A Haiku Installation System Layer Proposal

[hydexon]

Hello, just a new Haiku User. i’m simply Freepascal/Lazarus newbie developer with a proposal: a Haiku Installation System Layer.

How works?
The Haiku Installation Layers works likely Windows Installer (MSI), Haiku Installation Layer can handle dependencies, show a simply wizard, and install the software, are pacakges with the .hip extension (Acronym of Haiku Installable Package). I propose this because everyone’s wants a Haiku a easy-to-use operating system, no another linux-way to install applications.

How i can do it
I’m not familiarized with C++, but yes with FPC (Exists an Port of FreePascal Compiler for Haiku), just i need to know how to register apps in the Haiku Apps Menu, Creating Icons in the desktop, and the directories where is correct to install applicaitons.

If i want create a Package?
Just the tools are a simple compiler shell, and user-friendly INI-Files, don’t complex with database tables, complex projects,organization, etc.

Just that, thanks for reading and sorry for my english!
Greetings from the El Salvador, C.A.

[kidd106]

To register apps in the haiku Apps Menu look in

/boot/home/config/be/. In it you’ll find the files and folders that appear in the Deskbar, by default these are Applications, Demos, Deskbar applets, and Preferences.
You can delete or add entries like links to applications, documents or even queries by simply copying/deleting them to/from this folder.

It’s even easier to simply drag a file, folder or saved query and drop it where you want it into the Deskbar.

(quote from Deskbar)

wrt to just another linux-way to install packages, there are plans to make a package manager for haiku here http://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/PackageManagement

There are also .pkg files which will automatically install a program on a computer, probably what your wanting but I’m not sure how to make a .pkg

[hydexon]

Thanks for the info, just i finished to install Haiku (Lastest Alpha) to my system. and no, i don’t intend to create an linuxed Package Manager, Haiku must be simple and easy to use, and no another “linuxified” OS with their plague: the “Dependency Hell”. Installations in Haiku must be simply like Windows, robust, centralized and less-dependencies (DLL’s are another thing).

mmm, yes i wan’t to know to create .pkg files

[Diver]

In BeOS R5 there was an app called PackageBuilder which was part of BeOS R5 Development Tools http://www.bebits.com/app/2680 (DevTools.zip)
However, Haiku doesn’t have a replacement for it and all applications comes in the form of zip archives (since zip preserves bfs attributes).

[commodorejohn]

I think this is a great idea, but I’d like to make one point: whatever you do, make it possible to cleanly uninstall! Uninstallation is just as important, otherwise you wind up with a system cluttered with old applications or have to remove them yourself and risk messing something up.

[hydexon]

Yes, this is the most important part of the installation, for install applications using the layer, an single database records all installations and their rollback information, for uninstall cleanly as you say.