Cannot save customized configurations - can only copy defaults

[Sean Cleary]

This is in xubuntu 18.04 final build 20180424. The same happened in 20180421.1. It also happened as far back as 0412.
The standard configurations can be loaded. Pressing the Save Configuration button brings a popup to name the configuration. Call it "<chosen name>". But what is actually saved is whatever configuration is currently highlighted in the menu.
If Current Configuration is highlighted, the initial/default "Current Configuration" (I believe it's Xubuntu Bionic) is copied. The name of the saved configuration is "<chosen name> (Copy of Current Configuration)".
If (say) Gnome 2 is selected, then the default Gnome 2 is copied, and the name of the saved configuration is listed as "<chosen name> (Copy of Gnome 2)".
UPDATE: The problem seems to be partly fixed in version 1.0.7-0ubuntu2. The initial bug report was about the live iso. After installing and updating, I WAS able to save a customized Bionic Beaver configuration. But I was not able to save a customized Gnome 2 config.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: xfpanel-switch 1.0.7-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-19.20-generic 4.15.17
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-19-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu6
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.393
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Tue Apr 24 23:58:25 2018
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/xfpanel-switch
InterpreterPath: /bin/dash
LiveMediaBuild: Xubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180424)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xfpanel-switch
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1766746

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

Hi. I wrote the patch that was applied in the most recent version, and I think I have seen your issue too. However, I don't understand how my patch could have fixed it.

It is related to config copying. If you load a config and then immediately try to save it creates a direct copy of the config you just loaded by parsing it and saving it out again, without reading or writing to the xfconf. It seems like because of this it is possible that you can make changes to the config while panel-config is still running and they won't be saved.

The patches I sent were to prevent some crashes if the config is corrupted externally.
Because we are really close to release I did not try to fix this issue with config copying, as it would involve getting really deep into the code. You should be able to work around it by restarting panel-switch after loading and before saving, or by using the command line interface eg:

    xfpanel-switch save path/to/myconfig.tar.gz
    xfpanel-switch load path/to/myconfig.tar.gz

The command line interface does not do any fancy config copying at all. It always saves/loads immediately from/to xfconf. So it should not have this problem.

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

After discussing this on IRC it seems it could be a quirk of how the UI works: if you want to save the current config, you need to make sure that "current config" is selected in the list. Otherwise it will make a direct copy of whatever you do have selected.

[Sean Cleary (seanmc)]

Hi again - I didn't see your second message, about IRC conversation, until
just now. But this suggestion seems not to be the case. Here's my
experiment:
I modified a Gnome 2 panel and attempted to save it, but just copied the
Bionic "current configuration." Failure. Then I suspended the computer.
When I resumed, I saved the configuration, with Current Configuration
selected. This time it worked. Just as I was able to save a modified
Bionic config right after installation. I think it's significant that both
times, I was able to save modifications to whatever config the session
started with.
After this success, I applied Redmond, modified it, and tried to save it.
But what was saved was the modified Gnome 2. Which is the configuration
that was active when the session started.
I'm pretty sure that having Current Configuration selected saves the
configuration that's active when you log in, not the configuration you have
at the moment you save. I could be wrong, but I hope this helps.

On Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 10:24 PM, Alistair Buxton <email address hidden>
wrote:

> After discussing this on IRC it seems it could be a quirk of how the UI
> works: if you want to save the current config, you need to make sure
> that "current config" is selected in the list. Otherwise it will make a
> direct copy of whatever you do have selected.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1766746
>
> Title:
> Cannot save customized configurations - can only copy defaults
>
> Status in xfpanel-switch package in Ubuntu:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> This is in live xubuntu 18.04 final build 20180424. The same happened
> in 20180421.1. It also happened as far back as 0412.
> The standard configurations can be loaded. Pressing the Save
> Configuration button brings a popup to name the configuration. Call it
> "<chosen name>". But what is actually saved is whatever configuration is
> currently highlighted in the menu.
> If Current Configuration is highlighted, the initial/default "Current
> Configuration" (I believe it's Xubuntu Bionic) is copied. The name of the
> saved configuration is "<chosen name> (Copy of Current Configuration)".
> If (say) Gnome 2 is selected, then the default Gnome 2 is copied, and
> the name of the saved configuration is listed as "<chosen name> (Copy of
> Gnome 2)".
> UPDATE: The problem seems to be fixed in version 1.0.7-0ubuntu2.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
> Package: xfpanel-switch 1.0.7-0ubuntu1
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-19.20-generic 4.15.17
> Uname: Linux 4.15.0-19-generic x86_64
> ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu6
> Architecture: amd64
> CasperVersion: 1.393
> CurrentDesktop: XFCE
> Date: Tue Apr 24 23:58:25 2018
> ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/xfpanel-switch
> InterpreterPath: /bin/dash
> LiveMediaBuild: Xubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64
> (20180424)
> PackageArchitecture: all
> ProcEnviron:
> PATH=(custom, no user)
> XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
> LANG=en_US.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> SourcePackage: xfpanel-switch
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log pr...