Wrangling With the Geany Spell Check Plugin
I use multiple computers and multiple user accounts. One of my ongoing goals is to centralize my work flow and apps. This is a challenge in the Linux world because most apps are designed to be user-centric, expecting configuration files to be store somewhere in $HOME. This base design makes sense but the lack of flexibility renders centralization a challenge.
One of the primary apps I use is the Geany development environment. My usage is limited to text and script editing. Geany stores all config file information in $HOME/.config/geany.
I moved that location to a common networked file location and then sym linked $HOME/.config/geany to that location. I did this for each user account I use. When toggling to a different distro and user account, I have the same configuration, background, recently used file list, etc.
There was one speed bump in this plan. I use both 32-bit and 64-bit distros.
The geany.conf file stores the location of the spell check plugin. That location is different between a 32-bit and 64-bit system. On a 32-bit system the location is /usr/lib/geany/spellcheck.so. On a 64-bit system the location is /usr/lib64/geany/spellcheck.so.
Every time I toggled between a 32-bit and 64-bit distro I lost the spell check tool bar icon and had to manually restore. The reason is the hard-coded file path of the plugin does not exist.
I use the spell check plugin a lot. The glitch was frustrating.
Eventually I stumbled across a work-around. Most of the time the work-around succeeds but sometimes fails. The work-around is to place both locations in the config file:
active_plugins=/usr/lib64/geany/spellcheck.so;/usr/lib/geany/spellcheck.so;
On my 32-bit and 64-bit systems I then created sym links between /usr/lib64/geany and /usr/lib/geany.
Rather than hard-coding the plugin location, a more palatable solution would be to make the plugin location relative:
active_plugins=spellcheck.so;
Long-term the problem likely will resolve itself because I plan to update my main office desktop from 32-bit to 64-bit. I installed the office system in 2007, hence the 32-bit.
Posted: Category: Usability Tagged: General
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