How to set the preferred Configuration and Download directory for gPodder Podcast Application

General system Applications
1

Hi,

After the demise of Clementine, I have been on a mission to find the best Podcast application for me. I have been testing Vocal, but too many bugs and not enough turn around. So I have switched to gPodder.

What I noticed is when I use the tilde ‘~’ in the envvars.conf file that gPodder cannot expand this value to show the home path.

Question, is the below approach the best practice for Arch based systems?

I’m asking, as I will request gPodder add the below to their documentation.

How to set the preferred Configuration and Download directory for gPodder Podcast Application

gPodder is a Podcast management application which has features like:

  • Keep a listing of the Podcasts you have registered (with New and Listened statuses).
  • Download offline copies of audio and video Podcasts.
  • Download Youtube streams.

By default all configuration are stored in the ~\gPodder directory in Linux. The below steps allow you to use the follow variables to override the directories where:

  • ‘GPODDER_HOME’ the configuration files are stored.
  • ‘GPODDER_DOWNLOAD_DIR’ the audio\video files are stored when downloading a Podcast.

Steps to customize the data directories:

  1. Launch Terminal.

  2. Create your preferred directories to store the gPodder configuration and downloads:

mkdir ~/.config/gPodder
mkdir ~/Music/Podcasts

  1. Create a local envvars.conf file to define the preferred configuration and download directory for gPodder

    a. Open envvars.conf in nano editor:

nano ~/.config/environment.d/envvars.conf

b. Add the following local environment variable settings:

GPODDER_HOME=$HOME/.config/gPodder
GPODDER_DOWNLOAD_DIR=$HOME/Music/Podcasts
  • $HOME will insert the Home Directory of the current signed in user.

  1. To initialize the new settings in the envvars.conf file:

    a. Log out of your desktop session.
    b. Log into your desktops session.

Source:
https://gpodder.github.io/docs/user-manual.html#changing-the-downloads-folder-location-and-the-gpodder-home-folder

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/environment_variables

1 Like
2

Unfortunately this isn’t working for me :frowning_face:

I’m trying to set GPODDER_HOME as /home/benedict/Music/gpodder but when I add this to ~/.config/environment.d/envvars.conf as either GPODDER_HOME=$HOME/Music/gPodder or GPODDER_HOME=/home/benedict/Music/gPodder then gPodder launches and sets the GPodder folder in /home/benedict instead. It also doesn’t show when I run printenv

Setting GPODDER_HOME=/home/benedict/Music/gPodder in /etc/environment does work however (and shows when I run printenv). I’m the only user on this machine, so it doesn’t matter that I’ve set it for all users, but I would like to resolve this.

I’ve been perusing https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Environment_variables without illumination.

3

This would be where gPodder’s configs will be stored.

I guess this is will be the default location for gPodder’s download.

If you don’t want it to create a directory directly under your home, you would need to set

GPODDER_DOWNLOAD_DIR=

as well.

I can confirm that the instructions in the OP have worked for me.

Here is how I have specified where configs and downloaded podcasts should be stored:

GPODDER_HOME=$HOME/.config/gPodder
GPODDER_DOWNLOAD_DIR=$HOME/.local/share/Podcasts

4

On other distros, specifying GPODDER_HOME has resulted in the Download folder being within that specified location. However, if even if I exactly replicate the syntax of either you or @kagetora13, I still end up with gPodder creating a fresh folder in my /home :frowning_face:

I didn’t have a ~/.config/environment.d/ folder to begin with, and this led me down a rabbit hole of trying to find out if a systemd service was not running, or that maybe it’s a Cinnamon specific issue.

In the end, I’ve stopped looking and will stick with my workaround.

Thank you both.

5

Maybe best approch is open a bug with gpodder to see whay they have to say?

In my case I’m using Gnome. When I reported it, they ended up doing a code fix.

1 Like
6

Yes, I’ll do a bit more testing/research later this weekend, and then consider that. Thank you.

7

Right. This directory needs to be created by the user.

8

I’ve had trouble with gPodder in the past too. Most recently I decided to use podgrab instead and I’ve been very please with it.

9

Oddly enough, even though this

had worked for me on one install, it didn’t in another. gPodder kept creating gPodder directory in my home.

Specifying the full path:

GPODDER_HOME=/home/pebcak/.config/gPodder

in ~/.config/environment.d/envvars.conf solved the issue.

1 Like
10

Unfortunately that doesn’t work for me either - it’s still only specifying it in /etc/environment that does the trick :person_shrugging:

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11

Check the permissions and ownership of ~/.config/environment.d and the directory you want to set as default.

12

They are both set to my user account as is all my /home directory. It’s OK, because I’ve found something that works, even if it is a bit unorthodox.

1 Like