Java preferences file in gibberish directory

Question

I designated my prefs in a large java application (in Intellij) as

private final Preferences root = Preferences.userRoot();
private final Preferences prefs = root.node("/org/gs_users/gs_mv");

The designation corresponds to the java package name.

After I ran the application, and looked for the prefs.xml file, I found: shows in ~/home/.java as:

I tried different ways of specifying preference root and node. But every time I ran the application, a new gibberish directory appeared with a different combination of letters and symbols, even when I didn't change anything. Although the application runs otherwise perfectly, I can't release it like this.

Answer 1

May be I can be wrong, but apparently you are trying to use Preferences class for the conservation of the directory (for example, a user can choose a directory for an export/import of files and then the chosen dicrectory will be used as a default one). Did you try to create the userRoot only without creating the prefs one?

    private final Preferences user = Preferences.userRoot();
    
    String defaultString = "defaultString";
    String preferenceDirectory = this.user.get(defaultStr, null);
    if(preferenceDirectory != null){
        File defaultInitialDirectory = new File(preferenceDirectory);
        fileChooser.setInitialDirectory(defaultInitialDirectory);
    }

Like this, the application will remember the directory or any other preference you need. I also agree with @MadProgrammer that the prefs.xml file is techincal and is for system use only.