Please see the new update here: PortableApps.com Update (Week of Feb 4, 2008)
As a followup to last week's State of PortableApps.com Update (January 14, 2008), I'm going to be posting weekly status updates to be sure we keep things on track and we're all on the same page.
Updating Current Portable Apps (In Progress)
I began updating the currently released apps after posting last week's update. So far KeePass, Sumatra PDF, WinSCP and ClamWin have been updated to the latest versions of the apps with the new launcher, installer, splash screen, help file and digital signatures. The remaining apps will follow shortly.
Development Test Releases (In Progress)
Several development test releases were made by various developers following last week's announcement and guidelines (great work guys 
). We should see a few more this week. For those who missed them, here are the guidelines:
- Compile the new Development Test Splash Screen into your launcher
- Follow the current PortableApps.com Format spec 0.9.8 (as used in the current KompoZer Portable). This includes the AppInfo directory and the required files within there. Having an appicon.ico with 256 color and XP alpha in 16px, 32px and 48px sizes. And the other details of the PortableApps.com Format (see below)
- Use the current PortableApps.com installer with the PortableApps.com branded bannder 0.9.9.0 as used in the latest KompoZer Portable (the Mozilla apps are different) being sure to only alter code within the ";=== BEGIN: PRE-INSTALL CODE" style comments
- Doing a new release titled "Development Test 1" or appropriate number. The installer should follow the standard naming convention of App_Portable_1.2_Development_Test_1_en-us.paf.exe
To keep things in one place, if you've created a development test that you believe is ready for general release and are willing to maintain it on an ongoing basis, please respond in this thread with the name and a link to the forum post on the app. If you've posted one but are unable to maintain it, please post that as well and we'll find someone who can.
PortableApps.com Format (First Draft Later This Week)
I'm still completing the first draft of the PortableApps.com Format for release, but it's coming later this week as opposed to the beginning as hoped for due to some time constraints on my part (see below).
PortableApps.com Platform (This Week / Next Week)
I'm still completing the next release of the 1.1 platform and the first alpha of 1.5. 1.1 will be posted by Friday or Monday. 1.5 alpha will be next week.
Adding Developers (In Progress / Ongoing)
Ryan McCue's first official app, WinMerge Portable, was released yesterday and has been very well received. We'll be releasing more over the next week. Patrick Patience's first app will be released soon as well.
New Moderators (Completed)
Tim Clark, Patrick Patience and Steve Lamerton have kindly agreed to help out with moderation duties in the forums, joining Marko Moeller, Ryan McCue and myself. We'll be reworking the forum arrangement within the next few months and adding new moderators as needed... so keep the helpful (and kind) assistance coming and you may get a shot to help out, too.
Development Licensing Progress
I've made some progress in terms of the licensing to bring other developers on board core development (menu, backup, etc) while still giving us the ability to work with the commercial hardware vendors. I'll be contacting the development team via email tomorrow to finalize things for now so we can get moving.
Time Constraints (aka Jury Duty and Weddings)
Unfortunately, I'm under some slightly unforeseen time constraints this week. I have jury duty all day an hour away from me (why I can't serve at the Supreme Court in the same neighborhood is a question on my mind). I was hoping I wouldn't be called (it's random and you call in the night before), but I was, so that kinda kills a chunk of my week. I also had a wedding last weekend out of state and a skiing/poker bachelor party weekend out of state this coming weekend, so I wasn't able to catch up on the weekends. I'll be doing what I can at night to keep things moving, though.
Other Bits
I'll be posting more about the newsletter, promotional graphics and other things as I can.
I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading and for supporting us!
Kind Regards,
John
Visit the Community page
Join our forums
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Subscribe with RSS
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Mastodon
Follow us on BlueSky
bit unlucky about jury duty, but its just one of those things. Also is there any chance that you could email me a bit of a heads up with regards to the new backup and (I presume) sync stuff so I can keep Toucan 2 in line with them, as it should be a lot easier and I would love to position Toucan as the obvious app to move to if you need some more features.
Anyway I'm glad to see everything is moving along.
Link.
I think its ready to be released although it has a few glitches.But I wanted to wait with Dev-Test-Release 2 for the paf specs.
One problem I have is that it doesn't seem to save the settings I change while playing and it restarts with the defaults on every run but I have the same problem with the installed version and Aciago too so maybe its just something I cant do anything about.
And thanks for the status update.
As far as I can tell its working very well with the new Moderators and they´re doing a great job!
I think everybody is very happy about the updates you did so far so there is no need for you to steal too much sleep from your nights
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
... for the new status report.
The promized NSIS-based update tool is ready for testing now.
But I'll wait untill the new Release of the PortableApps.com Platform and format are out in order to take care that the tool fits the new environment.
(At the moment the the PA.com Format of the last published Apps is used so it should work with the final version 1.1 without problems).
Should/Could I publish it with Pa.com branding (at the moment it is with "OpenOffice.org Deutschland e.V." Branding) and perhaps with an modified version of the menu to show the possible integration in the platform or do You prefer another way?
Kind Regards
Marko
Paid for Software more or less?
What You need is OSS!
it is ready for offical and I am willing to maintain it
thanks
Link: FretsOnFirePortable
Please search before posting. ~Thanks
GnuCash Portable is at Development Test 2: https://portableapps.com/node/10633.
formerly rayven01
Do we need a more formal peer-review process for releases? I'm not saying that John has to study each potential release in detail, but it might catch some things that get lost in beta testing if a second developer reviewed everything.
MC
not that i hav been here long...but like a sort of "committee" that checks the potential dev releases.
I would luv to help if we did tat
Please search before posting. ~Thanks
I'd be willing to help if needed.
Release Team Member
we do.
Just post what you find
When the paf specs are released it should be easy to do the "peer-review" in the "open source manner" i.e. everyone who finds something posts it.
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
Good job getting through all that stuff.
I look forward to PAP 1.5!
Wedding? Bachelor party? Someone's having fun
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
And jury duty just tops it all off.
Jury duty. Not something you want to spend your time on, but it happens. Juice Portable is (AFAIK) ready for release, if you wish to do so, as well as MediaCoder Portable, which I will release a Development Test of sometime this week. Thanks for all of your diligent work, John.
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook
Ok, guys, I'm leaving from jury duty tomorrow (I should already be asleep) so this is just a brief followup. I'll be posting more at the start of next week on status (and continuing weekly). And, yes, if some of the more experienced members and mods could test some of the dev test apps, that would be great. We'll set a goal of one new app per day for next week. Sound good?
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
John
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
have a good weekend too
BTW: Did You think about the branding for die update tool? My favorite is the PA.com branding, but I need Your OK for it
Regards
Marko
Paid for Software more or less?
What You need is OSS!
Ping me via email so I can get to it beginning of next week.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I'll send You a ping if the Platform is out and I'll have checked the tool with it.
Regards
Marko
Paid for Software more or less?
What You need is OSS!
I think we have enough experienced people here to test things.
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
wat are the requirements to be an "experienced member"
thanks
Please search before posting. ~Thanks
When I think of peer review, I'd imagine someone who has developed an app looking over another developer's app. The goal is
a second set of eyes can sometimes see something the first set missed and (b) the second set of eyes may learn something.
We won't mention that some people make mistakes (certainly not you or me, of course). We also wouldn't imply that anyone here might introduce some malware on purpose.
Obviously extensive beta tests show whether or not the application actually works, but having another person check the code and various supporting documents can help with quality control and maintaining high standards.
MC
I think it's a request for inclusion, not exclusion.
I'm sure feed back from anyone would be appreciated
But he'd like it if people who have "vetted" apps before and know what to look for would go out of their way to check things out.
e.g. I could point out an "obvious" bug, but since I don't know how to check for registry changes on the fly I would not find things that Simeon would. He would still want to hear about my "obvious" bug if no one else had pointed it out.
Tim
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
Have Experience.
so would i be considered to hav enough experience?
Please search before posting. ~Thanks
You can certainly help test apps, and provide feedback, and that's help enough. There's some major things and some minor things I and others will pick up on, and can help the developer out on. Just do what you can, and don't worry about what you can't do, you'll learn more as time goes on.
Of the applications I'm working on right now, I'd either like to get Task Coach or BonkEnc released. The developers for both have been very supportive in making the applications even more portable compliant than they already are. Task Coach requires and update the the latest launchers changes, and a registry key needs to be handled (I'll work on that tonight) and BonkEnc should be fine, I just need to fix the icon I botched.
I'm sure both applications will be well taken, so it's up to you and the community at this point as I cannot decide.
I've been helping powerjuce out with getting everything in Frets On Fire Portable working right and making everything almost update to the latest launcher, format, etc. He's basicially good to go, the only one big thing is there's 40 megs of 'Data' copied from Default Data on first run, and once it's copied, you've then got 80 megs of it on your drive, with 40 megs being useless. So we'll have to think of a solution for that, but then I'd like to see him released some time.
I've also made Simeon and Kevin Porter aware of some changes that will help Assault Cube Portable and Stellarium Portable come closer to a release.
i really appreciate it
Please search before posting. ~Thanks
AFAIK, and according with what I have tested... MediaCoder, AssaultCube and BonkEnc are ready for release...
I don't know about Juice because today it was impossible to run it when I was testing on a Vista PC...
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
and the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report
AssaultCube isn't ready, Simeon's still working on it. He's got one more idea he's gonna add, then it should me.
BonkEnc seems to be, and I haven't tested MediaCoder so I can't say.
mediacoder seemed to be ready last time i tested it (which was some time ago)
however i did the like the program and it seemed to work fine
Please search before posting. ~Thanks
barring an update to the specification...
or the menu...
might we get an update to the (weekly?) update?
John,
I could use an update, too. Or maybe an e-mail. I've updated all my applications to the current development test specs, most of them are ready to go, I've even been working on some new ones. I've spent much of my time helping powerjuce, Kevin Porter, Simeon, etc with getting their apps functioning correctly, and conformed perfectly to the latest specs. I've been trying to get Ryan to get people added to the Dev Test page, pointed out bugs in a couple of your launchers, been moderating and kindly assisting new users, however I haven't heard anything from you.
Just wanted to let you know I'm waiting, and an e-mail update would be great. I don't mind if it's still gonna be a delay in getting my applications released, and I'd love to see things like Frets On Fire Portable, Stellerium Portable, Assault Cube Portable, PeaZip Portable released too even if it's before mine.
you aren't expecting an answer from (:)) me but I just wanted to say A BIG THANK YOU for your continuing help and support!
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate