Settings are not (all?) synchronized Topic is solved

Anything to do with the Pale Moon Sync service.
CaptainFlint

Settings are not (all?) synchronized

Unread post by CaptainFlint » 2018-02-04, 12:36

I'm trying to configure sync between Pale Moon on two desktops ("Home" and "Work"). Both devices added successfully, but the settings are not synchronized, although the checkbox "Preferences" is marked on both machines.

For example: I have "General - Saved files have zone notification" set manually to Never on both computers. I change it to Always on the Work machine, click Sync Now. I don't know how to check the sync status, but the Sync toolbar button has tooltip that tells last sync time, and now it shows the current time, so I suppose the data are on the server. On the Home machine I click Sync Now, but the option remains unchanged, set to Never. And also, for that matter, the Sync toolbar button itself (which I added on the Work, but not on the Home) does not appear on the Home's toolbar. But I'm not sure if toolbar configuration is considered part of the preferences.

I also tried sync reset, with forcing the Work machine's data onto server and replacing all the data on the Home machine, it did not help. I restarted the browser, with no effect. Did I miss something?

P. S. I paired the second machine using the log-in with recovery key, if that matters. The Work machine definitely knows about the Home one because when I did sync reset it warned me that another machine Home will be affected.

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Moonchild
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Re: Settings are not (all?) synchronized

Unread post by Moonchild » 2018-02-07, 21:06

Please note that not all preferences get synced, by design. Only those that are listed as "services.sync.prefs.sync.{name_of_main_pref}" will be synchronized.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

CaptainFlint

Re: Settings are not (all?) synchronized

Unread post by CaptainFlint » 2018-02-07, 22:35

Ah, that was the missing piece of the puzzle! I've found the setting for the zone information saving (browser.download.saveZoneInformation), added the new boolean value for sync on both machines, and now this setting is synchronized. Not that I need this particular setting constantly changed and synced, but now I know what to do if need arises.

That's quite confusing, though; as a newcomer I would expect that all the settings are synced by default (apart from machine-specific ones like local paths). Well, the Sync page does mention that only a "limited subset" of preferences is synced, but it does not go into any details.

Anyway, thank you very much, Moonchild! I'm still on the early stage with Pale Moon but I look forward to complete switching from Firefox to a browser that refuses to drop its crucial distinctiveness out of the window and become just one more Chrome.

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Moonchild
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Re: Settings are not (all?) synchronized

Unread post by Moonchild » 2018-02-08, 14:01

By design you cannot sync all the preferences because sync is cross-platform, and blindly applying preferences from one platform on another is... well... quite disastrous. So only those that are specifically listed will be considered for synchronization, which are normally restricted to specific user choices.
We might have to go in and re-evaluate what all is in that pool since we did add a number of new preferences that one might want to have synced, but as stated you can always do it manually when needed for now.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

CaptainFlint

Re: Settings are not (all?) synchronized

Unread post by CaptainFlint » 2018-02-08, 15:47

Fair enough, I didn't think about mobile platforms.
As an idea for possible future development, there could be some predefined bunches of preferences in the Sync settings, like "Desktop", "Mobibe", "Cross-platform", so that the user could choose what fits him/her best.

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