Ubuntu – what are hidden files ending with ~

Ubuntu has changed since other answers to this question were written.

Keybindings have moved from gconf to dconf. Gconf stores its data in xml files and was accessed by gconf-editor and gconf-tool2. Dconf stores its data in a binary format and is accessed by dconf-editor and gsettings.

The number of places that keybindings are stored is reduced. There is now a centralized dconf path to store window manager keybindings (org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings). There are mapping files in the directory /usr/share/gnome-control-center/keybindings/that show how these are applied based on the window manager you are actually using (compiz or metacity).

A second set of non-window-manager related key bindings is stored in the dconf path org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys

There is a third set of keybindings related to power buttons that is stored in the dconf path org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power. There is currently a bug in the GUI that lets you configure keybindings. It doesn't know about these settings. I have a "sleep" button on my keyboard. If I want to reassign it to other functionality, I have to disable the setting in org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power manually. The GUI doesn't do it for me (although it assigns the new functionality just fine).

The other wrinkle is custom key bindings. These are stored in dconf using relocatable schema. Its done this way because there are an arbitrary number of them. A reasonable approach, but it makes listing or modifying them via the command line harder than it should be.

I also found out that the GUI that allows you to assign keybindings is limited in a way that annoys me. The GUI allows exactly ONE keybinding to be assigned to each action. In dconf, you can set an array of bindings for a single action. This is useful to me. For example, I like to have the "close-window" action assigned to the traditonal Alt-F4 as well as to an easier to hit single button on my keybord.

I have written a Perl script to dump all the keybindings to a csv file, or restore them from the csv file. For example to dump the keybindings you might use:

./keybindings.pl -e /tmp/keys.csv

and to restore them you might use:

./keybindings.pl -i /tmp/keys.csv

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

my $action = '';
my $filename = '-';

for my $arg (@ARGV){
    if ($arg eq "-e" or $arg eq "--export"){
        $action = 'export';
    } elsif ($arg eq "-i" or $arg eq "--import"){
        $action = 'import';
    } elsif ($arg eq "-h" or $arg eq "--help"){
        print "Import and export keybindings\n";
        print " -e, --export <filename>\n";
        print " -i, --import <filename>\n";
        print " -h, --help\n";
        exit;
    } elsif ($arg =~ /^\-/){
        die "Unknown argument $arg";
    } else {
        $filename = $arg;
        if (!$action){
            if ( -e $filename){
                $action='import';
            } else {
                $action='export';
            }
        }
    }
}

$action='export' if (!$action);
if ($action eq 'export'){
    &export();
} else {
    &import();
}

sub export(){
    my $gsettingsFolders = [
        ['org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings','.'],
        ['org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power','button'],
        ['org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys','.'],
    ];

    my $customBindings = [
    ];

    $filename = ">$filename";
    open (my $fh, $filename) || die "Can't open file $filename: $!";

    for my $folder (@$gsettingsFolders){
        my @keylist = split(/\n/, `gsettings list-recursively $folder->[0]`);
        foreach my $line (@keylist){
            if ($line =~ /^([^ ]+) ([^ ]+)(?: \@[a-z]+)? (.*)/){
                my ($path, $name, $value) = ($1,$2,$3);
                if ($name eq "custom-keybindings"){
                    $value =~ s/[\[\]\' ]//g;
                    my @c = split(/,/, $value);
                    $customBindings = \@c;
                } elsif ($name =~ /$folder->[1]/){
                    if ($value =~ /^\[|\'/){
                        if ($value =~ /^\[\'(?:disabled)?\'\]$/){
                            $value = '[]';
                        } 
                        print $fh "$path\t$name\t$value\n";
                    }
                }        
            } else {
                die "Could note parse $line";
            }
        }
    }   

    for my $folder (@$customBindings){
        my $gs = `gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:$folder`;
        my ($binding) = $gs =~ /org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding binding (\'[^\n]+\')/g;
        my ($command) = $gs =~ /org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding command (\'[^\n]+\')/g;
        my ($name) = $gs =~ /org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding name (\'[^\n]+\')/g;
        $command =~ s/\"/\\\"/g;
        $command =~ s/^'(.*)'$/$1/g;
        $command =~ s/\'/\'\\\'\'/g;
        $command = "\'$command\'";
        print $fh "custom\t$name\t$command\t$binding\n"    
    }

    close($fh);
}

sub import(){

    $filename = "<$filename";
    open (my $fh, $filename) || die "Can't open file $filename: $!";

    my $customcount=0;

    while (my $line = <$fh>){
        chomp $line;
        if ($line){
            my @v = split(/\t/, $line);
            if (@v[0] eq 'custom'){
                my ($custom, $name, $command, $binding) = @v;
                print "Installing custom keybinding: $name\n";
                    print `gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom$customcount/ name \"$name\"`;
                print `gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom$customcount/ command \"$command\"`;
                print `gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom$customcount/ binding \"$binding\"`;
                $customcount++;
            } else {
                my ($path, $name, $value) = @v;
                print "Importing $path $name\n";
                print `gsettings set \"$path\" \"$name\" \"$value\"`;
            }
        }       
    }
    if ($customcount > 0){
        my $customlist = "";
        for (my $i=0; $i<$customcount; $i++){
            $customlist .= "," if ($customlist);
            $customlist .= "'/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom$i/'";            
        }
        $customlist = "[$customlist]";
        print "Importing list of custom keybindings.\n";
        print `gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys custom-keybindings \"$customlist\"`;
    }

    close($fh);
}

This includes the fix by user2589537 to allow custom commands with quotes in them.

If you're using gedit to edit existing files, the default preference is to "Create a backup of files before saving". If you would like to change this default behavior, open gedit, then go up to the Menu bar and select Edit --> Preferences. Click on the Editor Tab, and Uncheck the box under File Saving in order to turn it off.

Another common ~ file creator is emacs - some would argue it's even more popular/common than gedit.