KDE for Windows, Portable Edition

[Chris Morgan]

Hello again!  I thought I'd follow up on KDE Portable.

I've had some extra comments added by kraplax and SaroEngels in
#kde-windows; some environment variables used are KDEWIN_DIR, KDEROOT and
KDEDIRS which should all be the same.  I'm not sure if these are needed at
all but they don't seem to be in my testing.  For data storage, I've now
tested running applications with KDEHOME (and HOME, XDG_CONFIG_DIR set to
other spots) and changing it moves all data, so that bit's easy.

A thing which I forgot to mention in my original message was about drive
letter updating.  I think that this would just have to be manually tracking
down each app which stores absolute file locations (mainly MRU [recent
files] lists) and updating it.  It's easy to do with a find and replace
(there's a ReplaceInFile macro we use for NSIS at PortableApps.com, a Qt
solution would probably be more difficult but not hard).

How much interest is there for this?  I think that the best way it's going
to work is having your developers doing the work; I can advise and be a
general consultant, but the best way to do it is all in Qt, integrated into
the KDE for Windows project, and I can't really help with the actual coding.
 If you like, I could provide a mockup of how I think it should be with the
Qt Designer and send that round.


On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 4:06 PM, Chris Morgan <chris.morganiser at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi!  I'm a developer from PortableApps.com, and I've taken an interest in
> KDE for Windows, and specifically in making it portable.
> I've had some ideas, some of which I've discussed in #kde-windows, and
> others which I have just pondered.  To start with, I'll briefly overview the
> important details of the PortableApps.com Format.  Everything belongs in
> what by default is X:\PortableApps\KDEPortable (but it can be anything).
>  Another way some things can be done is shared libraries in e.g.
> X:\PortabelApps\CommonFiles\KDE, (e.g. Java), however I don't think this is
> the best way of doing it with KDE (feel free to correct me, I don't know
> terribly much about the framework). Inside the KDEPortable directory, you'd
> have App\KDE, being what would normally be C:\Program Files\KDE.  Data gets
> stored in KDEPortable\Data.  I was told in #kde-windows that changing the
> environment variable KDEHOME should redirect all data, which is very
> convenient (otherwise it'd be very difficult to do it all).
> It seems to me that the easiest way of doing it would be the following:
>
>    1. Have a modified version of the package manager/installer, which
>    overrides the installation directory to App\KDE, and *cleans up the
>    installation files* so that nothing is left behind on the host machine
>    (putting them on the USB drive would be too slow, but you can't just leave
>    them behind in TEMP).  Also, rather than registering executables in the
>    start menu, put them into some format which the KDE Portable launcher can
>    find.
>    2. *KDE Portable launcher:* due to the lack of the start menu, we'd
>    need a KDE app launcher.  This could be responsible for changing KDEHOME, or
>    an ordinary NSIS launcher could do it.  I could do this in AutoHotkey easily
>    enough, but I reckon that a C++/Qt one would be better for consistency; I
>    think it'd be better overall if you did it all, with me for advice on the
>    PortableApps.com side of things.  I think a ListView/QListView-based system
>    would be best and easiest, but you're the experts.
>
> *Naming: *would you prefer it to be called *KDE for Windows, Portable
> Edition*, *KDE Portable*, *KDE for Windows Portable*, or something else?
>  I'm guessing *KDE for Windows, Portable Edition*.  FYI, Mozilla apps
> we've got Portable Editions of because of Mozilla licensing restrictions,
> everything else is just Portable.  But if the whole product name is *KDE
> for Windows*, adding *Portable Edition* may be better than just Portable.
>
> I hope I've made sense, and you can understand what I'm wanting and
> suggesting.  What do you think?
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chris Morgan <chris.morganiser at gmail.com>
>
>
> I don't need a quote in my signature.  It's hard enough surviving as it is
> without having to find a meaningful quote.  Will you forgive me?  Or don't
> you read this bit?
>



Greetings,

Chris Morgan <chris.morganiser at gmail.com>


I don't need a quote in my signature.  It's hard enough surviving as it is
without having to find a meaningful quote.  Will you forgive me?  Or don't
you read this bit?
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