OS Agnostic Bib-File / Shared DB (multiple users)

Help
1

Hey There!

I work in a scientific institute and my job is it to set up a JabRef-Library for the colleagues to use together.
My plan is to use a shared database but if not possible a shared bib-file would work as well I guess…

The problem is, that we use windows as well as linux clients. Is there a some kind of OS agnostic way to do that?

I can use relative paths for the document file path but not for the general file library directory, which is a network share.

Related question:
Is there a way to configure the shared database in a bib-file?

thanks for your help!
If you need more infos just ask

2

The corresponding docs to these questions are:

To share a bib-file with various devices that use various operating systems, i personally employ a file-synchronisation software called ‘syncthing’ (https://syncthing.net/). You can imagine it to be roughly similar to dropbox. This is only one solution, there are other programs out there. Keep in mind that syncthing is NOT a backup solution, it is currently designed to synchronise only.

Just put your file in a folder. Share that folder. Everybody can open and change the file. Done.

The disadvantage of this approach is that

  1. every device/user NEEDS and HAS full control over the shared folder and library file
  2. every new device needs to be configured to have access to the shared folder/library file.

I would therefore only recommend this for a setting with a small amount of users and in a trusted environment.

I have not tried a ‘shared database approach’ yet, so i cannot tell you if that one would be any better than the ‘shared bibfile approach’.

3

Also, which version of Jabref have you tried for this test? As far as i am aware, some stuff related to relative and absolute paths and the way the locations for the library file and attached files are set was reworked in the development version. If you have not tried that one yet, you might want to check it out. Maybe it fixes your problem?

You can find it here: index - powered by h5ai v0.29.0 (https://larsjung.de/h5ai/)

4

HI yes, we recommend PostgresSQL. JabRef runs on all platforms and as long it can connect to the database. JabRef remembers the connection and on reopening that file it will try to estabilsh a connection again.

5

Thats great! where does JabRef save the credentials for the PostgreSQL Server?

Downside is that the file paths are saved in the DB as well, unfortunately but not in an OS agnostic way, as far as I know…

6

@Christian_Bley Regarding the file path. Try the following (the latest dev version)
In the global preferences, clear the main file directory and in the library properties of the bib file insert a library-specific path (can be relative).
If that still does store the absolute file path, please open an issue at our tracker

The credentials are stored on the users’ system in the preferences. Depending on the OS this can be the Windows registry or other file paths.