TechDraw templates went POOF

[Gary R]

Debian Bullseye (testing) OS with KDE Desktop
Freecad 0.19 installed with Appimage

I was using the 019 version of FreeCAD for several days when the TechDraw templates just disappeared. I have searched the whole system for the templates and have not found them. I used the debian locate command on freecad, A4_LandscapeTD.svg and .svg file searches. I have reloaded FreeCAD using Appimage but still have the problem. Going to EDIT -> Preferences -> TechDraw and checked the paths to the various templates I found that all of the paths are of the form:

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/tmp/.mount_FreeCAVxvaY1/usr/share/Mod/TechDraw/Templates/A4_LandscapeTD.svg

which makes no sense. I also keep getting the error message "/:/dd/icons/xxxxxx.svg doesn't exist". I dont know whether this is part of the same problem or not.
Does anyone have any idea what is going on and how to fix it

Gary R

[chrisb]

Please attach your full FreeCAD info as described in the IMPORTANT forum rules linked above.

[vocx]

which makes no sense. I also keep getting the error message "/:/dd/icons/xxxxxx.svg doesn't exist". I dont know whether this is part of the same problem or not.

This sounds like a problem with missing resources in the distribution.

ping

[M4x]

Please remove the path information in the settings and restart FreeCAD. It could be the same problem as described here: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=46760

[Gary R]

Sorry about the left out information. As follows:

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OS: Debian GNU/Linux bullseye/sid (KDE//usr/share/xsessions/plasma)
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.21097 (Git) AppImage
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: a5ab09aa0941cc945e59848897b160f8cbfc0831][/
Python version: 3.8.2
Qt version: 5.12.5
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.4.0
Locale: English/United States (en_US)

I tried wiping the TechDraw preferences and restarting FreeCAD and it cleared the problem. My German is non-existent so I still don't know why that cleared the problem

[M4x]

I've thought about using https://www.deepl.com/translator for example

My understanding is that FreeCAD (AppImage) adapts the paths to the temporary storage locations at each start. I'm not sure if this breaks sometimes (for example when you're updating the AppImage). It can break for sure if the user has changed something (the wrong things) manually.

I've just got it working myself so I'm not sure what's really happening and I'll keep an eye on it.

[Gary R]

Thanks all for the help. I ran the German text through a translator and came to the conclusion that the template problem is an occasional thing but is easy to work around. I guess the developers will have to fix this one.

Thanks again
Gary R.

[chrili_rakete]

Mhm, I also use the AppImage version of FreeCAD and also ran in the TechDraw template issue. The suggested solution resets the path of the temporary path, so that the predefined templates will be available (again). But what I am looking for is to refer to my own customized set of templates stored in my own directory structure. I could not find a stable way to make this work – any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
--
Christoph

-
OS: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (KDE/plasma)
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.21329 (Git) AppImage
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: 2330eef823b32ac412d839031cc174353a76b013
Python version: 3.8.2
Qt version: 5.12.5
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.4.0
Locale: German/Austria (de_AT)

[wandererfan]

But what I am looking for is to refer to my own customized set of templates stored in my own directory structure. I could not find a stable way to make this work – any suggestions?

First: I don't know much about AppImage.

It seems to me that, in general, AppImage should not be touching user preferences.

If you have your favourite template in "/home/me/fcTemplates/myFavourite.svg", there is no use in AppImage changing the preference to "/tmp/.mount...".

Blank file preferences are replaced by a default that uses App.getResourceDir to find the location of the files. As long as AppImage returns "/tmp/.mount..." as resource directory, empty preferences should work fine.

That leaves preferences that point to non-existent locations (??/usr/share/freecad=daily/...). This would be the only place for AppImage to make a change - either blank out the preference, make a link or change the location.

A script could be used to sort out the preferences before starting work. Maybe something like:

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App.saveParameter("BaseApp/Preferences/Mod/TechDraw/Files/TemplateFile", "myTemplateDir/A4_LandscapeTD.svg")