var
      • cache
        • ModificationsHistory
        • ...
      • log

 

When you reinstall Ancestris, user settings files are not modified and you should be able to run the updated version with all your previous settings.

However, there could be some changes in the way the new version uses some of the settings. Please refer to the reinstallation page for more details.

 

 

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