I wish to change my computer name but keep my profile: how?

RyaminZ

Hi all, first post. I searched but didn't find this issue addressed, and it's probably very obvious, but I don't see how to do this simple thing.

Initially I installed Vivaldi, created a profile, admired the software. Next day or so I changed my computer's name (the boot into Linux Mint 23.1) to a shorter name. Thereafter Vivaldi would start a process but not show a gui. Searching the web led me to this forum. I saw a post suggesting Vivaldi was lost because the profile is tied to the computer's name. SO I changed back to the longer name,

hostnamectl hostname [thelongnameforthismachine]
hostnamectl hostname [shortname]

but I would really like to use the shorter name yet maintain the profile that I have now.

Would this be as simple as editing a .conf file somewhere?

nano ~/user/.vivaldi-profile1.conf

Are profiles portable between machines or could I share the profile with a separate windows boot on the same machine? Thanks.

DoctorG

@RyaminZ The profile encryption is not tied to hostname!
Had you copied the config for your desktop's password wallet (GNOME keyring or KWallet)?
And you can not switch between different password wallet systems on Linux desktop, that is not supported by Linux.
And no, sharing/copying profile between different OS is not supported.

RyaminZ

Thank you for the answer. First, I simply changed the computer's name using the utility and command as shown. Not sure if this is unique to Mint, or Ubuntu or even Debian derivatives, but it effectively changes the computer's name as reported with several other commands and apparently as used in the Vivaldi profile.

Is it possible to copy or modify this V. profile to a second one where the Comp's name is different? -- that is my main question. The main concern is bookmarks and interface settings...there's a bit of work in such a complex environment!!

edwardp

@RyaminZ There is also a sethostname command that will do the same.

man hostnamectl
man sethostname

Changing the computer hostname should not affect the Vivaldi profile.

mib2berlin

@RyaminZ
Hi, I changed my hostname with hostnamectl, restart the system and can run Vivaldi without issues.
Opensuse and KDE, very different system but the hostname doesn't matter.
Do other Chromium browser start?
You can try to rename your profile folder "Default" in .config/vivaldi/
Vivaldi create a new profile at next start.
Sometimes a tab crash in the background and Vivaldi cant start anymore.

Cheers, mib

RyaminZ

@edwardp Thanks for your response, I'm slow getting back.
On this system, Linux Mint 21.3 / Cinnamon, no gethostname or sethostname cli progs or scripts installed*, but hostnamectl works great, with these commands and some options, pretty complete:
status Show current hostname settings
hostname [NAME] Get/set system hostname
icon-name [NAME] Get/set icon name for host
chassis [NAME] Get/set chassis type for host
deployment [NAME] Get/set deployment environment for host
location [NAME] Get/set location for host
Options operate on remote or local computers, no pwd, specify host or machine, set name transiently or statically, and output to json=pretty|short|off .

When I changed the hostname the profile with that hostname embedded (grayed out in the settings GUI) apparently prevented that profile from running, and thus Vivaldi process started but there was no graphical interface (GUI) at all, no interaction available (that I found) except to kill the process PID for Vivaldi. I read that changing my computer's hostname to what it was when the profile was created would allow use of Vivaldi -- lo and behold that worked! I'm using it now, but also with superlonghostnameIdontlike

I'll try changing the hostname to shortname again and observe Vivaldi, let you know if it does start OK, but I assume it won't because it didn't.
Again, thanks for your interest.

although man getshostname does show there is a system-call in C programming language. It seems to be part of the installed C-language base, probably is, and usable in programming efforts; OTOH, hostnamectl is available on the cli....

RyaminZ

@mib2berlin Hi!
I'm dual booting Mint / Win 10 on this machine ATM. Plan to add maybe 2 or 3 more distributions in time, just been so busy! I think it would be really great if Vivaldi profiles would open as is agnostically to the host OS.

It sounds like it works great and without issue on OpenSuse and KDE, but have you tried your profile (through sync, I think?) on another system or the same system with a different OS? That would be cool.

RyaminZ

@DoctorG said in I wish to change my computer name but keep my profile: how?:

@RyaminZ The profile encryption is not tied to hostname!
Had you copied the config for your desktop's password wallet (GNOME keyring or KWallet)?
And you can not switch between different password wallet systems on Linux desktop, that is not supported by Linux.
And no, sharing/copying profile between different OS is not supported.

Hi, I'm not sure how this (changed?) to password wallets! Are they an integral part of Vivaldi's profile system relevant to the computer's name? Thanks.

mib2berlin

@RyaminZ
Hi, I tested to copy a profile from Linux to Windows or to another install. This kind of work but is not recommended.
On Windows it use the user ID to encrypt passwords, cookies and extensions, iirc.
This ID is created with hardware, Windows install and user, absolute unique.
I have 12 Vivaldi desktop installs and a few on Android, all synced with 3 Vivaldi accounts.
I don't copy anything between installs, except for testing.
Not all is synced but you get a working Vivaldi in 5 minutes and don't mess up your profile.
Work for me.

Cheers, mib

DoctorG

@RyaminZ The password wallet and its encryption is not from Vivaldi but from the Linux; on GNOME Desktops it is the GNOME keyring, on KDE desktop it is KWallet.
You need Vivaldi profile data and keyring config if you copy Vivaldi profile to an other Linux PC.