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portable documentation

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ZeroX4
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portable documentation

could we have section or somewhere on download page DOCUMENTATION/tutorial or what ever

how to make that certain app portable with that portable stuff you guys use to make it portable? i dont remember its name

so like now im waiting for new version of skype and someone with more time or will to do so could make portable version of program

and upload it to portableapps.com?

depp.jones
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Take a look at the

Take a look at the Development Section. You find it in the top menu. There is a comprehensive manual and some other docs. You may not find a simple tutorial there, but if you try it with an easy app, you may get help in the beta forum.

-edit-
what happened here? Double posting after editing?

ZeroX4
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and that is exact reason why

and that is exact reason why i think there is need for documentation on what to enable disable or whatever to do under every or at last most apps

so i could now just follow someones instructions make skype or other app portable and upload it as new version of it come out

even so i was trying to make make epsxe portable and it was hard but few other apps i was able to make portable

but if you are not in to it you never know what exact must be done for it to work so would it be hard to share that information?

i believe ppl could make that documentation for just few apps and in time community here would learn how to do other apps and could create even their own documentation so every 1 would benefit from it

and so i would be able now to just make that skype portable and upload it not coming here asking for help or beg someone to do it for me

thats the main reason why ppl make tutorials for compiling stuff from source code and it would apply to making apps portable

dont get me wrong i dont want someone do work for me i dont want someone teach me anything cause i can live with skype asking me to update or just update it and lose portable aspect of it

i just want ppl here to consider my idea would it help many ppls or not

cause as i look on it i see many benefits here

and it could lead in to more apps getting portable by random ppl

my main idea is just creating 2 types of instructions 1 in which there is stuff every 1 need to do enable disable install or download and 2nd in which are described stuff just for that certain app

think would that not be nice?

well and i dont know how much effort need to be done in making app portable but if its not to long like lets say even 30 mins of setting options and stuff and after that you just press start or whatever then for someone who already did it writing that documentation would not be such a pain

i think many ppl just like me would want to contribute to portableapps.com but full documentation is the wall we just can not jump trough or we are too lazy Wink

depp.jones
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I don't think that it is

I don't think that it is possible to write a simple tutorial. There is no general way to do it as every app has its own bits to care for.
I learned it from scratch and it was not the hardest way. In short: You need at least the tools PortableApps.com Launcher, PortableApps.com Installer and NSIS portable. Then download the Template to work with. The documentation of the tools is good. There are some tips in the forums but don't expect two much. Better ask for help, if you run into problems.
For starters, it's best to take an easy app (that is portable already) and put it in the Portableapps.com format. If you need an example, you can take a look at an exisiting package like regshot f.i. to learn what the entries of the appinfo.ini or launcher.ini do there.
Regshot is the tool to check, of something is left behind or not.

If you think you can do a tutorial, you are very welcome to do so. That question was asked often over the last years and until now, no complete and easy tutorial was created. There were several efforts to start one and the beginners guide was one outcome. But it is not finished and partial obsolete now, as there are better tools at hand (the PA.c Launcher was not ready at these times).

ZeroX4
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or you didnt read careful

or you didnt read careful what i wrote or you did not understand it at all

and believe me im not trying to be mean i realy was trying to explain you something different and you answer me with something i already know and did

ehh i think lack of my english is the problem here Biggrin

so lets make last attempt

lets say base thing u need to do for every app is get pa launcher installer and that nsis

and that is the base for every app

and now lets say you did make for example notepad++ portable
and here you just post documentation how you did it what options you enabled disabled or where you found different things to make it portable

now lets say i made windamp portable and so on its download page i post documentation on how i did which would be totally different from urs documentation since i needed to turn on/off or enable/disable and find different things than you for that notepad++ portable

and now lets say someone random guy we dont even know reads your documentation and my documentation and he finds how things works here a bit and from where he can start getting involved in to making portable apps

and now lets say he make 1 app portable and create documentaton from it so 4th guy read all 3 our documentations on how we made our portable versions of apps and he is going from the same process like that 3rd guy

and this is how i see chain starts

and in the future lets say you are busy and there is new version of notepad++ portable and that 3rd guy who did read yours and my documentation want that new version of notepad++ portable so he is reading ur documentation again + he have experience from my documentation and he make notepad++ portable by him self and upload it to portableapps.com

and this is how it COULD work

assuming in that documentation you made there would be only instruction on how to make that notepad++ portable

and reading few apps documentation would give you enough knowledge to make other app portable and this is how we could have more portable apps and faster updates

do you understand my idea now?

if yes then tell me would that be good idea? would it help?

cause if there would be option to upload documentation on app download page i would be willing to even create few documentations for simple apps

and then go for harder apps and im pretty sure more ppl would follow

vf2nsr
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There are examples of apps on the manual page

It details many apps and how they handle various thing if you research it then you learn, tht is how I learned,

Getting started: Overview | Installing the PortableApps.com Launcher | Release checklist | Features | Apps using the PortableApps.com Launcher
Reference: launcher.ini | Environment variable substitions | PortableApps.com Format™ Specification
How to handle: Java apps | Qt apps | Registry | Languages | Games | XML files | 64-bit apps
Examples: Apps using the PortableApps.com Launcher | Scribus | 7-Zip

https://portableapps.com/manuals/PortableApps.comLauncher/
And a more in depth list https://portableapps.com/manuals/PortableApps.comLauncher/examples/index...

If you download the apps, look at the .ini file then you will see how they were done

Also I am sure you have permission from Win Amp to make the program portable?

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss

ZeroX4
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and so you did not understand

and so you did not understand me at all

im not here to make any app portable

all i wrote is about option/link or coded text section to add documentation to app download page so any 1 can read it and use it

cause i believe that can teach fresh portable apps makers more than reading FULL documentation from which most ppl wont understand much and will be stuck in 1 spot

let me explain how it could work

there is arcade machines emulator called mame and there was new version of it like month or 2 ago

and so i wanted to attempt to compile it cause im using program called AntiMicro which uses Xinput to send keyboard key press to any active window

problem is that mame by default have xinput disabled and enabled rawinput which AntiMicro do not support
so in other words AntiMicro have no use for mame at that state

but if you compile mame by ur self you have 3 ways to disable rawinput and enable xinput by patching or editing 1 line in 1 file or just enabling that option in compiling program

here is link to my post about how i did it
http://www.epforums.org/showthread.php?95441-Compile-Mame-Plus!-UI-M-GUI...

after i did it many ppl ask me on PM can i teach them how to add other patches or remove some i did add

and i just reply everything is in step 7 and 8

and now i see many ppl compile their own mame with various patches that i even didnt know they exist

therefore it did lead in to teaching other ppl compiling mame in a simple way and in getting updated compile mame faster
cause now more ppl who want new version keep track on is there up to date version of mame and if there is not they can compile it them selfs and eventually upload it somewhere

so in the end is not about me wanna do something for every1 but teach others how they can do it them self and eventually share it with others

do you now get me?

and i just ask would it be possible to add idk section on download page of portable app where i or someone else could upload that kind of documentation

from which any1 could benefit

depp.jones
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I understand your idea (and

I understand your idea (and did before), but I see no real advantage in it. It is no real help, if someone other than the dev involved in packaging does the job if he is not experienced enough to test and correct a package if future issues arise. If you have that experience, you don't really need a step by step documentation for every app. And you have to adjust the documentation for an app when things change.
I totally agree, that a good documentated settings file could come in handy, if another dev takes over, but basic parameters are self-explaining, so that it should do to comment special settings (I mostly do that).

Making a step-by-step documentation or such thing only shifts the workload. It would be at least as much work to maintain that documentation than to package an app itself. And you still have to test the app to find new issues.

ZeroX4
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so in the end my idea would

so in the end my idea would result in more beta testers which would result in faster apps update

but well that is just my idea i wont here defend it for any cost

if someone here thinks its no use here then im fine with that

depp.jones
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that has to be seen

so in the end my idea would result in more beta testers which would result in faster apps update

This is highly unlikely. Especially as more beta testers don't necessarily influence update cycles.

Don't get me wrong, it's just my personal opinion. This is not my site and I am only one "freelance hobbyist developer" that contibutes with maintaining a few apps (three atm).
For my apps such an "over-thoroughly" documentation would mean absolutly no benefit for the reasons already given. That could be different for other apps, but I seriously doubt that. There has been no rush of beta testers to take over even the simplest "orphaned" apps (that are now maintained mainly by John himself) in the last years. And using the PA.c tools is far from rocket science...

If someone (you?) feels the need to establish (and maintain!) such specific directory or doc-section, I would provide information for it, but definitely will not keep it up to date.

ZeroX4
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i think more about giving it

i think more about giving it to community here and taking it on my chest

i could do few apps and adopt few orphaned apps but that is all from me

i really think given time option for documentation could give more benefits than harm but of course i could be wrong

if someone like you make documentation once im pretty sure someone else reading few other documentations would be able to update ur documentation

so you would not be forced to keep it up to date

anyway i know this is time and work any 1 would need to sacrifice but im not asking any 1 to do anything here i just wanna share my idea and maybe some ppl will see same benefits as me in it and then we can think whats next

and for 1 thing i can tell many portable apps users would want to contribute like this to give thanks for apps that are already created
cause not all of us have $ to donate and there isnt much any other way to support pa.c than like it on fb

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