Updating

backingtrack update

Downloads only the missing samples (the ones already there stay put, no useless downloads) and then updates the program from GitHub, keeping GUI support. At the end it shows the version change (1.3.0 → 1.4.0). Running the installer again does the same, and it says which version it is installing.

Command	What it does
backingtrack update	update to the main version
backingtrack update --ref v1.4.0	install a specific branch or tag
backingtrack update --src ~/backingtrack	update from a local copy: handy to test changes before publishing them

If you work on the code (folder with .git), update reminds you to use git pull and only handles the samples.

Testing a local copy (before publishing)

From the project folder you can reinstall everything as a user would get it, without going through GitHub:

cd ~/Workspace/tracks                       # the project folder
pipx uninstall backingtrack                 # removes the current install (samples stay)
BT_SRC="$PWD" bash install.sh               # full installer, but from the local code
backingtrack doctor

Samples already downloaded are skipped. To test the first download from scratch too, delete them first: rm -rf ~/.local/share/backingtrack ~/.cache/backingtrack (then ~460 MB to download again).

To work on the code without reinstalling at every change: pipx install -e --system-site-packages . (editable: the command uses the files in the folder directly).

Uninstalling

The program and the samples live in different places: you can remove one, the other or both.

# 1. the program
pipx uninstall backingtrack                       # if installed with pipx (or with the installer and pipx)
rm -rf ~/.local/share/backingtrack/venv ~/.local/bin/backingtrack   # if installed by the installer without pipx
rm -f ~/.local/share/applications/io.github.wdog.backingtrack.desktop \
      ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/io.github.wdog.backingtrack.png   # menu entry (Linux)

# 2. samples, drafts and cache
rm -rf ~/.local/share/backingtrack ~/.cache/backingtrack

System	Data folder (samples, draft)	Cache folder
🐧 Linux	~/.local/share/backingtrack	~/.cache/backingtrack
🍎 macOS	~/Library/Application Support/backingtrack	~/Library/Caches/backingtrack
🪟 Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\backingtrack\data (and \venv)	%LOCALAPPDATA%\backingtrack\cache

On Windows also remove %LOCALAPPDATA%\backingtrack\venv\Scripts from the user's PATH variable. To free space without uninstalling: backingtrack remove bass (or another pack).