2009-10-02, 19:36
Is there way to specify where the XBMC folder is located (Which is normally in home>library>Application support)
Many thanks
Many thanks
2009-10-02, 19:46
no. you can probably use a symlink though.
2009-10-02, 20:19
I moved this from the bottom of the page to the top since if you're like me you have a tendancy to follow the steps one by one before fully reading the entire post first! 
One final word of advice... if you value the information contained in your XBMC data folder then PLEASE take the time to make a copy of it and put it on your desktop JUST IN CASE.... Never know when Murphy and is book of laws will walk in and ruin you're whole day/weekend. Hell in my computer room he's even got a seat of is very own since he visits so often.
Yes it quite easy and the terminal will not bite you well okay truth be told it really can bite it'll even break the skin but not if you're careful.
Step 1: Quit XBMC if its running
Step 2: Open terminal while logged in under the account you're using XBMC under.
Step 3: At the prompt type the following commands and then press enter after each line do not type the $ found at the beginning of each line.
Command 1: Makes a new folder called XBMC-Support on a drive called NewDrive (that is found in the /Volumes directory of OS X)
Command 2: Changes directory to YOUR homes ~/Library/Application\ Support folder (~ is shorthand for /Users/youraccountname/)
Command 3: Moves (mv) the XBMC folder to the new location you want it to be. /Volumes/NewDrive/XBMC-Support
Command 4: Creates the symlink that will now POINT to the actual location where the XBMC folder is residing (/Volumes/NewDrive/XBMC-Support)
Some notes and warnings...
I am assuming you want to move the XBMC folder to a new drive so in my example I used the drive name /Volumes/NewDrive as the final destination you should replace the word NewDrive in the above commands with the actual name of your drive (but if the drive has spaces in its name or other non A-Z characters read below or rename the drive to a more simple single word name.
If the location is simply somewhere else on your main boot drive then you should replace /Volumes/NewDrive with the path you want the XBMC folder to be held.
If a folder name or a hard drive name has a SPACE anywhere in its name you must use the \ to tell the command line a space is being used as part of the name. Without the \ the command line would treat the space in an entirely different way.
Example:
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
Works as intended you will now be working inside the "Application Support" folder.
cd ~/Library/Application Support
Will FAIL... the terminal will see the space and think that's the FULL name of the directory and TRY to move you into a ~/Library/Application folder (which shouldn't exist normally) and produce an error, if for some reason a folder called Application does exist inside the Library folder then the finder will move you to the ~/Library/Application folder which is NOT where you wanted to go!
Short and simple try and make the PATH to the location where you want to move the XBMC as simple and uncomplicated as possible simply to avoid potential typing errors. Notice the folder I created above was called XBMC-Support instead of XBMC Support mine has no space and no chance for errors.
Anyway I hope this helps...
One final word of advice... if you value the information contained in your XBMC data folder then PLEASE take the time to make a copy of it and put it on your desktop JUST IN CASE.... Never know when Murphy and is book of laws will walk in and ruin you're whole day/weekend. Hell in my computer room he's even got a seat of is very own since he visits so often.
spiff Wrote:no. you can probably use a symlink though.
Yes it quite easy and the terminal will not bite you well okay truth be told it really can bite it'll even break the skin but not if you're careful.
Step 1: Quit XBMC if its running
Step 2: Open terminal while logged in under the account you're using XBMC under.
Step 3: At the prompt type the following commands and then press enter after each line do not type the $ found at the beginning of each line.
Code:
$ md /Volumes/NewDrive/XBMC-Support
$ cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
$ mv XBMC /Volumes/NewDrive/XBMC-Support
$ ln -s /Volumes/NewDrive/XBMC-Support/XBMC XBMCCommand 1: Makes a new folder called XBMC-Support on a drive called NewDrive (that is found in the /Volumes directory of OS X)
Command 2: Changes directory to YOUR homes ~/Library/Application\ Support folder (~ is shorthand for /Users/youraccountname/)
Command 3: Moves (mv) the XBMC folder to the new location you want it to be. /Volumes/NewDrive/XBMC-Support
Command 4: Creates the symlink that will now POINT to the actual location where the XBMC folder is residing (/Volumes/NewDrive/XBMC-Support)
Some notes and warnings...
I am assuming you want to move the XBMC folder to a new drive so in my example I used the drive name /Volumes/NewDrive as the final destination you should replace the word NewDrive in the above commands with the actual name of your drive (but if the drive has spaces in its name or other non A-Z characters read below or rename the drive to a more simple single word name.
If the location is simply somewhere else on your main boot drive then you should replace /Volumes/NewDrive with the path you want the XBMC folder to be held.
If a folder name or a hard drive name has a SPACE anywhere in its name you must use the \ to tell the command line a space is being used as part of the name. Without the \ the command line would treat the space in an entirely different way.
Example:
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
Works as intended you will now be working inside the "Application Support" folder.
cd ~/Library/Application Support
Will FAIL... the terminal will see the space and think that's the FULL name of the directory and TRY to move you into a ~/Library/Application folder (which shouldn't exist normally) and produce an error, if for some reason a folder called Application does exist inside the Library folder then the finder will move you to the ~/Library/Application folder which is NOT where you wanted to go!
Short and simple try and make the PATH to the location where you want to move the XBMC as simple and uncomplicated as possible simply to avoid potential typing errors. Notice the folder I created above was called XBMC-Support instead of XBMC Support mine has no space and no chance for errors.
Anyway I hope this helps...
2009-10-02, 21:53
OK so this will create a link, I can then put this link in the original location and move the original to where I want?
Actually the plan is to try something mentioned on another thread where by I wack it in the drop box folder, (dropbox being a application that keeps your macs synced up)
I don't even have a use for it but want to see if it could work!
Will try tomorrow.
Actually the plan is to try something mentioned on another thread where by I wack it in the drop box folder, (dropbox being a application that keeps your macs synced up)
I don't even have a use for it but want to see if it could work!
Will try tomorrow.
2009-10-02, 22:12
garyi Wrote:OK so this will create a link, I can then put this link in the original location and move the original to where I want?
Well more accurately, the commands I gave above do the following:
- Create a directory where you want the XBMC folder to be located (the new location)
- Move the XBMC folder FROM ~/Library/Application\ Support TO the new location (created in step #1)
- Make the symlink in "~/Library/Application\ Support" called XBMC and have it POINT-TO the new location it was moved to.
garyi Wrote:Actually the plan is to try something mentioned on another thread where by I wack it in the drop box folder, (dropbox being a application that keeps your macs synced up)
I don't even have a use for it but want to see if it could work!
Will try tomorrow.
Okay... so if I understand your intent correctly.... Is the REASON for you wanting to move the XBMC location from ~/Library/Application\ Support so that it could be used by MULTIPLE computers running XBMC?? If so then I'd have to warn you against it... I'm still quite new to much of this myself (XBMC not the command line) but from what I've read in numerous postings is having 2 or more unique instances of XBMC (ie: 2 computers) sharing the same single XBMC folder is not a very good idea... some even going so far as to say its actually a VERY BAD idea.
"Not a very good idea" To me, a warning like that usually gets ignored but when someone states "its a VERY BAD idea" then I tend sit up and take notice.
It's a 'very bad idea' due to a number of different reasons.. including different TV resolution settings, different audio out settings, different skin settings to more serious ones like 2 computers updating the same database at the same time something like that would produce unexpected results at the very least and catastrophic results at the very worst.
In the end I don't think its an avenue worth pursuing.... Go the route you were thinking of 1st... Sync the data if you need to (and update the sync as necessary) but I for one would stear clear of trying to make a single user database perform tasks it simply wasn't engineered to deal with.
