Hi all,
I suppose this is one of those forms of self-promotion, but I'm simply announcing that I have worked on a portable launcher for 7zip and for Gaim v2b3, and they are available for download at http://pfeerick86.googlepages.com/7zportable and http://pfeerick86.googlepages.com/gaimportable.
Full source code is available, and the launchers are based on the latest FirefoxPortable Launcher, so they should fully support running from CDs, etc. Don't know about linux/unix compatability via wine.
If you have any problems with these apps, please email me at pfeerick86 at gmail.com, and include the word 7zPortable or GaimPortable in your subject ot the email will automatically be deleted.
If you have any requests, include the word "PortableappRequest" in you subject. No promises made!
John: Don't know if you read my other post, bu is it OK that I used the PortableApps.com logo as the base logo? If not, please let me know so I can change it. Feel free to use the source code for these launchers yourself if you want...
regards,
Peter
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Peter,
That's a good start on a 7-Zip Launcher. I was going to wait until Monday to post a pre-release of mine, but I'll post mine now so we can see if there's anything we can do to combine. Mine's based off the AbiWord Portable launcher with some other changes. I like your Instant launcher as well. I'm still not sure if it's worth maintaining an instant version alongside the portable one or not.
On the Gaim launcher... is there anything in yours that my current Gaim Portable 2.0 B2 Pre-Release doesn't have? I've handled most issues. I am adding one more fix to it before release though, for the GTK_BASEPATH environment variable. It isn't used as much. But if you have Gnumeric installed... it gets set... and then Gaim will use it. You'll see when I put out another new launcher tomorrow.
I've posted my 7-Zip Portable so you can see the methods I'm using. I have it set to do secondary launches and monitor for all processes of 7zFM. And to set the path for it after restoring the registry. I'm debating having it default to the portable drive when the file manager opens. I'll ask for thoughts in my other thread. Oh, I do like your idea of the Sleep 100s between the registry calls. That ensures they complete in time pretty well, so I did add that into my own launcher.
Also, on branding, please don't do releases with the PortableApps.com logo unless they are published through this site. And, just a nitpick, but as a general rule, I keep individual names off splashes. They just get added to the publisher line on the app homepage.
Incidentally, I'm getting to the point of having too many apps to manage individually and may want someone to take over a couple (like the new 7-Zip Portable). It seems like you've got some solid NSIS chops. Would you be interested when the time comes?
Regards,
John
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks for the reply, John. I'll change the logos and put the new versions up in a day or so. The Gaim Portable launcher just fixes a problem I had with GTK and the settings directory when using the split app\data directories. I added
StrCpy "$SETTINGSDIRECTORY" "$EXEDIR\Data\${NAME}\${DEFAULTSETTINGSDIR}"
to CheckPortableAppsSplitDIR:
and changed
$EXEDIR\App\GTK\bin\*.* to $EXEDIR\Apps\GTK\bin\*.*.
Other than that, I just based it on Firefox portable so it should have the live cd support, etc. That part hadn't been tested, so I'm not sure how well that works. I do know that Gaim started up via the launcher, though
I would be interesting in continuing with portable apps, so if you need any help, I'll do what I can. For anybody else interested, I have a version of Programmers Notepad, and a portable version of DevCpp that I need to do some more work on. I made it in an "instant" form, and it unpacks in ~20 seconds to the HDD from a ~12 MB file.
regards,
Peter
Check PortaSoft.org.
We already have a Portable Dev-C++.
----
R McCue
PortaBlog Home and My Website
And before anyone complains about the grammar, I'm so jetlagged that my
hands aren't even in the same time zone...
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
After I had started on that Portable Dev-Cpp project, I came across the PortaSoft.org implementation. However, I wanted it to be able to run faster and also be a self-contained EXE. So the current form extracts from the NSIS launcher, unpacks a settings file if present, and waits for Dev-Cpp to close. It then zips up the settings files into the settings package again. I intend to improve the script, making it support the latest PortableApps functionality, such as LiveCD support, etc.
PS: I'm currently uploading new versions of Gaim and 7-Zip Portable Edition, slightly improved and with new splash screens, so they'll be up in the next half hour. I think John will like how I combined the Launcher and Instant modes into one script. When I'm on broadband again, I'll also include the GNUMERIC fix (once I work out what it is, of course!).
Is it really necessary to be forking these projects like this? If you have some suggestions or patches, I'm happy to take them, have them tested by other forum members and even host updated launchers. But I think forking them and then posting complete app packages... just for a simple bug fix or feature is a bit counter-productive and may lead to confusion among users.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
No, it's not neccessary!
If you're not interested in the Instant idea, I'll work on that one. Otherwise, I'll just use the site to host test version for the folks here to try out apps as I work on them.
If you've got any particular apps your would like some help on, just let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'm still going to finish off Programmers Notepad (which somebody said would be hard to do - but it just saves it's settings in the %appdir% folder like firefox does!), as well as an updated version of the DevCpp I've already got.
If you get the chance, look at those last updates, and see what you think of them. Thanks.
regards,
Peter