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https://github.com/grandchild/linux_installer

Graphical Linux application installer for audiences that are used to Windows installers. Imitates the look-and-feel of NSIS/Wizard97.
https://github.com/grandchild/linux_installer

graphical-installer gtk3 gui-installer installer installer-builder linux linux-installer nsis wizard97

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Graphical Linux application installer for audiences that are used to Windows installers. Imitates the look-and-feel of NSIS/Wizard97.

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README 

        
# Linux Installer



[![Go Reference](https://pkg.go.dev/badge/github.com/grandchild/linux_installer.svg)](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/grandchild/linux_installer)

[![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/grandchild/linux_installer.svg)](

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)



Graphical Linux application installer for audiences that are used to Windows

installers. When all you would _really_ need is `unzip`, but want a nice user

experience nonetheless. Imitates the look and feel of

[NSIS](https://nsis.sourceforge.io/Screenshots), or rather

[Wizard97](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/controls/wizards)-type

installers.



![Screenshot](.doc/screenshot_welcome.png)





(Example installer [splash image](https://unsplash.com/photos/t1XLQvDqt_4) by

[_Deniz Altindas_](https://unsplash.com/@omeganova) and

[banner image](https://unsplash.com/photos/_TqnKtKCb5w) by

[_Victoria_](https://unsplash.com/@pixeldebris) via [unsplash.com](unsplash.com))




## Features



* Application menu entry creation (_.desktop_-files)

* Pre-/post-install script hooks

* Automatic uninstaller script creation

* Commandline or *"silent"* mode

* Cancel with full rollback during install process

* Run application after finish

* Full internationalization for both GUI and CLI



#### Missing Features



* No partial installation, no installation by "components"

* No automatic detection of previous installations for updates



## Contents



* [Quickstart: Run the Example-Installer](#quickstart-run-the-example-installer)

* [Dev Setup & Build a Linux Installer](#dev-setup--build-a-linux-installer)

  * [Overview](#overview)

  * [Requirements](#requirements)

  * [Setup](#setup)

  * [Build](#build)

* [Customization](#customization)

  * [Images](#images)

  * [Installer Style & Layout](#installer-style-layout)

    * [GUI CSS](#gui-css)

  * [Hooks](#hooks)

  * [New Language Translation](#new-language-translation)

  * [New Installer Screens](#new-installer-screens)

    * [Layout](#layout)

    * [Behavior](#behavior)

* [Hacking](#hacking)

* [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

* [License and Acknowledgments](#license-and-acknowledgments)



## Quickstart: Run the Example-Installer



[Download the latest builder](

https://nightly.link/grandchild/linux_installer/workflows/installer-builder-installer/main/setup-installer-builder.zip)

and extract the `setup-installer-builder` executable from it.



```shell

# Run the Setup for the installer-builder (it's a showcase within a showcase 🙂)

chmod +x setup-installer-builder

./setup-installer-builder



# Go to the installed path

cd ~/LinuxInstallerBuilder/  # (or the path you selected during installation)



# (Add/edit file(s) in the "data" subfolder here, but the example has one already.)



# Create the example installer, and give it a version of 1.0 (optional)

make VERSION=1.0



# Run the default output file

./Setup

```



## Dev Setup & Build a Linux Installer



### Overview



This project creates an _installer builder_, which is used to create the actual

installers. The installer builder comes in the shape of a zip archive containing:



 - an empty `data/` source folder for your files

 - the naked `linux-installer` binary

   - _"naked"_ means "only the installer logic", your payload(s) will be appended to

     this file later to create the full installer.

 - all installer GUI files in `resources/` — to customize and modify

 - a `Makefile`/`make.bat` (for building on Linux/Windows respectively) to put

   it all together



The installer builder has no external dependencies (except for `make` on Linux, and

`Powershell` on Windows), and can be run on a minimal dedicated build machine.



### Requirements



* The following dependencies need to be installed to build:



  `go` `gcc` `gtk3` `make` `pkg-config` `zip`



  (Technically, BSD-Make works just as well as GNU-Make, so if you have `bmake`

  that'll work too).



  Prepared install commands for popular distributions are below:



  Archlinux / Manjaro



    `sudo pacman -S --needed go gcc gtk3 make pkg-config zip`

  



  Debian / Ubuntu



    `sudo apt install golang-go gcc libgtk-3-dev libglib2.0-dev make pkg-config zip`

  



  Gentoo



    `sudo emerge dev-lang/go x11-libs/gtk+:3 dev-libs/glib dev-util/pkgconfig app-arch/zip`

  



  Fedora / RedHat



    `sudo dnf install golang gcc gtk3-devel make pkgconf zip`

  



* If you're new to Go, verify that your installation works by running `go version`. It

  should print the installed Go version.



* If you want to edit the installer GUI layout you should install

  [Glade](https://glade.gnome.org/) as well.



### Setup



These steps need to be executed only initially and after updating the installer builder

itself.



1. [Install all dependencies](#requirements).

1. `cd` into the local copy of this repository and run `make linux-builder.zip`.

1. Copy the resulting `linux-builder.zip` archive to builder machine (if different). The

   builder machine can run Linux or Windows.

1. Extract anywhere.



### Build



These steps need to be executed in the extracted builder directory, and for every

installer.



1. Add necessary application files to the `data` subfolder

1. Set `variables.version` (and possibly other variables) in

   `resources`/`config.yml`

1. Run `make` to create installer.

   ```shell

   cd ~/path/to/linux-builder

   make

   # or set version and filename directly on the commandline:

   make VERSION=10.0 OUTPUT=Setup_ExampleApp_v1.1

   ```

1. The same on Windows:

   ```cmd

   cd /d D:\Data\linux-builder\

   make.bat

   :: or:

   make.bat VERSION=10.0 OUTPUT=Setup_ExampleApp_v1.1

   ```

   If you set the variables in `resources`/`config.yml` before you can also

   simply run `make.bat` by double-clicking.



#### Speed-Up Installer Creation



You can pre-compress files that are the same for several installers into zip archives

and put them into the `data_compressed` folder. This can speed up the creation of a

batch of mostly-similar installers.



*Note:* The archive name `data.zip` is used by the builder, so don't use that specific

filename.



## Customization



Various parts of the installer can be customized and changed without touching the code,

such as the style and layout of elements, and the translation strings. The way to do

this is described in this section.



Adding a new screen (or removing one) requires only minor code changes, and is explained

below as well.



### Images



The `splash.bmp` image is shown on the left-hand side of the language-, welcome- and

success-/failure screens, and should be a vertical 164×314 pixels in size. The *right

side* of the image should connect well with the `window.background` color (currently

plain white `#ffffff`).



The `banner.bmp` image is shown on the top of all other screens and should be a

horizontal 497×60 pixels in size. The *bottom* of the image should connect well with the

`window.background` color like above.



The `icon.gif` image is used as the icon in the taskbar and possibly the window's title

bar while the installer is running. It should be a square GIF image, not too large

(16×16 or 32×32 pixels).



### Installer Style & Layout



The GUI layout of the installer is specified in `resources/gui/gui.glade`. This file can

be edited with [Glade](https://glade.gnome.org/), a WYSIWYG GTK3 UI editor.



The layout consists of the main installer window and a do-you-really-want-to-quit dialog

box.



The installer window consists mainly of the "Stack" of screens that the installer can go

through. Not all have to be visited (e.g. installation failure), and not necessarily in

order (although they are mostly run through sequentially).



#### GUI CSS



GTK3 supports styling UI elements with CSS. Elements can have *id*s, *class*es and are

of a type, just like regular HTML elements.



The GUI CSS is loaded from a variable in `resources/config.yml` called `gui_css`, which

controls some colors in the GUI, and mostly sets the background color to white, and

changes some font properties so the license text is not too large, and the filenames in

the installer progress not too prominent.



To change the styling of the installer, simply change the content of that variable. See

[the GTK3 CSS docs](https://developer.gnome.org/gtk3/stable/chap-css-overview.html) for

information and both the [example `config.yml`](resources/config.yml) and the

[`config.yml` for this repository's installer](.release/resources/config.yml) for hints.



### Hooks



Before installation starts, and after, there is the possibility of running a custom

script to do any tasks necessary at that time. Currently these are present, but empty.



The hook scripts live in `resources/hooks/` and are named after their execution time,

namely `pre-install.sh` and `post-install.sh`, which run before and after installation,

respectively.



You can write custom commands into these files and they will be executed. Their output

(for debugging purposes) is logged into the installer.log file that is created when the

installer is run.



### New Language Translation



In short: Add a new file named `xx.yml` inside `resources/languages/` (or better, copy

`en.yml`), where "*xx*" is the language's two-letter [ISO

639-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes) code. Then translate all

messages. The language should now be available in the language selection in the GUI and

the help text in the CLI mode.



E.g. in order to add French, create and translate `resources/languages/fr.yml`.



### New Installer Screens



A new installer screen is a two-step process:



1. *Layout*: Create a new installer screen in `resources/gui/gui.glade`

1. *Behavior*: Add screen to `screenHandlers()` inside `gui/gui.go`



#### Layout



In the list of screens in Glade, right-click on the screen after which you want to

insert your new screen, and select "*Insert Page After*" at the bottom of the context

menu. Double-click inside the resulting empty space and select GtkBox to create a layout

base for the new screen. Give the Box an ID in the details panel on the right in the

"General" tab. This ID is needed in the next step.



You can then design the inside of the Box however you like. Remember to add IDs to

relevant elements in order to reach them from the behavior code.



#### Behavior



In `gui/gui.go` inside `screenHandlers()` add a new section for the screen like this:



```go

    {

        name: "myscreen",

        disabled: false,

        before: func() {

            // ...

        },

        after: func() {

            // ...

        },

        undo: func() bool {

            // ...

        }

    },

```



The "*name*" key is the ID you chose in the layout step. The "*disabled*", "*before*",

"*after*" and "*undo*" keys are documented in the comment for the ScreenHandler struct a

little bit earlier in `gui/gui.go`. See there for details.



If a function for a key is empty (or if "*disabled*" is `false`), the key can be omitted

completely.



## Hacking



See [HACKING.md](HACKING.md).



## Troubleshooting



#### `libc.so.6: version GLIBC_... not found`



The installer might fail to run on another machine with an error like this:



```

./linux-installer-dev: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.32' not found (required by ./linux-installer-dev)

```



The installer builder was linked on a machine with a newer libc than the one on the

running system. The solution is to build on a system with the lowest libc version that

you want to target. Generally this means to build the installer builder on the oldest

Linux version that you are targeting.



To check which version you are running, run `ldd --version`.



(Note that this does not affect the machine on which you are packaging the actual

installers. You can run the installer builder on any system.)



## License and Acknowledgments



This software has a [CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) license.



To the extent possible under law, all copyright and related or neighboring rights to

this work are waived.



(And yes, this means commercial use is explicitly allowed.)



This software was developed and tested for years at

[Contecs engineering services GmbH](http://www.contecs-engineering.de/) who have

graciously allowed publication as free and open source software. Thank you very much!