I was backing up my dotfiles and selected parts of my .idea directory. I recklessly removed a symlink in such a way that it deleted my plugins directory.
I didn't know all the plugins I had installed and I couldn't find a file containing a list of those plugins. Does such a file exist?
Essentially my goal is to:
.idea or plugins is accidentally deleted, or if I want to re-install IntelliJ and forgot the plugins I had installed. There are a few solutions I can think of:
If a file containing a complete list of plugins exists then place it under version control.
Place the entire plugins directory (which includes binaries) into version control. This I want to avoid.
Instead of placing it under version control, place it under a backup directory. This should work as I just need to copy the files across into the plugins directory. The only problem I have is that it separates my files and directories unless I choose to place the entire selection of the .idea directory there.
Export and Import settings from IntelliJ although I believe that the plugins need to be installed already as they are merely settings. The .zip file will give me an indication of the plugins I have installed but I'd have to manually export my settings on every installation.
Keep a manual copy of my plugins and update it every time a new plugin is added. This could work because I don't install a lot of plugins but I'd prefer to have it automated.
You can use the Settings Sync feature which synchronizes your settings between different systems and stores the backup of the settings and the list of installed plug-ins in your JetBrains account.
.idea project directory should not have any relation to the plug-ins directory that is stored under the user profile.
Another option is to use the Required Plugins feature to store the list of the the plug-ins you need together with your project. Certain project files can be put into the version control.