Problem launching new profile

KFeuerhermTest
In the past, on an older Mac, I had multiple profiles set up, and it worked fine.

I tried to do the same today on a work Mac (Sequoia 15.5) following instructions (https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/multiple_profiles). A launch from terminal with Chrome as default browser gave me this:

/Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero -P
UNSUPPORTED (log once): POSSIBLE ISSUE: unit 1 GLD_TEXTURE_INDEX_2D is unloadable and bound to sampler type (Float) - using zero texture because texture unloadable
(base) ~ % Missing chrome or resource URL: chrome://zotero/skin/16/white/loading.svg
UNSUPPORTED (log once): POSSIBLE ISSUE: unit 1 GLD_TEXTURE_INDEX_2D is unloadable and bound to sampler type (Float) - using zero texture because texture unloadable

I tried reinstalling the Chrome connector to no avail, then set the default browser to Firefox, just in case, restarted terminal, same message (why Chrome resource in this second instance? Did I forget to reset something?).

Not sure how to fix this?
  • dstillman
    What's the actual problem? -P should launch the profile manager.

    This doesn’t have anything to do with your browser. (That’s not the same “chrome”.)
  • KFeuerhermTest
    Ah, thanks for the disambiguation. I wondered about the lowercase.

    Well, lately, until now I've just had my default profile, but I've just added a 'test' profile. I launch from Terminal with -P, select Test (see image attached), yet I end up in the default profile, it seems, judging by all the content there which is in default and which presumably shouldn't be in Test.

    I'm assuming this is related to the error message?
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17401718/nnpm6zfy6feg18s5n1az.png
  • dstillman
    The profile folder and the data directory are separate. Creating a new profile should generally create a similarly named data directory, but you can check whether that happened from the Advanced → Files and Folders section of the Zotero settings.
  • KFeuerhermTest
    Ok, so far as I can see, that did not happen. I see only one directory listed here, which is presumably the default one.
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17401718/8f5fmjxwhgpoa0njr0q7.png
  • tim820
    edited 3 days ago
    The instructions for multiple profiles has indicated the possibility of new data directory creation failure for some time - see "Note, June 2023" at the link below. The instruction there is to create the data directory manually and then point Zotero to it.
    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/multiple_profiles
  • KFeuerhermTest
    (Afterthought: probably I need to go into that directory... but I still see no evidence of an extra directory called Test or the like.

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17401718/4ndeq3cempcdsgl89y6w.png
  • dstillman
    edited 3 days ago
    The new data directory would get created in the home folder, not within the original data directory. As it says in the instructions, you might have to create one manually and set it in the new profile.
  • KFeuerhermTest
    I think I've got it fixed.

    1. Created a new directory in my home directory, manually.
    2. Started Zotero in Terminal with "-P Test".
    3. Told Zotero to use that new directory, then quit.

    Now, I was advised that I had to copy what was in the default directory to the new one. As I didn't want the old data in the Test profile, I didn't to see what would happen.

    4. Zotero said the required directories were missing, would I like to use the default? Well, no... so, get out, and ...
    5. Copied everything from default into Test.
    6. Started up Zotero with Test profile again.
    7. Deleted everything in the library. That was straightforward.
    8. On the other hand, I didn't see a way to get rid of all my collection folders at once... so did them one by one. More of a pain....
    9. Restarted Zotero into the default to ensure that still worked fine. It did.

    My vision isn't the best, didn't see that note when I first checked the multiple profile page. I think it wouldn't hurt to make that more prominent. Also, a little more detail on how to do this manually would be good too. I assume that there's a better way to create an empty storage directory and sqlite database...?

    But at least, I think I'm good to go for now. Thanks for the help.
  • dstillman
    You don't have to do anything remotely like that. You just have to create a new folder and point Zotero at it. Zotero will create the database automatically. I'm not sure what message you're referring to, but this was some sort of misunderstanding.
  • dstillman
    You also shouldn't start from a copy of another database — that can cause problems down the line. Just close Zotero, delete everything in the new data directory, and start Zotero again.
  • KFeuerhermTest
    Right. I didn't think I'd need to do that, but after I pointed to the new directory, this message came up:

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17401718/1h57c83wo72dyudd395r.png

    which gave me the impression that I ought to copy the subdirectories over. As you said, misunderstanding; I ignored that this time and all was well.

    I did wonder about residue issues in the sqlite db from copying it, actually ....

    In any case, I have scrapped it all and done it from scratch and all seems well now.

    Another odd thing which contributed to misunderstanding, I think, is that when I go to point to a new directory, it opens in the default Zotero directory rather than the home directory, which I think is a bit misleading (earlier in this thread it was pointed out to me to create the new directory in the home directory, not in there). But all's well that ends well.

    Still wonder about that error message in Terminal, but I guess I won't worry about it.

    Thanks, now good to go!
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