Symlinked preferences (.plist) is reset automatically

[wohfab]

Before opening the issue, have you...?

• Searched for existing issues
• Looked through the wiki
• Updated MonitorControl to the latest version (if applicable)

Describe the bug

I am using mackup (https://github.com/lra/mackup) to backup my .dotfiles including preferences and settings of installed apps. The program works the way, that it duplicates the original preference files from the ~/Library/ directories to a specified directory and then create a symlink to this file back into the directory. For MonitorControl it takes these steps:

1. Duplicate ~/Library/Preferences/me.guillaumeb.MonitorControl.plist into ~/.dotfiles
2. Delete original ~/Library/Preferences/me.guillaumeb.MonitorControl.plist
3. Symlink ~/.dotfiles/me.guillaumeb.MonitorControl.plist back to ~/Library/Preferences/me.guillaumeb.MonitorControl.plist

MonitorControl however deletes this symlink and recreates the preferences automatically with the same filename but with the symlink stripped from it. This way mackup throws an error and-more important-does not backup the preferences for MonitorControl.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install mackup via brew install mackup
2. Create config file for monitorcontrol (following the docs) at ~/.mackup/monitorcontrol.cfg with

[application]
name = MonitorControl

[configuration_files]
Library/Preferences/me.guillaumeb.MonitorControl.plist

3. Run backup via mackup backup
4. Symlink is created and the shortly after removed again and replaced by the original file without symlink

Expected behavior

1. Option: Change content of .plist file without recreating it every time
2. Option: When recreating .plist file, keep symlink status intact

Anything else?

I know, this is not per se a bug with MonitorControl; more an unexpected behaviour with the .plist file. If this is better suited as a discussion post, please feel free to move it over. Thanks a lot for your consideration!

Environment Information (please complete the following information)

- macOS version: 14.0 Sonoma
- Mac model: Macbook Pro, M1 Pro
- MonitorControl version: v4.1.0 Build 7034 (installed via Homebrew)
- Monitor(s): -
- Apple Silicon/M1: yes

[waydabber]

MonitorControl is managing userdefaults via the normal system calls only so I am not sure what to do with this, but will leave it open, maybe somebody has an idea. :)

[olssonm]

@wohfab Found this thread via Google. This doesn't seem to have anything to do with MonitorControl or the apps themselves, but rather how macOS Sonoma (and perhaps even latest Ventura) handles symlinks for plists and the like (broken). Many apps via Mackup are currently experiencing major issues. See lra/mackup#1924

[wohfab]

See lra/mackup#1924

Oh, this is really good to know! Thanks for that link, @olssonm! I guess it's time to pause mackup for a while and see how fast this can be solved.