Ok some background so you know what I am trying to do.
I want Joplin to have 2 separate instances, where for projects he can use the regular config files and notes and another where Joplin uses config files and the notes on a encrypted veracrypt container (for personal diary). I am not a programmer but with the help of AI I have tried to fix this problem using several scripts.
However no matter what I try, it always uses the default config dir and I cannot find any way to change it. It always resorts back to using 2 folders /home/user/.config/Joplin and /home/user/.config/joplin-desktop
I have tried installing it in isolated envirment, creating symlinks to the folders, extracting the appimage and trying to force the location of the config dir. Nothing worked.
I just want to be able to have normal access to my projects in joplin where nobody can see my personal diary. I just want my personal diary to be locked away. So profiles are not an option either since they dont have password protection or something.
Also the encryption in Joplin is rather useless since you can just open Joplin and see everything. Or I am missing something? If it was just possible to encrypt the entire program and only be able to enter it with the master password for encryption than this was not a problem for me. Or does it mean I can enter Joplin without password while encryption is active that it is not working as intended?
thats not a bad idea perse too run 2 instances. Ill give it a shot and try to force a snap package or whatever on an encrypted container. because I checked and seems like even with encryption enabled in Joplin I can see all files from the outside when I open the database.
A strong solution for me would be if it was possible for me to force the location of the config folders to something else than home/user/.config/joplin-desktop If i could do that, I can fix the entire thing. But forcing it with arguments in a script did not work yet. If someone knows how to do this, please share.
You can't cleanly force it, and you should preferably avoid symlinking it (the snap at least will see that as a sandbox violation and is likely to break from trying, depending on where you commit the change, possibly all snaps).
If you are going to do it on Linux, avoid using symbolic links if you can and prefer using mount points. You could concievably mount $USER/snap to a completely different mount point that is encrypted, but again, I'd expect this is likely to cause problems.
Ideally, $HOME itself would be encrypted if not the entire disk. If you absolutely must use Joplin/Linux with encrypted storage containers, I'd probably say to use the AppImage and trick it into working in portable mode with the storage container as its home.
Ultimately though, if the disk is encrypted or $HOME is encrypted at a minimum, the worry becomes other apps on your computer, which could easily beat encrypted storage containers anyway (they'd both run as the same user).
The best solution would be to keep your personal diary on your personal phone or tablet and not put it on your work computer. I've been an it manager for decades and putting your personal files on work computer would be strictly against company policy. Depending upon the company it could even be a firing offense.
You are correct mate, I tried symlinking and it did indeed cause a lot of trouble. I also tried tricking the appimage into portable mode but also gave problems. I have another kinda strange solution now though maybe some other ppl who would like to have a password protected Joplin can benefit from this.
So here is my idea.
Joplin really wants to put the config files which includes the notes always in the same location being /home/user/.config/joplin-desktop and /home/user/.config/Joplin.
I am now creating a script (that still has problems, remember I cant code a single line, AI is doing it for me but you AI aint perfect) that will first mount a veracrypt container where I am prompted for the password to unlock it. Then it copies those config folders to the location Joplin will look for it. Then it will start Joplin after that is finished. When I close Joplin it will start to copy back the edited config files to the veracrypt container, overwriting the folders that were there. After a check it will then prompt me to close the container and the script ends. And I will have backups enables and those (i think) are encrypted with the master password in a 7zip file. So I am assuming that if the copy goes wrong, the backup files are enough to recover it all?
Sounds very easy, but still giving me trouble btw but I am almost there! It just sucks I cant code and AI always messes something up
