How to run Element.io (formerly RIOT) appimage in Bionicpup?

[rek769]

Greetings all, I am successfully running a RIOT IM Appimage on my 64 bit Bionic Pup. However, RIOT underwent a name change to Element and someone has seen fit to create a new Appimage. The problem I'm having is when trying to run the Appimage with the --no-sandbox flag I get a fatal error related to a permissions problem on /dev/shm. I have corrected that as suggested by the terminal error message to no avail.

I've also tried running the AppImage as Spot but no luck with that either.

Terminal output is attached.

Thanks to anyone for suggestions or comments.

[mikewalsh]

@ rek769:-

With regard to AppImages, you can shorten the name of the thing.....and it will still run. It's the action of clicking on it that 'transfers' the exec 'action' to the actual executable within. The name given to the AppImage is largely irrelevant.....in other words, it has no real bearing on its functionality. I always do this with AppImages, even before making them executable.

You can chop off the "V1.7.4-GLIBC-2.1.7.AppImage", and leave it titled just "Element".

With regard to the /dev/shm permissions, it's apparently a 'temporary' file-system in RAM, that shares memory items between applications:-

https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/what-is- ... usage.html

Which being the case, try re-naming the AppImage to just Element, followed by trying the approach below. Open a terminal where you have the AppImage, and type each line, hitting "Enter" before you type the next :-

Code: Select all

chmod 1777 /dev/shm
./Element --no-sandbox

----------------------------------------------

The issue with many AppImage developers is that they don't do the job properly, and merely "re-pack" an existing .deb or .rpm package or tarball.....with the result that the application is still hunting around the system to locate necessary dependencies. A properly built AppImage contains absolutely everything that it needs to run, and should run anywhere.

(Out of curiosity, where did you find the AppImage? Element only appear to name a Debian/Ubuntu PPA for Linux on their website...)


Mike.

[rek769]

As I stated in my original post, I have already tried running it with the --no-sandbox flag.

Also, as stated in the original post, I have corrected the permissions issue that was suggested by the terminal error message to no avail.

Changing the name of the AppImage has zero effect as you stated.

The AppImage can be found here:
https://github.com/srevinsaju/element-appimage/releases

[mikewalsh]

@rek769 :-

Mm. 'Tis indeed an awkward one.

I tried a slight modification of the commands I gave you. Reasoning that /dev/shm probably wouldn't exist until the thing began to execute, I tried:-

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 # /root/Element chmod 1777 /dev/shm --no-sandbox

.....combining it into a single command, and utilising the 'chmod' command after the command to start the executable. And then we get this:-




A Javascript error. I confess, I'm at a loss from here on in; I really don't know what else to suggest. Some AppImages just won't run under Puppy, no matter HOW much you mess about with 'em.

I think I'm going to gracefully bow out....


Mike.

[rek769]

I found the deb file here:
https://packages.riot.im/debian/pool/ma ... t-desktop/

Running via the deb produces the exact same error message as the AppImage so I don't think this is an issue with the AppImage.

There seems to be something basal about Puppy Linux that it causing this...just don't know what it could be.

It is interesting that I can run other chromium based programs with the --no-sandbox flag and they work fine: RiotIM, Brave Browser, Ungoogled Chromium....

[garnet]

Code: Select all

wget "https://github.com/srevinsaju/element-appimage/releases/download/stable/Element-v1.7.4-GLIBC-2.17.AppImage"
chmod +x Element*AppImage
./Element*AppImage --appimage-extract
cd squashfs-root
chmod 4755 chrome-sandbox
XDG_CACHE_HOME= XDG_CONFIG_HOME= XDG_DATA_HOME= su -c ./element-desktop spot

[rek769]

@garnet Sweet...that did the trick but I had to extract the AppImage in my root folder...extracting to my mounted hard drive resulted in an error complaining that libffmpeg.so was not found. Maybe something to do with system path??

Anyway, could you explain to me what that last line does?
Also, do you think it possible to reconstruct the AppImage once the permissions are changed on the sandbox file and appropriate exec command changes are made to the desktop file?

I've shared this solution with the AppImage developer.

Thanks much for your help.

[rek769]

To whomever added "SOLVED" to my post....please be aware this is not solved. The AppImage is not able to be run as normal. It must be extracted and ran with special commands from the terminal. I'm still looking for a way to run it as a normal AppImage...

To that end I am still hoping for some further insight from Garnet or anyone who might have other ideas.

Thanks