Prefixes and snapshots

A prefix is the Windows installation an application sees: its C: drive, its system folders and its registry. Choose one with RAVEN_PREFIX; without it Raven uses $HOME/.local/share/raven/default.

Create one

export RAVEN_PREFIX="$HOME/.local/share/raven/editor"
build/native/raven --snapshot-prefix clean

The C: drive is the drive_c folder, with windows/system32, windows/syswow64, Program Files and Program Files (x86) inside, as on Windows. Raven also links your host fonts into the Windows Fonts folder. Use an absolute path, and keep the variable set for everything you do with that application.

Snapshots

build/native/raven --snapshot-prefix before-update
build/native/raven --list-snapshots

A snapshot’s name is a timestamp followed by your label. Unchanged files are shared with earlier snapshots through hard links, so taking one is quick and cheap.

Restore

The most recent snapshot:

build/native/raven --restore-prefix

A specific one, by the name --list-snapshots prints:

build/native/raven --restore-prefix SNAPSHOT_NAME

Close the applications using the prefix first. Raven saves the state it replaces as a new snapshot, so a restore can be undone too.

Automatic snapshots before installers

Raven attempts a snapshot before running a recognised installer and retains up to ten automatic snapshots. Recognition and snapshot creation can fail. A child installer may rely on the outer installer’s checkpoint, if one was created. Take a manual snapshot before an installation you need to undo, check that the command succeeds and confirm its name with --list-snapshots before proceeding.

One prefix per application

Separate prefixes keep applications, and their redistributables, from affecting each other, and make a clean reproduction of a problem one command away.