Refracta Development, Scripts, etc.
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dzz

- dzz
- Posts: 647
- Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:53 am
- Location: Devon, England

## Re: 606_beta2

Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:23 am

In a new install with a different username, the firefox buttons on the panel and near the top of the menu do not work (it does work from the main "network" menu) The release notes only mention what to do for a second user. This error dialog appears:
"Failed to execute default Web Browser."
"Failed to execute child process "/home/user/firefox/firefox" (No such file or directory)."
The file ~/.local/share/xfce4/helpers/custom-WebBrowser.desktop firefox (thunar shows it as ~/.local/share/xfce4/helpers/firefox) reads :
[Desktop Entry]
NoDisplay=true
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=X-XFCE-Helper
X-XFCE-Category=WebBrowser
X-XFCE-CommandsWithParameter=/home/user/firefox/firefox "%s"
Icon=firefox
Name=firefox
X-XFCE-Commands=/home/user/firefox/firefox
For those buttons to work, "user" needs changing to the new username ($HOME or ~ do not work)
Suggested fix: something similar to line 843 in the installer, done to /home/$newname/.local/
fsmithred

- fsmithred
- Posts: 2101
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:13 pm

## Re: 606_beta2

Sun Oct 23, 2011 1:39 pm

@ukbrian
I think you could tweak the installer to install without formatting and without wiping out the existing /home by doing the following:
1. Comment out lines 646 and 647 in refractainstaller-gui
Those lines look like this:

Code:
  `mke2fs -t $fs_type_os "$install_part" ; check_exit
  tune2fs -r 10000 "$install_part" ; check_exit`

2. add "- /home" to the excludes file (/usr/lib/refractainstaller/installer_exclude.list)
CAVEAT: It's possible I'm missing something important here, and I haven't tested it. Please don't test it on a system you care about. And please let me know if it works or not. I see from one of the threads you linked that at least one other person wants to do the same thing. Thanks.
Disk Labels: Changing the installer to accommodate disk labels won't happen soon, and it may not happen at all. It's a simple task for a human to edit fstab for disk labels and get it right. It's so easy to make the script discern what you want and do it right.
Screen width: Seems to be a black art with zenity. Sometimes they do what I want, and sometimes they don't. I played with them until they looked right to me. If you're saying it should be double, then I think I need to see a screen shot.
Version problem with dependencies: I just listed the versions that are in debian squeeze. Both the installer and the snapshot tool probably will work with older versions, but I can't be sure without testing. If I remove the version numbers in the control file, it might work ok with lots of other versions, and it might not. My first thought is that it might be possible to edit the control file inside the .deb before installing it. A more reliable way to get around this problem would be to copy the files into place manually, but then the package manager won't know about it.
Using these tools on other distros: This was not my main focus, but it seems like a reasonable task for the future. Maybe we could start a sticky post for people to record the results of any attempts to use the tools with other distros.
fsmithred

- fsmithred
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- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:13 pm

## Re: 606_beta2

Sun Oct 23, 2011 2:23 pm

> dzz wrote:In a new install with a different username, the firefox buttons on the panel and near the top of the menu do not work (it does work from the main "network" menu)...
> Suggested fix: something similar to line 843 in the installer, done to /home/$newname/.local/

Done. Thanks!
Since we're on the subject of the web browser, I have to say that I'm not completely happy with the current arrangement. I like having firefox installed in $HOME, because I like to keep a live system on a usb stick with a separate /home partition (home-rw) for persistence, and this way, I can update the web browser. But it creates some problems.
If a second user is created, that user has no graphical web browser. (This is discussed in the release notes.)
If user goes to System -> Install Software and chooses to install flash, then the flash plugin and the java plugin (sun-java6-plugin) will be installed, and one or both of those packages require iceweasel to be installed. I don't know what happens next if you accept that.
I'm probably going to leave it the way it is for now. My way of getting around that is to copy the plugin files from my main installation to ~/.mozilla/plugins on the usb stick, but I can't do that for others, because of licensing issues. (You have to agree to the terms of the java plugin, and I think you do for the flash plugin, too.) I'm open to suggestions. The previous version of refracta had kazehakase installed as the default browser, and firefox was only present in /home/user. I dropped kaz to save space.
The other issue I need to work out is how/what to add to /etc/skel so that new users get a refracta desktop instead of the default xfce desktop. And with all the changes that are planned, I might have to release beta3 before the final version.
Thanks again to everyone for your help.
meandean

- meandean
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:16 am

## Re: 606_beta2

Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:36 am

thunar archive plugin would probably be good to have
oh...and what about a calculator, did I overlook it
fsmithred

- fsmithred
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## Re: 606_beta2

Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:20 pm

Trusty xcalc is always there. I just made a .desktop file for it, so it shows up in Accessories.
Also added thunar archive plugin. I don't use it, but I know some of you guys like it.
meandean

- meandean
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:16 am

## Re: 606_beta2

Mon Oct 24, 2011 6:47 pm

I think if it was me I would just iceweasel and be done with it. Then you could create some kind of installer for a ~ firefox install for those that wanted/needed it.
I don't think flash requires a browser although it may suggest one. The java plugin does require a browser. You could get around that in many ways but I am not sure any of them are ideal. Maybe keep the ~ firefox install but add it to /etc/skel (if not already) so that everyone has it. Then create a fake package of some obscure browser (midbrowser) so the java requirement would be satisfied and not pull in iceweasel when java is installed. maybe?
Oh, and when I added a new user I think the only thing I copied over was ~/.config/xfce4/ and that seemed to do it but I did not go crazy checking anything.
I am sure you know this but it really just depends on what all you tweak as to what you need in /etc/skel. The stuff in .config is a good candidate, maybe .local depending on if you it gets used by something, even .gconf if you make changes to anything stored in it, etc...
meandean

- meandean
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:16 am

## Re: 606_beta2

Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:02 pm

> fsmithred wrote:Trusty xcalc is always there. I just made a .desktop file for it, so it shows up in Accessories.
> Also added thunar archive plugin. I don't use it, but I know some of you guys like it.

Yep xcalc works, usually I just alt+f2 to run stuff and xcalc is always there so usually what I use. I just thought Aunt Nadir would like a pretty calculator like galculator or similar.
My kids and wife are use to right-clicking and extracting/archiving so I thought the plugin would be a good choice. If I am using the file manager then I sometimes remember to right-click rather than open a terminal and archive/extract so it could be useful I think.
Aunt Nadir
nadir

- nadir
- Posts: 1160
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 4:18 am
- Location: here

## Re: 606_beta2

Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:47 pm

been thinking about a new username for the last couple of days ("struth" and "maniacat" are close to the final decission), but "aunt_nadir" made me rethink...
I think what is really good: if the username and the user/root password is announced at the gdm screen. Only if that is a no-brainer, but i ran into liveCD's which i couldn't even shutdown more than once. Say for aunt nadir it might be a help.
In general i am fine with the choice of software. I remove a few, add a few, and i am done.
Still a big fan of either fluxbox or icewm for P3-machines, as a fallback (not that xfce would not do the job, but it kinda helps)
fsmithred

- fsmithred
- Posts: 2101
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:13 pm

## Re: 606_beta2

Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:00 am

I tried adding kaz and then installing the java plugin, and it still wanted iceweasel. I haven't decided what I'll do about that, but I'm leaning toward iceweasel just to avoid hassles for people.
Maybe the login and password could be added to the boot help screen. Some parts of the release notes will probably be in there, and that information is part of those notes. If it goes on the login screen, it'll still be there after you install and change the password. I'd find that annoying. And it would not even be slightly child-proof. (Yeah, I'm thinking about stuff like that now.)
I just left-click on the archives, and xarchiver comes up. The archive plugin is small, so I'll leave it in and might even start using it.
nadir

- nadir
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- Location: here

## Re: 606_beta2

Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:06 am

> fsmithred wrote:Maybe the login and password could be added to the boot help screen. Some parts of the release notes will probably be in there, and that information is part of those notes. If it goes on the login screen, it'll still be there after you install and change the password. I'd find that annoying. And it would not even be slightly child-proof. (Yeah, I'm thinking about stuff like that now.)

I see.
That is what i meant with: "if it is no trouble". But sure: having it all the time there would be annoying. But you see my despartation if i use a live-CD which autologs in, and then i can't shut it down, i guess (most let you do "sudo su" without password, but not all).
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