Automatic saving/restoring

[wizonesolutions]

It is possible to have this extension detect a shutdown/restart and save the windows prior, then reopen them when the system starts again? Currently, if I forget to save my session, I'm a bit out of luck.

Alternatively, I wonder if it'd be possible to integrate with the reboot dialog and have a checkbox/button for saving the session. That way, people could choose to not do so if they didn't want to. I'm obviously rather inspired by macOS with this request.

[johannesjo]

Hey there! Thanks for opening up this issue. This would require continuously saving the current session, which is not ideal, but it should be possible. Currently I don't really have time to implement such a feature, but Pull Requests would be welcome.

[rrthomas]

Two thoughts:

1. Would it be possible to be notified of logout, e.g. by catching the SessionOver signal?
2. Quick-and-dirty hack: copy a logout button extension, and save the session before logging out.

[johannesjo]

@rrthomas great suggestion! Would you be willing to give it a go yourself?

[rrthomas]

(I know basically nothing about GNOME Shell extensions, but I presume you don't know much either or you wouldn't've asked me for help!)

I tried the quick-and-dirty hack version first, as being a useful proof of concept. See https://github.com/rrthomas/gnome-shell-extension-window-session-manager

This just copies logout button code from https://gitlab.com/paddatrapper/log-out-button-gnome-extension and makes it additionally save the session "DEFAULT" on logout.

[curiousercreative]

@rrthomas are you running your version of this?

[rrthomas]

@curiousercreative No. I'm not sure what I found at the time with my hack, I'm sorry; but of course someone else is welcome to try it. I must say I've given up in general on GNOME's session management, and I've been trying KDE recently. (I also tried MATE and XFCE and had no luck with them either; to be clear, my aim is specifically to restart with apps on the correct virtual desktops. lwsm doesn't seem to do that reliably, at least for me.)

[nlpsuge]

Extends ui/endSessionDialog.js and add automatic saving and closing code seems very practical in this case.