I'm a teacher and my new schoollaptop no longer provides me with administrator rights and so I at a bit of a loss at installing my favourite apps. After a couple of weeks struggling I remembered PortableApps from the time that i kept a USB-stick with the apps that i need to have at hand.
I managed to install PortableApps on my school OneDrive, including a couple of my fav apps.
But unfortunately PDF Shaper is not on the PortableApps list.
I asked the maker of PDF Shaper if they'd be considering releasing a portable version (for PortableApps) and their response was: You can use the Free version as a portable application (a single .exe file). The other versions require registering ActiveX DLLs in the system
So, I've been briefly looking into the guide towards buidling a portableapp, but found it a bit intimidating, particularly the registry part.
Would someone more experienced be able to lean in and create the PortableApps PDF Shaper?
- https://www.pdfshaper.com
- https://www.pdfshaper.com/download.html (Free version)
- Be aware that PDF Shaper Free will be offering the installation of potentially unwanted sponsored software. Make sure to properly decline.
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Okay, I've gone through the motions and created a PDFShaperPortable.paf.exe that could be tested (and possibly be taken over by the team for refinement and update maintenance)
Where do I upload this file, because I do not see a possibility to attach files here?
Post it to a third party hosting site, or put it in a cloud drive and grab the shareable link which pretty much all of them can do, then post the link. The proper place to post it is the Beta Testing sub, and please use the template linked at the top of that sub.
Just one thing, given that the license for this software expressly forbids redistribution and repackaging, have you made it as an online installer? We won't allow a bundled installer since it is against the license - it has to be an online installer.
As suggested by the maker of PDFShaper I took a copy of the installed executable.
"You can use the Free version as a portable application (a single .exe file). The other versions require registering ActiveX DLLs in the system"
No bundled installer included.
I hope this answers your concerns.
By "bundled installer" I mean a PortableApps installer that includes the program, which appears to be exactly what you have done. By "online installer" I mean a PortableApps installer that downloads and extracts the package directly from the developers site, which bypasses the restrictions of their license.
What the developer is saying there is that the free version can be used (from a technical standpoint) as a portable application as the other versions have DLL requirements that are not portable. I definitely would not consider that explicit permission to bypass their license restrictions to bundle and redistribute the executable here.
I do not understand the consequences.
What should I do?
- Retract the paf.exe that I've made available via the beta forum and keep it private?
- Seek explicit permission from the makers of PDF Shaper Free to allow redistribution of PDFShaper Free through PortableApps?
- Suggest the makers of PDFShaper to take up my preliminary work and contribute PDFShaper Free as a portable app through PortabeApps.com?
- ...?
You can ask for explicit permission, or request them to package it in our format (no guarantee they will want to though), or convert it to an online installer yourself.
If you want to convert to an online installer the best place to learn is to look at an existing online installer like our Google Chrome installer. The specific file you are after is App\AppInfo\installer.ini, and here is the necessary bit of the documentation. The main bit that is important for an online installer is the [DownloadFiles] section.
I've asked them already.
While awaiting their response I'll be learning about PortableApps Online installers and stuff.
And I'll remove or empty the posting I've made in the Bèta forum.
Got a final response from the makers of PDFShaper: "No, repacking and distribution through PortableApps.com is not allowed."
So, I reccon this puts a stop to the creation and distribution of a PDFShaperPortable.
The paf.exe I had put together will not be shared further.