Change Repository Location

Default Location of Repository

At installation, Exploratory creates a repository, which is the directory where user info or projects are stored. By default, .exploratory directory under home directory is created and used as the repository. On Windows, if home directory name includes multibyte characters, Exploratory tries to create "/exploratory" directory instead, and uses it as the repository.

On Windows, what if home directory has multibyte character, and there is not enough privilege to create "/exploratory"?

On Windows, if home directory has multibyte characters, and there is not enough privilege to create "/exploratory" or create files/directories under it, creation of repository would fail, which would cause failure of installation. In such case, installation failure can be worked around by specifying some other directory with a path that does not have multibyte character, which you also have enough privilege to create files/directories under. You can do so by setting EXPLORATORY_HOME environment variable. When EXPLORATORY_HOME environment variable is set, Exploraotry uses the specified directory as the location for the repository instead of .exploratory directory or "/exploratory" directory.

Steps to set up EXPLORATORY_HOME environment variable on Windows

1. Create a new directory for repository. Let's say we created "C:\exploratory" here as an example.

2. Start typing "environment" into Windows's search box, and you will see search result that says "Edit environment variables for your account". Click to open it.

   

3. "Environment Variables" dialog opens.

   

4. Click "New..." to create a new environment variable.

   

5. Set "EXPLORATORY_HOME" to Variable name, "C:\exploratory" to Variable value. Click "OK".

   

6. As you can see, EXPLORATORY_HOME variable is set.

7. Logout from Windows, and Log back in.

8. Install Exploratory by clicking Exploratory.exe. As Exploratory is installed, it uses "C:\exploratory" directory instead of .exploratory directory under home directory.

Steps to set up EXPLORATORY_HOME environment variable on Mac

1. Open a shell and create a new directory for repository. Let's say we create "/exploratory" here as an example.

   sudo mkdir /exploratory
   

2. Set ownership of the directory so that Exploratory run by you can read/write in the directory. Let's say your Mac OS username is john here.

   sudo chown john /exploratory
   

3. Create environment.plist under ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ with the following content. (Replace "/exploratory" with the directory you are using for repository.)

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
   <plist version="1.0">
   <dict>
   <key>Label</key>
   <string>my.startup</string>
   <key>ProgramArguments</key>
   <array>
    <string>sh</string>
    <string>-c</string>
    <string>
    launchctl setenv EXPLORATORY_HOME /exploratory
    </string>
   </array>
   <key>RunAtLoad</key>
   <true/>
   </dict>
   </plist>
   

4. Logout and Log back in to your Mac OS. This will enable EXPLORATORY_HOME environment variable we set at the previous step.

5. Start Exploratory, and it will start using /exploratory as the repository.