The right way to migrate preferencies and future backup.

[InTone]

Today I decided to give Reaper native for Linux a shot on my Manjaro. I was suprised how well it works. Very good job, indeed, I'm impressed.

But I'm a bit puzzled about how to migrate my Windows preferencies to Linux version. My method in Windows is copying everything from the Reaper application data folder, and pasting it over if I do fresh install or something breaks etc. Works well. But is this good method? What I mean is, if I would like to have as much identical system in my Linux as in my Windows, should I use this method? Because, for example, it is instructed that if I want to use Reaper as portable install within the executable in Linux, I should create reaper.ini in the same folder that makes Reaper to include everything in that folder. But the data folder I would copy from Windows already includes reaper.ini, which includes information that Linux version won't understand, am I correct? I know I won't get Windows things, like VST etc, but as many custom things as possible that I have tweaked for years.

So is there a better way, or is the import/export configuration only good option? It does not certainly include as much custom tweaks as copying the folder contents manually. Or have I misunderstood something?

[Glennbo]

I pieced mine together bit at a time as I noticed stuff I used frequently, like templates or track icons. My machine is dual boot though, so while booted up Linux, I could easily navigate to the Windows partition and grab stuff. REAPER's resource path in Linux is usually going to be located in /home/USER_NAME/.config/REAPER/ replacing USER_NAME with your home user name.

[JamesPeters]

Here are a few things you should consider for a full backup of Reaper, your plugins (JS and VST), preferences, scripts.

1. For your VST plugins which are installed using an installer, backup the installers of course since you'll have to re-install them using those installers. For the VST plugins you place in your VST plugin directory (.so files in Linux, .dll files in Windows), you can back all those up as you'd back up any other file. Just remember to place them in your new VST folder when you do a re-install/migration. Also remember you'll want to reinstall Reapack and SWS.

2. From the preferences menu under "general" there's the "export configuration" (and "import configuration") option. This will back up most of your Reaper settings/preferences and is probably the most important step you might not have thought about (assuming you'd already thought to back up your VST plugins). This step can back up all your scripts, JS plugins, templates, presets, fx chains, color themes and so on. You'll see more details in the dialog that follows when you click that button.

3. If you use Reapack and want everything synced properly with it when you finish your re-install/migration, then be sure to perform a Reapack archive export from Reapack itself before you migrate (and an import of this info after migration). If you've backed up your scripts and JS plugins using "export configuration" (mentioned above) they'll all still be there when you re-install/migrate, whether they were installed by Reapack or not. However Reapack won't recognize the scripts or plugins that were installed by Reapack as having been installed by Reapack, which means Reapack won't be able to automatically update them (or have them in the Reapack packages list at all); the files won't sync. This means having to add them in Reapack again (while they overwrite the existing files on your drive) so they will then be recognized/able to sync in Reapack. It's a pain to do this. So remember to open the Reapack "manage repositories" window, choose "import/export" and perform an "export offline archive" (so you can use that same window next time to import that archive). I recommend doing the Reaper "import preferences" step first, then the import of the Reapack "offline archive" (this will install all JS effects and scripts to your Reaper resource folder, then overwrite the ones Reapack manages while "telling" Reapack which files are "its responsibility").

4. Then there's your libswell.colortheme file. In Linux there's the ability to do more tweaks to the UI colors, fonts, etc. than in Windows or OSX. There's a file named libswell.colortheme in the Reaper install directory. If you copy that to your "Reaper resource directory" then edit that file, Reaper will recognize those changes when you restart Reaper. So you'll probably want to back this file up. (Exporting preferences won't back this file up for some reason. I'm going to ask the devs about possibly including this as something that Reaper will recognize and back up, but in the meantime just remember if you do any customization to this file that you should back it up.)

Of course from Windows to Linux there will be some differences. You can't use the Windows VST (.dll) plugins simply by dropping them in the VST plugins folder (for that you'd need whatever wrapper you'd use for Windows VST files in Linux). Your audio preferences will be different since the drivers are different (possibly also your MIDI devices) so you'll have to set those things up. Your folders will be in different locations because Linux does things a bit differently with its file system. FFMPEG doesn't need to be "manually" added to Linux as it is in Windows. So you'll have to go through the preferences to set a few things up perfectly. But if you do the above things it's a very fast/smooth migration.

[InTone]

Thank you. I was worried if the Windows prefs would mess Reaper up to create some weird directories or try to find things in the wrong places etc. I tested this, and it seems the best way is to import configuration, then just manually tweak missing settings, beacuse importing configuration does not include everything. For example, all the project settings, render settings, various menu things, theme layouts are missing. And remove the newly created reaper.ini from import, and just leave the linux version of reaper.ini. But once that job is done, then it works as well as in Windows to just copy the whole application data folder and paste it over.

[JamesPeters]

I hadn't thought about the project settings or render settings. I guess that's because I kept changing them frequently. I also don't customize my menus.

As for color themes, they can all be backed up in that second step I mentioned. If a particular color theme doesn't work after this import step check the name of the extension of the color theme to make sure it is precisely this: .ReaperThemeZip Uppercase and lowercase letters are important in Linux. It doesn't matter in Windows apparently. So you might need to rename the extension in Linux of the color themes that are not recognized. I discovered this when I downloaded a couple color themes recently to test them.

[CPacaud]

I'd just like to chime in (years later) - I just tried importing my config from the Windows version to Linux and faced this same problem:

For example, all the project settings, render settings, various menu things, theme layouts are missing.

...and as JamesPeters mentionned, it seems to be a question of the case for the filenames not matching - specifically in my case (and I suspect this is true for everyone) the "reaper-wndpos.ini" and "reaper.ini" files, which are named "REAPER-wndpos.ini" and "REAPER.ini" under Windows (and exported/imported as such). I noticed I had both these files duplicated after importing my config to Linux - indeed, Reaper had created new ini files, lowercase, instead of using the ones I had imported. I deleted the brand new ini files, renamed the uppercase ones to lowercase and VOILA, perfect import with all the preferences properly set, windows/toolbars/etc. positioned correctly, proper layout/theme selection, etc.

[CPacaud]

And it seems the problem can be solved at the source - under Windows, Reaper supports those two ini files even after I've renamed them to lowercase (e.g. "REAPER.ini" to "reaper.ini") - and exports them as such afterwards, and they then import without problems under Linux.

[atomlux]

Just export config from reaper settings. You'd need to change some paths but that's pretty much it.

[s wave]

So often a simple .extension tweak works (sometimes not) I do like how Glennbo dual boots for sharing files. I Like a similar but I cold boot and use a (NAS storage) to exchange files... between OSs.

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by s wave

So often a simple .extension tweak works (sometimes not) I do like how Glennbo dual boots for sharing files. I Like a similar but I cold boot and use a (NAS storage) to exchange files... between OSs.

Hehe, that was 2019 when I was still dual booting. I built a new Ryzen 7 DAW machine a couple of years ago and it is 100% Linux now.

I originally thought I would need to keep Windows just for REAPER, but REAPER for Linux worked every bit as well, and the few Windows plugins I really use on a regular basis all function fine at low latency running in WINE and bridged to Linux.

That said, it was convenient having my tweaked Windows version to compare with a fresh new Linux version of REAPER. I quickly got all my track icons, track templates, themes, JS plugins, and other stuff setup to match, so the transition to Linux didn't really feel like a transition at all.