Add cloud sync utility for RetroArch and Ports saves

[ridgekuhn]

Hello,

I've written a cloud sync utility using rclone, systemd, inotifywait, and bash. It registers save directories for RetroArch (based on the user's retroarch.cfg) and allows the user to sync their saves with an rclone remote either manually or automatically in the background. It also includes support for a few ports, the standalone ppsspp emulator, and multiple builds of RetroArch (ie, if the user is on a 64-bit distro and has both 64-bit and 32-bit builds of RetroArch). I've tried to make it easy to extend, so more ports and standalones should be supported in the future. There is also a version for ArkOS.

Video here: https://youtu.be/-jmoS1xwVcI

I couldn't find any documentation on writing a RetroPie module, so I've taken my best guess and would appreciate feedback on this if it seems like a good candidate to be merged in. Any issues with the app itself should go to the project repo.

The only issue I've encountered so far is that the RetroArch build included with the 4.7.1 Raspberry Pi 2/3 image does not respect the sort_savefiles_by_content_enable and sort_savestates_by_content_enable settings in retroarch.cfg. (Building from source or downloading the updated binary works as expected.) Is there any way to get the packages script to update RetroArch while installing this module?

Thanks!

[joolswills]

Sorry but I don't want to include this into core RetroPie but you can include it as an external module via the ext/ folder and provide users with instructions to install etc.

[ridgekuhn]

Understood. I would appreciate your negative feedback if you have any.

[joolswills]

Well - if we included something like this, I would prefer it to be part of RetroPie-Setup than we maintain rather than an external project. But you can provide instructions for users to install it and use it as needed as an external scriptmodule.

[ridgekuhn]

That makes sense. Given some time and a little guidance on how to integrate it properly into the RetroPie module ecosystem, I wouldn’t mind eventually refactoring it for that purpose since that was basically my intent anyway; if that’s something you’re interested in? One question I have either way, can you point me to some functions for determining which ports are installed? Is there a way to get a list of all of them and their status? Arklone can generate watchers programmatically (and does so for any combination of savefile/savestate settings in the user’s retroarch.cfg), but I wasn’t sure how to implement an interface for automatically doing it for ports and ended up just hardcoding a bunch of common ones. I’m not super happy with that workaround since it means watchers end up getting registered with systemd whether or not the watched path actually exists! Finally, sorry for this question, but I’m away from my Pi and dev machine for a few days. Will this module script work as-is if placed in the ext/ dir, or does it need different settings defined in the config vars?

…

On Dec 5, 2021, at 4:12 PM, Jools Wills ***@***.***> wrote: Well - if we included something like this, I would prefer it to be part of RetroPie-Setup than we maintain rather than an external project. But you can provide instructions for users to install it and use it as needed as an external scriptmodule. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3421 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABV5H4YJWJUOYDHMKNCWDE3UPPIUPANCNFSM5G6L2FPA>. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub>.

[joolswills]

I think it's something I would consider, although right now I'm looking at bugfixing and working on existing PRs before our next image. But it's definitely useful.

All installed ports should be in /opt/retropie/ports and the folder name will be the script module ID. However I intend to add to the admin modules so you can query the script module meta data from the command line (no ETA, but I have a use for it myself)

Regarding the ext folder. It expects repositories to be checked out there that have the same structure as RetroPie-Setup. Eg ext/YOUR_REPO that contains scriptmodules/supplementary/YOUR_MODULE.sh

There's no facility to update from RetroPie-Setup, or manage external repositories (yet) , but it should handle modules there and list them separately after our modules in the Manage Packages sections. And it will handle installing/uninstalling of external modules.

[ridgekuhn]

Got it, that’s all super useful info, thanks so much!

…

On Dec 5, 2021, at 9:34 PM, Jools Wills ***@***.***> wrote: I think it's something I would consider, although right now I'm looking at bugfixing and existing PRs before our next image. But it's definitely useful. All installed ports should be in /opt/retropie/ports and the folder name will be the script module ID. However I intend to add to the admin modules so you can query the script module meta data from the command line. Regarding the ext folder. It expects repositories to be checked out there that has the same structure as RetroPie-Setup. Eg ext/YOUR_REPO that contains scriptmodules/supplementary/YOUR_MODULE.sh There's no facility to update from RetroPie-Setup, or manage external repositories (yet) , but it should handle modules there and list them separately after our modules in the /Manage Packages/ sections. And it will handle installing/uninstalling of external modules. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3421 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABV5H47ETT5OUVETSQL4AFTUPQOLNANCNFSM5G6L2FPA>. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub>.