How to modify Menus? Gramps deb install no menu entry [Solved]

[sfein1000]

I am using fossapup64-9.5. I downloaded and installed debs for a program called Gramps (genealogy). Everything worked fine except it says it was placed in the menu called Office. Since puppy doesn't have an office menu (I did click fixmenus to see if that would help - it didn't), I'm guessing a file somewhere is updated with the menu choice and I was hoping to just modify the file to have a different parent than Office. Or, is it more likely that the menu option went into nowhere land?

Is there a file or tool I can use to update the menus?

[bigpup]

This is the classic issue with program deb packages that where not specifically compiled for Puppy Linux.

Where exactly did you get the deb package of Gramps?

How is Fossapup64 9.5 installed?

Have you run Quickpet -> Info -> Fossapup updates?

Rebooted and saved so these updates are now being used?

Sure it is not showing up in menu -> Document or utility?

Look in /usr/share/applications/
Is there a .desktop file for Gramps?

[wizard]

Many times a .deb will try to put an app into a category that does not exist in Puppy, here's a way to fix that:

Use rox file manager and navigate to: /usr/share/applications
-Look for a .desktop file for your app, probably named gramps.desktop.
-right click the file>Open as Text
-Find the line: Categories
-edit to read: Categories=X-Personal
-save file
-click Menu>Fixmenus

This should add your app to Menu>Personal

wizard

[mikeslr]

Ditto what wizard posted.
Actually the way Puppy handles categories is brilliant, but can be time consuming if a User installs an application from a 'Major Distro'. As I understand it, JWM --Puppys' default and most commonly used Window-Manager-- is not entirely xdg compliant. Puppy's slide-out 2 pane Menu employs scores of categories and sub-categories. During the process of creating a pet you get to choose into which of those your application belongs: where it will appear on the Menu. But when you just install an 'alien' package it just gets stuffed into whatever xdg-compliant category its creator thought best*.

As wizard points out the desktop file [usually, but not always] in /usr/share/applications includes an argument that will be used to determine where the application will appear on the menu. Opening the desktop file in a text-editor (e.g. geany) you'll see the line beginning Exec=. Sometimes what follows the = sign doesn't have any categories recognized by JWM. Sometimes a recognizable term will follow a bunch which aren't. In both such instances the application won't appear anywhere on the menu.

What I do is open the desktop file of an application appearing on the Menu where I want the newly-installed application to appear. Then I copy and paste its Exe='s argument into the new application.

While you're examining the desktop file also take the time to look at what follows "Icon=". Icons can be anywhere, and several formats are recognizable. But sometimes the argument just has a name without either a suffix or a specified path: e.g. my-app rather than /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/my-app.png. The bare-bones 'my-app' may be sufficient if you've built for an OS which will (temporarily) use a lot of RAM and CPU to hunt it down. But in Puppys path-specification is often necessary. And some window-managers (I think lxde) require a specification of file-type, e.g.
".png". If Puppy doesn't find an icon, the application may not appear on the Menu. Rather than chance a scribner's error, my general practice is to open a window to /usr/share/pixmaps, drag the desired icon into it and select Link(relative). Then I edit the Icon argument: e.g. /usr/share/pixmaps/my-app.png

---
* Having spent a couple days playing with several 'Big-Boy' distros, my over-all impression is that their approach to Categorization is occasionally bizarre and misguided. Don't I know that an application is an application? When trying to start it from the Menu, do I care that it's a Qt5 application?

[mikewalsh]

@sfein1000 :-

This might help put a bit more flesh on the bones of what's been mentioned above:-

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=3420

Originally simply a post within another thread, others advised me to turn it into its own thread. It's one of those things that's always useful to get the hang of - especially in Puppy, where we do a LOT of stuff 'manually' - and once you've done it a handful of times, it soon becomes almost second nature.

Mike.

[sfein1000]

Sorry, it took a couple of days to respond, I didn't realize the forum was back up already and hadn't checked

@bigpup
I am running Live at this time. I download various debs, pets and sfs files so when I boot back in for whatever reason, I can just run pkg install on the one or two apps I need at this time. Gramps is one of those very infrequently needed and I would only install for that session. I used ppm to get the deb. In ppm it's listed as ubuntu-focal-universe. I know Puppy is not a strict Ubuntu derivative and I do expect some off behavior when installing debs as opposed to a pet or sfs.

@wizard
Worked perfectly, thanks

@mikeslr and @mikewalsh
Thanks for the added information. I like to learn how everything is setup - so all helpful info.

[mikeslr]

"I am running Live at this time. I download various debs, pets and sfs files so when I boot back in for whatever reason, I can just run pkg install on the one or two apps I need at this time."

There are a couple of things you can do.
a) Easiest -- live with the category being wrong. You'll get used to it.
b) Not hard: Rebuild the deb as a pet: Right-Click the deb and select UExtract from the pop-up Window. An extraction folder will be created and within it a folder just named gramps_SOMETHING. Within the 'gramps' folder you'll find /usr/share/applications/gramps_SOMETHING.desktop. Edit its categories argument as previously discussed. File-browse back up so that you can see the gramps_SOMETHING folder as a folder and Right-Click it. From the popup-menu select "Create a pet package".
c) Not hard, but takes slightly longer; but also has additional benefits: Remaster*. If the reason you are running 'live' is for security you may want to consider amethyst (formerly known as nic007)'s Remaster module. It's in the nicOS-Utililty-Suite, https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 983#p12983. It works very fast and will capture your changes.
c1) A safer way to run any Puppy than 'live' while still providing great flexibility is to make use of one of amethyst's tools and run under PupMode 13. PupMode 13 requires perhaps one or two changes**. OOTB even after you've decompressed an ISO all of Puppys' system files are READ-ONLY. The only file which can be 'corrupted' is the SaveFile/Folder you create to preserve settings, customizations, and installed applications. Save2SFS --in the aforementioned Suite-- substitutes a READ-ONLY advr.sfs or ydrv.sfs [or both]*** for a SaveFile/Folder. If you run such Puppy from a USB-Key, after boot-up you can unplug the Key. If you run it from a hard-drive, after boot-up the partition it's on will be unmounted. AppImages and portables can be located in the /opt folder and SFSes and portables on a different partition. While using such SFS or external portable its partition will be mounted, but not you're Puppys. The only time you may want to mount your Puppy's partition it to copy --initially saved to /root/my-documents-- data to it; and you can do that after unloading-SFSes, closing any portables and Running Menu>Exit>Restart Graphical Server which will 'kill' any running application, even those you may not know about.
-=-=-=-=-
* I am not a fan of Supergrub2 or Ventoy. But if you are 'running live' using either they should work just as well with a Remastered Puppy. My preference is spelled out in the 'c1' paragraph.
** To run under Pupmode13 edit your boot menu/grub.config stanza so that it contains the argument pmedia=ataflash. [Not necessary if you are running from a USB-Key as that's its default argument]. The 2nd change is to open Menu>System>Puppy Event Manger, Click the Save Session Tab and make sure that the Save Interval is 0/zero and that there's a check mark in the 'Ask as shutdown' box. [I think those are Fossapup's default settings].
*** Read the short nicOS-Utility-Suite's thread; and don't hesitate to ask any questions.

p.s. There are even safer methods; but IMHO they add complications to create and put to use.

[bigpup]

Good info on how to get something to show in the menu and changing the .desktop file, for the program.

but I installed Gramps, from Puppy Package Manager(PPM) in Fossapup64 9.5.

Gramps made a menu entry in menu -> Utility.

So, it made a menu entry, just not in the, maybe, more correct location.

Puppy does try to put it, someplace in the menu, even when the .desktop file, has a wrong location identified.
It takes an educated guess, that something identified as menu location office, should go into the Puppy menu -> Document or maybe business.
If nothing seems to make any logic to Puppy Linux menu control.
Good chance it will show up under menu -> Utility.

Not 100% does this, but most of the time it will.

[sfein1000]

@mikeslr
Currently using option 1, but I'll look at the other items. I've been curious about converting a deb to a pet. Never heard of amethyst, so I'll read about that. I am currently using Ventoy, but I'm not tied to it (just convenient to test multiple distributions to find one I like). I have 4 Linux needs right now:
1) Emergency disk when a system fails. I need access to certain apps to be able to read data until I fix the system (I don't mean recovery, just accessing data). Puppy works well for this
2) Emergency repair disk. I'm still looking for a distribution I want to use for this purpose. The dist should come preinstalled with a lot of repair tools. I have a list of dists to check out.
3) Use an old laptop as a work computer in case of my main computer failing. This laptop does not have harddrive in it (on my list to buy). So working off of bootable USB and then attach a data drive. Again, Puppy works well.
4) Looking for the fulltime Linux distro that I will eventually dual boot with Windows. I'm currently using VirtualBox to try out a bunch as well as Ventoy. This one I've narrowed down to 3, but I have 3 more to try out, so still playing.

@bigpup
I could have sworn I looked at all menus, because I don't care which heading it's under as long as I can find it. I'll boot and try again. Maybe I just missed it under Utility. Age is getting to me.

[bigpup]

the menu -> fixmenus sometimes does not work.
Entering fixmenus in the console, will for sure, update the menu, if it is not already in it.

I also used PPM to get the stuff that Gramps complained about missing, when it first starts.

The only one I did not do was the GTK stuff.

It runs and looks OK for me, without doing anything to GTK, that is in Fossapup64 9.5

Just have to click close, on the nag message about GTK, to get into the working Gramps window.

Have not tried to really use it to make a family tree.

[mikeslr]

Age gets to us all. I really think bigpup gets it right: "When I was a kid, I wanted to be older.
This is not what I expected "

I suggest you read this short thread to get some idea of why we champion Puppy, How Puppy Linux Saved the Murga Forum https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 499#p53499 and Puppy's premise "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The bionicpup64 rockedge used was published about 4 years ago. The main reasons for using a newer Puppy-version, or alternatively updating the Kernel-modules, are newer kernels may include patches for since-discovered vulnerabilities and newer Puppys can run newer versions of applications offering 'Bells & Whistles' not included in older versions of those applications. FYI, Bionicpup64 can run any currently available up-to-date web-browser.

I keep a partition with one of the 'Big-boy' distros: maybe it has something Puppy lacks; but I haven't found a reason to actually use it. Still I explore a lot of them and have spent the last several days doing so. IMHO, LinuxMint is the best of the bunch once you've fleshed it out so that it can use synaptic, AppImages, Snaps and Flatpaks. Somewhere among those you'll find the application you want which will run OOTB. But it will consume 4 times the storage space and significantly more RAM than an equivalent Puppy (Fossapup64 currently suggested*); not be as secure and unless you turn-off its ability to upgrade kernels you're asking for system failure when it does. [Because of Puppys modular design it takes at most 5 minutes to change its kernel; and less to revert back if you need to].

As I said, I haven't found any reason to actually use one of the 'Big boy' distros. Once you're accustom to Puppys --including making use of its Forum to discover and ask questions-- they out-performs any of the 'Big boys' in terms of ease of use and ease of maintenance.

* But you may want to try Voidpup64 which makes use of Void's package manager. Or any of the other recent Puppys such as dmkr's Vanilladpup (based on debian); mistfire's Quickpup based on Slackware Current, but able to make use of the packages of many distros; or josejp2424' devuanpup. Or wait for the publication of a Puppy based on Jammy Jellyfish, Ubuntu's next Long Term Release. Because a Puppys doesn't need an entire partition --only each its own folder-- you loose nothing but a little time to try one. Your old one(s) are still there and all can access the same datafiles if those are externally stored.
Slacko puppys have a reputation for providing superior graphics and sound; while 'debian' and especially 'ubuntu' puppys make it easier to obtain the less than common applications. For example, publishers of AppImages don't test them under Slackware.

[sfein1000]

Because a Puppys doesn't need an entire partition --only each its own folder

I'm assuming you are speaking about the save folder?

[mikeslr]

18 years ago Barry K created the first Puppy to run from a CD. Having booted from the CD the only things that Puppy used of the computer it booted from was that computer's peripherals --keyboard, monitor, graphic card, etc., but especially important it's RAM. Access to the hard-drive --to save data-- was possible, but optional. Shortly thereafter --in the grand scheme of things-- it was figured out how to save information back to the CD even if it wasn't a RW. But the most important development followed quickly: moving Puppy's system files from the CD to a folder on the hard-drive and booting it from there. That system might have been called 'co-existent': Puppy did not rely on the Windows operating system with which it shared a partition; nor did Windows --the other operating system-- know what to do with Puppy's system files and SaveFile --a block of storage formatted in Linux. All Windows knew as that that portion of storage wasn't available. The name 'co-existent' never caught on. It's alternative 'frugal' --referring to the frugal use of a partition-- did.

Since then there have been additional features developed for a frugal install. But its essence remains the same: system files located in a folder* on any medium formatted ntfs, fat16, fat32, or any Linux formatted partition. (I think some Puppys can be located on some of the newer formats such as extFS). A 'Frugal' Puppy employs a 'merge-file-system': that is it can merge in RAM not only its own system files but also applications constructed as an SFS --Squashed File System. A dozen years or so before AppImages were popularized and the 'Big Boys' began playing with snaps and flatpaks, Puppys were using applications you didn't install but merely loaded when needed, unloaded when not; making it easy to upgrade --unload the old, load the new, revert if necessary as the old still existed on Storage until you intentionally deleted it-- or run incompatible application by only having one of the incompatibles loaded at a time.

One of those additional features was the SaveFolder. AFAICT, a SaveFolder is merely a specified folder which instructions within Puppy enable its use for storage of settings, customizations, and installed applications. It can only be used on a Linux Formatted partition while the 'older' SaveFile can be used on Fat, ntfs and Linux formatted partitions. A Savefile has a fixed size (which can be increased). A SaveFolder is just a dedicated folder whose actual size will increase as stuff is placed into it, increasing if necessary to the entire available space on a partition.

fossapup64's Folder.png (25.56 KiB) Viewed 704 times

Above is my Fossapup64's Folder on what it identifies as /mnt/home: a partition it shares with several other Puppies, Bullyseye debiandog, and a 'weedoged' version of manjaro-xfce. It could have been placed on its own partition, or on the partition currently occupied by LinuxMint-una-xfce. It could also have been located on the partition occupied by Windows 7 which came with the computer. But, notice the folder named fossapup64-BaseJan18. That's a SaveFolder. Had I located it on Window 7's ntfs-formatted partition I would have had to use a SaveFile.
If you Left-Click a Fossapup64.ISO you'll find within (and can copy from to anywhere) files having the names of all those in the screenshot except one named ydrv_fossapup64_9.5.sfs and the SaveFile/Folder which a User creates. But you'll also find other files in an ISO required if you burn it to CD/DVD as those are needed to boot from such.
Fossapup's system files consists of:
initrd.gz -- the RAM-disk initially loaded into RAM that contains instructions as to what to do with other system files.
Vmlinuz and zdrv_fossapup64_9.5.sfs, the kernel (vmlinuz) and the drivers compiled against and to be used with that kernel;
Puppy_fossapup64_9.5.sfs --- contains the file and window managers and all 'essential' applications the dev figured a user might want or need;
adrv_fossapup64_9.5.sfs -- additional applications the dev thought users might want. An adrv.sfs can be moved/deleted and a Puppy will still boot to desktop.

Some Puppys also require an fdrv.sfs --firmware needed for the kernel to communicate with hardware. But firmware isn't kernel specific and 666philb included firmware in the zdr.sfs.

All Puppys follow the above format. My screenshot is accurate for purposes of demonstration; but misleading. I remastered the Puppy_fossapup64_9.5.sfs to also contain the files 666philb had placed in the adrv.sfs. Then using nic's Save2SFS created a ydrv.sfs to hold settings, customizations, and applications meeting these criteria: I'll always want them available and have no reason to think I'll ever want newer version of such applications. My adrv.sfs contains web-browsers.
I have two listings on my boot-menu. One contains the argument 'pfix=ram'. That argument means boot but don't use the SaveFile/Folder. With web-browsers in the adrv.sfs I can still access the web without exposing my hard-drive as everything is 'running in RAM' and no partitions are mounted. [Nic's Save2SFS module can be used to quickly update an adrv.sfs's content (e.g. newer web-browsers) as and when needed. Or I could plug in a USB-Key holding web-browsers and use those; again not exposing anything on my hard-drive. The other menu entry boots fossapup64 with instructions to use the SaveFolder. The SaveFolder has menu-entries to, and can immediately use, SFSes, AppImages and portables on the Home partition which I don't often need.

As I said, ventoy and Supgrub2 may be very useful for testing one or a bunch of operating systems on a computer. But once a Puppy has passed such test, a Frugal install provides far greater flexibility in how you use it.
-=-=-=--
A frugal install doesn't have to be in a folder; its files could just be copied to a partition. But a folder helps maintain order if and when you want to try a different Puppy or several variations of the same Puppy (such as when you want to try a different kernel or run virtualbox which is compiled against a specific kernel). And a Puppy can be the only operating system on a partition or even the entire computer.

[mikewalsh]

@sfein1000 :-

Because a Puppy doesn't need an entire partition --only each its own folder

I'm assuming you are speaking about the save folder?

Mm....not exactly.

Traditionally, a normal, "full" install will require a partition all to itself. With 'frugal' Puppies, you can create a whole bunch of directories (folders) within that partition.....then 'install' a complete Puppy into each one of those individual directories (folders). This is possible because Puppy's 'native' bootloader, Grub4DOS, is coded to search two layers deep to search for bootable kernels......AND because a Puppy frugal install isn't really an install, as such; more like somewhere to merely 'store' the component parts of a Puppy until it's time to load them all into RAM & re-assemble them into a complete, working OS.

Every single one of those individual Puppy sub-directories can then have its own 'save-folder' inside it. Make sense?

Mike.

[davids45]

G'day,

A simple thing for a frequently used program is to drag its xxxxx.desktop file to the pinboard/desktop.

Go to /usr/share/applications/ with a non-fullscreen Rox, find the gramps.desktop file and drag it to the visible desktop. You could edit the desktop icon text to be just 'gramps' if it initially is 'gramps.desktop. And put the gramps icon wherever suits on the desktop.

No need to go hunting via the Menus.

David S.