Hello all, I am the developer of AuthPass: https://authpass.app/ and recently got a request from a user to make it a portable app. I wonder if you have any suggestions and if it would be possible to publish it in the portableapps directory?
I already created a release which is "portable" - ie. it is a ZIP with will launch without any external dependencies and only write into a Data subdirectory: https://authpass-data.codeux.design/data/artifacts/AuthPass-portable-1.8.2_1731.zip
So it's like:
AuthPass/
App/
authpass.exe
*.dll
data/ (app-internal data files which pare part of the distribution)
Data/ (will be created on first launch, will contain runtime files and user created data, logs, caches, etc.)
AuthPass.bat ("shortcut" which launches App/authpass.exe)
version.txt (just containing version information)
The AuthPass.exe has to be in the same directory with all dlls, so i created the .bat file.
thanks, Herbert
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https://portableapps.com/development
From the above, downloading the PA.c Template along with the PA.c Launcher and Installer will help give you a jump start. The PA.c Launcher can take the place of your BAT file. You can configure it to 'portablize' paths in your settings as the launcher has variables for where it was last used vs used now built in.
Do you have any environment variables or command line switches to direct it where to set the data path? We don't usually have all the app files within the App directory itself. Ideally, the structure would be:
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Ok, shouldn't be a problem to move it one directory deeper. Right now the location of the Data directory is a compile time flag. Although I could change that to a runtime argument.
I'm not exactly sure how that template is supposed to fit into a build/release cycle. ie. should I update the launcher on every release and just exchange the ini files.. or should I download it once, modify everything by hand, and always use that modified template. Is the template set in stone and never updated?
Generally, you only need to update the package and display versions in the appinfo.ini on each update. The launcher doesn't usually need to be rebuilt. The installer does. If you feed a path of X:\Dev\Whatever\AppNamePortable to the PortableApps.comInstaller.exe builder, it'll automatically output X:\Dev\Whatever\AppNamePortable_1.2.3.paf.exe so you can work it into your automated build process on Windows.
If you can post a build with the deeper directory I showed above or a command switch/env var to direct it to the Data path, I can do a quick package for you to start with. I usually recommend having a command switch/env var to direct an app to the Data path, that way you can use the same binaries for your installed and portable builds. Often makes tracking down bugs and support easier in the longterm.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Okay, thanks.. I have now created a new build with the template: https://authpass-data.codeux.design/data/artifacts/AuthPassPortable-1.8....
it now puts data into ../../Data by default, but is also configurable with --data=XXXX
Thank for try to make AuthPass in portableapps format.
AuthPassPortable.exe give me a error and doesn`t work, because there is not appinfo.ini in \App\Appinfo\appinfo.ini
Thanks in advance.
Just wondering whether you could take a look at the version in my last post: https://authpass-data.codeux.design/data/artifacts/AuthPassPortable-1.8....
thanks,
Herbert