Unable to set path for QSettings generated config file

[PusRob]

Hi.

I encountered a problem while trying to set the location of the config file generated by QSettings. Here's the code:

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QCoreApplication::setOrganizationName("MyAppOrg");
    QCoreApplication::setOrganizationDomain("myapp.org");
    QCoreApplication::setApplicationName("MyApp");

    QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);

    QSettings::setPath(QSettings::IniFormat, QSettings::UserScope, "/tmp");
    QSettings settings;

    qDebug() << settings.fileName();

    return a.exec();
}

As per the official docs, I call the static function before creating the QSettings object. The result however is the following (which is the default path, not what I provided):

"/home/user/.config/MyAppOrg/MyApp.conf"

No matter what path I try to set, the result above remains constant, never changes. I tried to set with SystemScope as well, but no change.

If I try to use the following, still no joy:

QSettings settings;
settings.setPath(QSettings::IniFormat, QSettings::SystemScope, "/tmp");

Could somebody else retry this to see if it truly is a bug? Or what am I doing wrong?

I'm using:
GCC 9.3.0
Linux 5.4.38
Qt 5.14.1

Thanks in advance.

[Bonnie]

The default format of the constructor you use is QSettings::NativeFormat, so I think you should set that format.
Or use QSettings::defaultFormat().
And is there any reason you must set path this way?
Can't you just pass the full path to the constructor as we usually do?

QSettings settings("/tmp/MyApp.conf", QSettings::IniFormat);

[jsulm]

@PusRob Can you try to call setPath before you create QCoreApplication instance?

[PusRob]

@jsulm I tried it, but I still get the same (wrong) result.

[PusRob]

@Bonnie If I use the constructor, then it works. But I thought the static function should work as well, hence the question at the end: is this a bug?

[Bonnie]

@PusRob
Did you try my suggestion?

QSettings::setPath(QSettings::defaultFormat(), QSettings::UserScope, "/tmp");

[PusRob]

@Bonnie I tried your solution as well, and it does seem to work with the default settings. Interesting. Maybe the documentation should be updated then. Thanks.

p.s. Should I open a request ticket (to modifiy the docs) or bug report about this?

[Bonnie]

@PusRob
Are you sure? I've tried in my Ubuntu.
I copied your code from the top post, only changed one line:

QSettings::setPath(QSettings::defaultFormat(), QSettings::UserScope, "/tmp");

And the output is

"/tmp/MyAppOrg/MyApp.conf"