.popclipext files updating when they've not been updated

Support
#1

I’m guessing this may not be a bug, but something beyond my comprehension about how Preference files work. Here goes:

Context
I wanted to sync my PopClip extensions across machines. This isn’t directly possible but I set up a pseudo-sync: Hazel watches ~/Library/Preferences/com.pilotmoon.popclip.plist, if something is updated, files copy to a folder in iCloud then opens the folder (to show me its worked and remind me to manually sync, later on).

So this is an automated copy/back-up followed by a manual replacement of PopClip extensions on a second Mac.

(As far as I can tell, the actual extensions are not in ~/Library/Preferences as individual files—as they are when you install other people’s—but there embedded in the popclip.plist file.)

The 'bug’
I’ve noticed that the files that are copied over to iCloud are updating several times a day—when no modification has been made to an existing extension and when no additional extension has been added.

Not a serious problem, and probably not really a bug—I just wondered if this was normal behaviour & if so, are there any better ways to keep PopClip up-to-date across different Macs?

Versions
PopClip x, macOS y

Steps to reproduce

  1. Use Hazel to, whenever they occur, copy changes to ~/Library/Preferences/com.pilotmoon.popclip to another folder (local or cloud)
    2.Check the folder & its content’s dates.

Expected result
No updates to contents unless an extension is added or modified.

Actual result
Copied extension files are updated often.

#2

Hi and welcone to the forum. Thank you for the well formatted report :+1:

You are syncing the ~/Library/Preferences/com.pilotmoon.popclip.plist file which is actually the application preferences file and does not contain the extensions. This prefs file is updated regularly whenever PopClip is in use. (Apps use their preferences file to persist various of data, including user prefs but also things like the positions of windows, last update check time, and other metadata so this will be updated a lot.)

(As far as I can tell, the actual extensions are not in ~/Library/Preferences as individual files—as they are when you install other people’s—but there embedded in the popclip.plist file.)

This part is not actually correct. The extensions are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/PopClip/Extensions. So if it’s extension syncing you want you should sync this folder (not officially supported but I’m told it works).

I don’t recommend syncing the prefs file.

#3

Thank you for the help, welcome & the report complement—I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen before!

Great—that makes sense to me. I’d actually already got
`~/Library/Application Support/PopClip/Extensions’ getting copied over to a cloud folder by Hazel for me to manually pick-up.

I don’t remember now why I had the .plist in there & have deleted that Hazel rule—It’s just .popclipext extension files that are pseudo-syncing now.

In case anyone else is interested in using this hack, it seems fine. I’ve been using it for about a month and a half. Nothing bad has happened so far. I’ll report back here if anything does go wrong.

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