How would one go about discovering possible tools available in defaults?

[slifty]

Thank you for this resource!

I'm curious what isn't in here.

Are there "hidden" preference options or is it just a matter of running defaults read X and looking at the values that exist / playing around?

[yannbertrand]

Hey @slifty thanks for your interest on the project 😄

So actually I found out it is possible to read all currently set defaults by running defaults read with no params. So when I find a Mac setting I find useful I toggle the setting value and run

defaults read > tmp-defaults-save-value-on.plist

I then just need to compare with another tmp-defaults-save-value-off.plist file and find the related domain and key I'm looking for!

[slifty]

Absolutely - it's great (and I've been having a fun dotfiles adventure so I may contribute a few items to the project once I get my ducks in a row).

That's a really great suggestion thank you!

I'll add that I've learned about a few things that seem to be truly hidden settings (for instance, I don't think there is a UX interface to disable icons on the desktop, but it's possible to do via plist config!)

It sounds like finding those settings are just going to be a matter of relying on people who have dug even deeper somehow.

[yannbertrand]

Btw we now have a bash script to detect changes when switching an option from UI, take a look at #220 😄