Problems with creating Pet file [work in progress]

[Jasper]

Hi there

I would like some assistance in creating a functioning pet file for an application that I compiled in Fossapup64-95.

I have attached it to my message. The compiled Pet file and the Pet file unpacked.

The application will run when typed into Terminal.

However, when I attempted to create a Pet file it does not launch from the Menu.

I have had this problem with a number of compiled applications in the past and if this occurs I simply just provide the binaries for members to use.

As always your tips, advice and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.

I wanted to use this application in order to create scheduled backups of my PupSave file. I had thought PSchedule was the right tool for this, but it's for reminders

[amethyst]

The path for the executable in your .desktop file does not look correct to me. /usr/bin/grsync perhaps?

[Jasper]

Thanks @amethyst

I am just creating the Pet file using the Menu ie right click create Pet package.

The application does appear in the Menu and supports an icon too. Which is why I am confused.

I will try your suggestion

OOOPS I can see clearly why now

Even worse still, realised that the compiled application refers back to the Source directory for icons etc.

[Sofiya]

it was necessary to try very hard to create such a path in xxx...desktop

[Jasper]

@Sofiya

In the end I just compiled and installed it the regular way.

It provided the menu entry correctly and does work.

I just don't know how to make a Pet file correctly to share.

Plus, I don't like having to rewrite my Pupsave file each time I mess up

Thank you for the feedback

[dogcat]

Hi Jasper, you are over-thinking the PET packages, all they are is a representation of the directory structure of where the files go in the system including the files. There are a few ways to make a PET.

Example of one way that seems similar to what you are talking about doing is at this link, compiling and using the "make install" method
https://linuxkita.wordpress.com/2009/07 ... t-package/

Referencing that link now, creating the PET using the new2dir and dir2pet scripts (those scripts are built in puppy) not only creates a PET to share but gives you a record of where the files went into the system, that way you can manually remove them later by referencing the PET directory structure or you may be able to just install your new PET into the system and let it over-write the files you installed using the make install command, that would give the puppy package manager a record of what is installed and the puppy package manager could uninstall the program now since there is a record in ppm, when you do only the make install there is no record for ppm to do an uninstall and you have to go hunting the files to remove (as you already know).

[mikewalsh]

@Jasper :-

It's a bit of an art form, learning to build .pet packages. It's partly down to experience, and a lot comes down to 'unpacking' and studying how others have built things. My own "learning curve" was greatly flattened by studying packages from people like OscarTalks, rcrsn51, smokey01.....folks that were releasing a lot of stuff around the time I got interested in this side of things.....back around 2015, I'd say.

Technically, you're taking the right route. You should compile everything as you go; that's always been the accepted, correct way of doing things. But I cheat; my compiling skills are atrocious, so I find it much, much easier to modify packages built by others, and track down whatever items are required to make them work with the greatest number of Puppies. It "ain't proper, guv".....but it works for me..!

It's not something you can learn overnight, but it does get easier, the more you tackle such things. Experience helps....and "practice makes perfect". At the end of the day, the more Puppians that know how to compile and package, the stronger we are as a community.

Mike.

[Jasper]

@dogcat and @mikewalsh

Thanks for the replies, advice and suggestions.

As always very welcome

It can be a tad frustrating being so used to coming from Windows and have the ease of finding applications. It is a learning curve but to be honest in a short I have become more confident and am using Puppy a lot more. At first it was out of curiosity as my bandwidth was being throttled and Linux appears to give me better connectivity for my applications. Admittedly not everything is easy to find but with patience it will pay off.

@dogcat
The link to the blog was just what I needed
I did try out the steps outlined on an application I had compiled but it did not work out exactly as intended.
The binaries have been compiled. Running the new2dir command ended up with an empty Pet file.
Not to be put off, I will try again with compiling a different application.

@mikewalsh
Thanks for the supportive message.
My tentative steps have made me realised that not every application is compiled in the same what ie needing additional tools eg QT5, Python etc to do the job. As you say, practice makes perfect. I don't need to have bleeding edge applications and most of my uploads have been created as a consequence of the applications I use regularly or need instead of booting back to Windows. Some of the inbuilt applications just need a bit of a facelift.

@Sofiya
The Grsync Gui (v1.26) is available in the default build of Fossapup64. It is a compiled binary but there is no Menu entry provided.
I only found this out when I was going backwards and forwards with writing/deleting my Save file and using Pfilesearch to locate the binary. To my surprise an older one was available.

[Jasper]

Tried this again with a new compilation of GnuTLS.

The build folder provides a number of files contained within.

The Pet file is not populated with all the files

Steps undertaken:

./configure --help
./configure --prefix= .........
make
make check
new2dir make install
....... follow the steps to create the Pet file

[dogcat]

Tried this again with a new compilation of GnuTLS.

The build folder provides a number of files contained within.

The Pet file is not populated with all the files

Hi Jasper, since that did not work as expected you can use a slightly different method that has you run dir2pet manually after new2dir has created the directory of files /mnt/sda3/Downlads/src/puppy-078-x86_64 according to your screeny.

When you run new2dir make install , after new2dir runs its course it gives an option to run the dir2pet command after new2dir has created the working directory full of the compiled files.

Press ENTER only to exit this script.
Or, if you want the convenience, the 'dir2pet' script can be launched
right now -- press any character on the keyboard then ENTER.
Type response here:

Press enter to exit the script instead of creating the pet.

Press enter to exit the script.

That will leave you with a directory named whatever the name of the compiled package is that has all the compiled files and directory structure for the package. From here all that is needed is to run the dir2pet script against that directory you created with new2dir.

You posted a screeny of the putty-0.78-x86_64 directory and pet so I assume that is what was created by new2dir.
I assume you are using the Rox file manager.
I am using your screeny for reference, navigate to /mnt/sda3/Downloads/src/
Open a terminal window window in /mnt/sda3/Downloads/src/
type dir2pet putty-0.78-x86_64

Hit enter and dir2pet will start and should offer you some options, not important to explore those options in this post, we are just manually creating the pet for now, after you get the method for creating a pet established you can revisit it and fine tune on another try. Just building the pet here. You should end up with a pet that has the name of the directory you built it with, in this case putty-0.78-x86_64.pet . After creating the pet you can delete the file nohup.out, it is a remnant from dir2pet and is not needed.

[Jasper]

@dogcat

Thanks for the explanation and suggestions again.

I am pretty sure (?) that I did choose the 2nd option which involved me pressing a character then <ENTER> to run the script automatically.

I will try again

[Jasper]

I compiled this application (Fossapup64) as I wanted a GUI for LAME. No additional libraries where needed.

I do not have a CDROM and it complains about this when executed.

If anyone could check it out I would appreciate it. It seems like a waste otherwise l

Also, I did not compile as a PET file as looking at the desktop icon file (text) it seemed to be in a strange location. Not in line with the standard Puppy menu.

Thanks in advance.

[Jasper]

Once again........still cannot create a desktop launcher/entry

Some help/assistance would be welcome

[fredx181]

Once again........still cannot create a desktop launcher/entry

Some help/assistance would be welcome

"NoDisplay=true" should be removed IMO to make it show in the Menu.

[Jasper]

Thank you @fredx181

Will try this out later when at the PC.

BTW looking forward to your "Simple HTTP Server" application.

I use your SimpleGTK radio app every day, all day long, thank you

[fredx181]

Thank you @fredx181

Will try this out later when at the PC.

BTW looking forward to your "Simple HTTP Server" application.

As a coincidence , just posted here: viewtopic.php?p=89394#p89394

I use your SimpleGTK radio app every day, all day long, thank you

Probably you mean YRadio ?, SimpleGTK radio is not mine (yeah, confusing, those names with 'simple' )

[Jasper]

lol

[Jasper]

@fredx181

The pet file now does install the binary and includes a desktop entry with an icon.

However, I can seem to execute the binary to open in a terminal

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Terminal-GPT
Type=Application
NoDisplay=false
Exec=tgpt
Icon=/usr/share/icons/ai.png
Categories=X-Internet-transfer