Feature Request: Real portable installations

[xan2622]

This is a repost of a feature request that I posted on the former Blender Launcher Github page.
Sadly, most of the previous Feature Requests and Bug Reports are no longer available but here is what I could find thanks to Wayback Machine.

IIRC, DotBow added this Make Portable entry in the right-click menu in the Blender Launcher 1.16 beta build (which was only available in the Discussions). I have noticed that this feature is not there in Blender Launcher 2.2.0-rc.2. Hence this suggestion.

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🟡 Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

• Blender Launcher is without a doubt a very convenient utility that helps install several instances of Blender side-by-side, in different folders.

• That being said, each one of these installations is not really "portable". What I mean is that similar versions (2.93.4, 2.93.6) use by default, the same configuration files, located in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.93\.

• This might be the expected behavior for many Blender users but for others, it might not be wanted.
  Some users could want a specific build (2.93.4) to have some add-ons A/B/C activated, the dark theme loaded, specific settings and a custom UI layout, --- while having another build (2.93.6) to have other add-ons (B/D/E) activated, a deep blue theme loaded, different settings and another UI layout..

🟡 Describe the solution you'd like

• Could you please 🙏 add an option (on the menu that appears after right-clicking on a build) to make each build portable?
  I think it would be better for this option to appear on this right-click menu (rather than in the Settings window) because it would allow the user to decide which build should be portable and which one should not.

• How to implement this feature? By simply creating a "config" folder inside the \Blender\2.93\ installation folder.

• To revert this change, if a build is already portable, Blender Launcher would detect it and would display another entry in the right-click menu : Undo Make Portable.

🟡 Additional context

• To make a Blender installation really portable, the user has to add a "config" folder inside \Blender\2.93, for example:
  E:\Blender_Builds\Blender\2.93\config\
  This makes that Blender installation isolated from others, meaning: the user can customize this version of Blender differently than others (activating other add-ons, using a different theme, different UI layout, ...).
• Related topic: https://blenderartists.org/t/portable-blender-version-will-overwrite-installed-versions-settings/1234486
• Documentation: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/getting_started/installing/windows.html#install-from-zip

[xan2622]

Also, a new Portable column could inform the user if Blender builds are portable or not.
This column wouldn't be shown by default, but the user could enable it in the Settings > Blender Builds.

Here is a mock-up of the column (to show if the builds are portable or not):

[Victor-IX]

This will be tackled with the new preferences management I'm currently working on. You will be able to select which set of preferences you want to use for a specific Blender build. By default, the build will use the global settings, but you will be able to create new ones, and those will be stored next to the Blender build folder in a preferences folder.

You can see a very early preview of the system I made here: https://ptb.discord.com/channels/1177452441353068555/1177452441814437949/1245199933104066590

[zeptofine]

@Victor-IX this is asking for a little simpler of a solution, where the configs are stored within the individual builds. I think this should be integrated into the preference manager as a special case

[xan2622]

The Blender developers now allow users to create a portable folder directly in the Blender installation folder and Blender will save configuration, extensions and presets there.

https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/pulls/122778

https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/4.2/advanced/blender_directory_layout.html#portable-installation