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what is the closest you can get to do "dotfiles" on android? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 3 days ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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i know the way android stores application config and so on makes it almost imposible to keep a real functioning dotfiles. but what is the closest you can get? is there a way to at least get a declarative list of apps to install or something? maybe some f-droid config at least or something?

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[–] [S] 1 point 2 days ago (1 child)

i guess i was rather vague because i know that it's essentially a mess and how much you can save depends largely on how the app decides to save its config and so on, on the manufacturer and hos the system settings are saved and so on. so i guess that my question was more like, has anyone managed to do android dotfiles in a meaningful way beyond termux? i agree i was sassy but i thought the previous comment was being smug. i have never heard of anyone mention dotfiles outside of this use, so i guess that's a bad on me.

i think the stuff i'd like to backup the most would be some sort of declarative list of installed apps, if possible some system wide settings althought with how messy phones are with settings i doubt it, and maybe a couple of special per app settings. do you know if this is easier of Oses like graphene o lineage?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago

    Installed apps is hard cause they could be from the Play store or from F-Droid or Obtanium or raw APK installs.

    Of those, Obtanium let's you export things and import. Some F-Droid clients will do that too, but the stock one will only export -- I don't see a mechanism for import. Play store is usually automatic with their migration feature.

    So it sounds less like you want "dotfiles" and more you want a declarative Nix config for Android. Wildly different meanings. And neither really something Android does at all and isn't built around. It'd be like trying to turn an average Ubuntu install with some third-party DEBs sans sources into Nix, except half your apps store their info in Root somehow and you don't have root access.

    This is why stuff like Titanium Backup exists. Fundamentally, this is an X-Y problem presented -- the assumption your stated method (Nixification and system settings) is the means to achieving an ends (backup you can transfer around, or to wipe of the same device).

    Unless Nixification itself is the sole goal for the sake of "project", in which case, why be asking instead of making? X3 You might find something more like that in a Linux distro for a phone like Nura/postmarket or building one. But Android's architecture is too weird for cleanly doing that.

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