suggestion: arrange that appbrowser ALWAYS puts the tce/tcz in "optional"

[wiak]

I want to suggest that instead of appbrowser mode "Install Selected" downloading an extension into the ../tce directory (being either the tce directory supplied as a boot option or /tmp/tce) that it should be modified to  instead:

1. download into the directory folder ../tce/optional along with any dependencies.
2. automatically then create symlink(s) from the ../tce directory to the downloaded extension (and any dependencies) pointing to the actual tce's in the  cumulative storage location for extensions: ../tce/optional

That way, the user gradually builds up a local repository of extensions, but can selectively enable or disable the ones actually used at boot time by deleting (or creating) the symlinks to them in ../tce
It then becomes a trivial matter to set up "multiple unique configurations" of TC in a manner similar to that described by software gurl in thread http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?&topic=155.0:

If your like me, your going to have bunches of non-default tce directories.  To save hard drive space symbolic links between them work for me (knock on wood).  For instance if you have your default tce on hdd4 and one called mystuff also on hdd4 and what Opera in both this works.

Code: [Select]

sudo ln -s /mnt/hdd4/tce/opera-9.61.tcz /mnt/hdd4/mystuff/
On reboot it will load.  Remember any dependencies..

Currently I use a similar scheme (but because of the way appbrowser currently operates I have to create the many symlinks involved manually) in order to allow my family members to each boot up their own TC configuration and only use the default set of applications they want. Each of them boot (using grub menu.lst) with a unique tce=partition/directory location, which I've arranged to be populated with a set of symlinks (depending on what apps they want on their system) pointing to the main persistent "optional" folder's tce's. (Actually I go one step further in my system setup: each of my family member's unique tce folders each contain a symlink to the main persistent "optional" folder rather than having their own separate optional folders; that way I save even more disc space should they individually download more extensions using appbrowser "Download Only").

The suggested change to appbrowser (and the use of symlinks in ../tce instead of actual tce's) would I believe add a great deal of power and flexibility to what is already an impressively powerful and flexible system.

"Demand Downloading" of individual apps is also great of course, but sometimes it's nice to have a preselected set of apps already setup and for different uses and users.

[tobiaus]

the user gradually builds up a local repository of extensions, but can selectively enable or disable the ones actually used at boot time by deleting (or creating) the symlinks to them in ../tce
It then becomes a trivial...

it sounds a lot less trivial than the way things are. "install" doesn't actually install? what i'd rather see is some kind of script that does what you want, but doesn't make appbrowser more complicated.

[wiak]

it sounds a lot less trivial than the way things are. "install" doesn't actually install? what i'd rather see is some kind of script that does what you want, but doesn't make appbrowser more complicated.

"Install Selected" would still install; the only difference is that the actual extensions would be stored in ../tce/optional for reuse. The tce directory just becomes a pointer (the sym link) to whatever tce's are to be installed. I can't imagine it is more than a relatively minor change to appbrowser to get it to put/leave the downloaded extension in ../tce/optional rather than in ../tce  The only extra would be that appbrowser would automatically create the symlink between ../tce and ../tce/optional. Yes a script could be written to juggle everything around after an  installation has already been made but that is messy.

On a single-user computer the current appbrowser method is okay, but as soon as you try and efficiently multi-boot various TC builds for different purposes and different users you end up with multiple ../tce and ../tce/optional folders, duplication and wasted hard disk space; the solution I'm using, following the example of softwaregurl, is to rearrange everything and use soft links. The less-technical users (my teenage children) of my system shouldn't be expected to have to run scripts after installing an application - installation should be transparent to the normal user - the appbrowser should do the job of completing the installation, not some post-script or scripts or manual tinkering.

All I'm saying is that the current method is inefficient and actually more complex at the end of the day if you have to move everything around later, even with the help of scripts. Perhaps someone has a better solution for the case of multiple-installations, and it would be nice to hear suggestions for that. No offence, but the appbrowser is clearly the place to implement a flexible solution (and thus avoid the need for post-scripts and system admin tasks related to that...) since it is the installer (shouldn't need some messy post-install scripts or manual "fixes").