Package builder utility

[M0E-lnx]

Here goes nothing:

I'm gonna call this 1.0beta1.

Here it is to all of you who contributed...

Cheers.

[easuter]

Looking pretty good! Really nice app 

One thing I noticed though: if you click on the "Load..." button to select a description and then hit Cancel in the dialog, the "Create..." button does not re-appear.

[M0E-lnx]

Adding to the TODO list

[thegeekster]

Vlpbu is easier to type in console than vpackager

Maybe, but it's way harder to remember...

Not to mention there's tab completion.........'vpac<tab key>'.....

[blurymind]

Bug repport:
When i choose to save the package to another directory (a home directory /home/shadow) , the package simply doesnt show up there and dissapears. But when i just hit "quit" i can still find it at /tmp/*

I said that at the packages thread,but the icon doesnt have a transparent bg:
http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3114.0

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feature request for next versions:

 >It would definatelly be great if it has a *.desktop generator for the gui apps. There are just so many that lack a desktop entry.

More Feature requests:
 > add the option "install package" at "vpackager-save package" window...and change the button "quit" to "Ok" or "Done"
 >Better dettection if the source tarball is invalid (if there is no configure+/make found, a message pops out that this package is not a standart source package and the option to open $filemanager at the directory where it is untarred,so the user can look for a "Readme" file.
 >More time at the window where it shows whats going on at Configure and Make ("vpackager Building"), meaning... after configure and make and packaging is done, the "vpackager- save package" window doesnt pop up instantly,closing the logs ("vpackager Building")...instead,after configure,make and packaging is ready,a "save package" or "move on" something like that button at the bottom (next to "Abort" button) becomes clickable and when the user clicks it,only then the "vpackager Building" is closed and "vpackager-save package" (the last) window pops up. This way,if there is an error at make or configure,the user will have time to copy it and find the needed deps.

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Great job on the slack-desc utility.I absolutely love it. Its way better than what checkinstall had to offer.

Btw,some minor bugfixes and this utility will definatelly be one of VL's killer apps (vasm,vl-hot,vcpufreq,etc).Something to make other distros envious and to magnet new users' curiousity. I can already see a DW weekly review mentioning it...I vote two thumbs to include it in vl6 (+all the upgrades that slack11.1 will bring- it will definatelly make vl6 a release to remember)

[LLL]

Wow...great!

Just built a synaptics package to test the utility - a very exciting tool to expand our packaging pool to less experienced users!

SUGGESTIONS:

1. Users would be more comfortable if the background windows always stay visible.
- e.g., When I click the the "Create" slack-desc, I lose the originating window, and jump into a new one. The parent window should stay visible to give context to the child window.

2. The  output terminal when building the package is great...but it whizzes by quickly, then disappears. Could it have a "NEXT" button that would allow users to view the content as long as they would like before advancing to the next window? I think I saw the word "Error" but couldn't catch it in time.

3. The "Go" button would be better off as "Build Package"

4. The "Save Package" page left me confused. Still not sure where it went, or what clicking the "Quit" button was going to do, or exactly how to choose the file destination.
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Keep up the great work!

LLL

[blurymind]

even for the experienced users- this utility saves a lot of time. 

But yeah,LLL suggestion 2 is the same as mine.
3>I think "go" sounds good too,but "build package" is notthe bes choice,considering it goes through configure and make before doing the actual building. I vote it stays "go" or is changed to "start"

1> another one that i dont agree with. One window is best (the way it is in Vasm).Less windows make it look and act more straightforward,simpler. When the user sees two or more opened windows of the same app,it makes it look the more frustating and complicated task.

Also the credits should be at the "about" window,not at help. Thanks for mentioning me. =)

A question: should i make more graphic files? Adding more graphics to window- does that make vpackager load slower?

[M0E-lnx]

OK.. I've been doing some improvements based on your input... here are the changes

Added the better icon (and expanded it to all the windows)
Fixed the problem with the buttons for the slack-desc create/load
Once the package is created, the second window remains open so the user can analyze the output, and made a "next" button (disabled during the build process) to go to the next window.
Currently working on the issue with the final window saving the package.

Is there any more things you'd like to see changed / done ??

Thanks for the input. I too believe this could be a great application to aid newbies install things the right way, and keep them from messing up a perfectly good install.

@ blurymind:

This application is way too small for graphics to make it load slowly. The only thing I'd like to see in the future maybe is theme for the buttons.

[blurymind]

Moe,for the next version i can provide a better graphic file. The curent one has a hard to notice little smudge. I will fix that soon,and add/change anything if you want to.

 I want to make a small graphic for the "save package" window...I think i know what will look pretty nice there..But we shouldnt put too much graphics on this. For the "slack-desc" window - we will only clutter it. adding graphics to the buttons,will make them bigger and taking more space...so we should use graphics for the bottom buttons only or for the most important buttons,but not all buttons.... anyways, if we have a very small graphics for the butons,that are simple...I think i can compile a theme for the buttons (maybe even all buttons if you want to). I will get on that.

for those who are curious,here is how the curent vpackager at the repo looks like.
http://xs215.xs.to/xs215/07221/screenshot-vlpbu.jpg

[M0E-lnx]

1.0beta2 Now in the repos... Please upgrade

IN THIS RELEASE:

VERSION 1.0beta2
 + Fixed issue with the "create" button dissapearing after the user clicks "cancel"
 + Added support for Custom CFLAGS (needs testing)
 + Changed the way strings are parsed to the bash script.
 - Eliminated About/Usage window (not necessary)
 + Corrected graphics (icons, and on main window, also added one to save package)
 + Fixed the bug where the package was not getting saved to the right place
 + Allowed the user to look at the std output before moving on to the next step
 + Inproved the 'Status' area so the user knows what's happening in the background
 / Changed the 'Go ...' button to 'Start' (Hope it doesn't remind anyone of a bad OS
 + Fixed the .desktop file (to make it show up in the KDE menu as well for KDE users)

The new release is now available via slapt-get

Hope this one is better

[blurymind]

Vlpackager beta 2- it untars the source but afterwards can't find configure script. I go to the /tmp where it was untared and i see that there is a configure script there.

Code:

Error: configure script not found... I dont know how to build this.

Anybody else with the same problem? 

Weird, i downgraded to old version and it still can't find the configure script!

the package i tried was:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/liferea/liferea-1.2.15b.tar.gz?modtime=1179442457&big_mirror=0

also tried with LIVE,and a bunch of other source archives. It can't find their configure file,altho there is one right there !

I think something broke it along the upgrade.


EDIT: weird, i tried to build some of the old packages ,that i did on vpackagerbeta1 and it finds their configure script both on beta1 and beta2

EDIT2: Ok,its not from the version, it seems that vpackager can't sometimes find the configure file!
Packages that cant configure:
Liferea-1.2.15b.tar.gz
LiVES-0.9.8.4.tar.gz ( http://www.xs4all.nl/~salsaman/lives/current/LiVES-0.9.8.4.tar.gz )


Suggestion: Add the vpackager icon at its about window.

[M0E-lnx]

That is odd. That part of the project didn't change, but I'll look into it. I tried it many times before uploading the new release and it worked every time.


Try completely removing the application

Code:

removepkg /var/log/packager/vpackager-*

and then slapt-get it again

[blurymind]

Code:

root:# removepkg /var/log/packager/vpackager-*

No such package: /var/log/packages/vpackager-*. Can't remove.

no,no it upgrades fine... I've come to the conclusion that the problem is in the packages that i am trying to build. It seems that vpackager can't find the config file in some packages,altho there is a configure file.

Try to build the two packages that i linked to.

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Also, is it possible from stopping it to create a tlz if make didnt went fine?if the user doesnt notice the error message, he is left with an empty package. If it was possible to color the text "no such file or directpry" in red color at the output..

[uelsk8s]

is the configure file there set to executable?

[blurymind]

is the configure file there set to executable?

yes, on both lives and liferea!

do you get the same error when trying to build them with vpackager? Its possible that the directory path that they are in somehow stops vlpbu script to find them?

Edit: Yes! Thats exactly where the bug lies! The name of the source folder in the tar.gz...

I untarred liferea and renamed the folder from liferea-1.2.15 to liferea-1.2.1 , tarred it again and when i opened it with vpackager, it managed to find its configure file!

Thus vpackager is unable to find "configure" in the directory /tmp/liferea-1.2.15
but it managed to find it in the directory  /tmp/liferea-1.2.1  !!
For the protocol- vpackager did pick its version right, vlpbu script can't find the configure file if the version number is longer than *.*.*