[RFC] Idea how to fix PATH (and other) problems

[Christian Ehrlicher]

Ralf Habacker schrieb:
> Christian Ehrlicher schrieb:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Due to recent discussions on k-c-d where to put shared libs on win32, 
>> I thougt it would be nice to think about what else is different on 
>> win32 / where we have to take care of:
>>
>> - we have to modify the PATH env var - this makes it impossible to 
>> move around our install dir
>> - we have to take care that we use the correct dependency libs
>> - we've two different compilers which are not ABI compatible
>> - the application icon is not included in the executable because it's 
>> handled totally different on non win32
>>
>> All this makes it hard for a normal user to use kde apps on win32.
>>
>> My idea is to create a wrapper executable which handles all the things 
>> above for us. This wrapper is merged with the executable on install 
>> time and is written with pure win32 api to avoid dependencies. On 
>> execution the wrapper sets up all things needed to execute the 
>> programm (maybe saving some settings in the registry to avoid delays 
>> on the next run). It sets up the correct PATH, looks if all our dep 
>> libs are available (in the path) and also knows if it's a mingw or 
>> msvc binary (and therefore set the path to kde4-install/lib/msvc or 
>> kde4-install/lib/mingw).
>> After all is done, the real executable is executed with CreateProcess 
>> directly from the memory - like a packer for executables. When the app 
>> is crashing, it should also be possible to get some more informations 
>> because we launched the app and therefore can play Dr.Watson.
>>
>> Alex: is it possible to execute a programm on install time which 
>> merges the wrapper and the executable? Or do we loose the ability to 
>> install only newer files? Maybe we have to move it to link time - but 
>> do we have access to the app icon then?
>>
>>
>> Any comments?
>>   
> Yes, see append kwrapper, which could be used from windows startmenus. 
> It takes the application to run as parameter. This could be used as 
> target in startmenu links, so there would be not need to create a 
> wrapper for every application.
> 
I don't want an additional application
> Additional in the appended CMakeLists.txt there is initial support for 
> kde applications with application icons.
> It uses an external png2ico tool (installable by the installer) to 
> convert png's to ico's and to add this to an kde application. Then this 
> icon is not required to installed too because it is in the application.  
> This icon could be directly used to be displayed in the startmenu, when  
> creating the startmenu entry.
Icons are not the problem. Setting the correct paths is.
> 
> In the installer there is initial support for creating startmenu links 
> based on kde desktop files ( I remember Christian wrote this), which 
> could be used to create startmenues entries on install time without any 
> additional changes required in the packager.
> 
> Unfortunally I had not found enough time to make this complete.
> 
Christian

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