How to run Theia portable?

[XeonG]

Would be useful, sick of trying to backup all the different damn locations of vscode stuff

[msujew]

Hey @XeonG,

you can make Theia portable by creating a data folder in the application directory. See also:

theia/packages/core/src/electron-main/electron-main-application.ts

Lines 199 to 211 in 2a0232d

	protected makePortable(): boolean {
	const dataFolderPath = path.join(app.getAppPath(), 'data');
	const appDataPath = path.join(dataFolderPath, 'app-data');
	if (existsSync(dataFolderPath)) {
	if (!existsSync(appDataPath)) {
	mkdirSync(appDataPath);
	}
	app.setPath('userData', appDataPath);
	return true;
	} else {
	return false;
	}
	}

[XeonG]

yeah but the installer could really do with an option inside of it to let you specify the installation path and a tick box to say this is portable so it just does that..

here I used the installer and added the 'data' folder.. run theia.. empty folder

instructions unclear.. its not even documented on the site from what I could see

[msujew]

It might make sense to create an issue in the respective repos for that, i.e. https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia-ide or https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia-website.

[cristiandmonda]

IIRC the data folder needs to be placed in /resources/app within the application directory to be picked up.

[XeonG]

that seems to work.. surprised its not clearly documented or even on the main website with portable version download setup for it

[msujew]

surprised its not clearly documented or even on the main website with portable version download setup for it

Please go ahead and create an issue in the respective repos for that, i.e. https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia-ide or https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia-website. :)