Tip: A truly portable setup for AppImage
I like
AppImages. They are just a single file and upon making them executable (chmod +x) they just work. They are a
portable apps solution for Linux. But there's an issue. Sometimes they create files on home when you use them.
e.g. If you load an AppImage-based browser, it will save bookmarks, cache, settings etc. on your home directory. What happens when you move the AppImage to another computer or another distro? You lose all your bookmarks, settings and cache because you didn't bring in the home directory files!
Not truly portable, right?
But there's a solution.
You can make 2 extra directories and name them
.home and
.config. All of the data created through that AppImage will be stored inside those directories. But you would have to have them in the same directory.
As an example I have this setup here for LibreWolf:
When you're moving the AppImage around, bring in those
.home and
.config directories too and you'll be ok. You can even put these on a USB flash drive formatted in a Linux compatible filesystem.
All AppImages support this.
So feel free to try it! You'll never lose your data again!
