Release PNDManager

[A2000]

^I really like this proposal as PndManager is the application I use the most. And it is the very tool for administrative tasks for me.

 

[b_o_b]

Programs installed with PNDmanager are not added to minimenu. They are available in PNDmanager as 'installed' and can be launched there. I tried unmounting the sd-card, rebooting, checking the sd-card. Didn't help. 

Download PND's and manually installing them are working fine.  

 

[EvilDragon]

Have you selected "Rescan" in MiniMenu?

MiniMenu only rescans when your remove / reinsert the SD Card or after a new boot.

When you install something with PNDManager, it doesn't automatically rescan.

 

[bzar]

Hey, B-Zar, I made the suggestion to make a meta PND package for OS updates, here: http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/17393-meta-package-pnd-for-system-update/


However the problem with my idea is, that a PND could only remind to make a OS update, but if you update this meta PND without starting it, the OS is still not updated.


So notaz proposed, that it may be a good idea to implement the check directly in the PNDManager.


The problem is: If you are not active in the board, you may not realize, that a new OS update is available. However most people start your application at least once a week.


So do you think, it may be possible to check for an OS update (if the user presses Alt/Start), too, to show it like a PND and to start the upgrade from the PNDManager?

The "show it like a PND" part is harder than it seems unless this is done at libpndman level, in which case it would be a transparent update to PNDManager and work out of the box in GUI side.

If implemented as a purely PNDManager side feature it would have to be a separate functionality from the PND management side. I'm quite busy at the moment, but if someone comes up with a C or C++ module (using Qt 4.8 stuff and maybe even providing a nice signal/slot interface is encouraged) that handles checking for the update, downloading it, reporting progress and all the other doodads needed I can look into integrating it into the UI at some point when I find some suitable free time.

( ninja'd by ED in answering b_o_b )

 

[b_o_b]

I just found some old posts of me reporting the same issue in 2013 - so it is an old problem. It might have something to do with my use of SD cards. I regularly switch them between Pandora's and port 1 and 2.

Rescanning apps or rebooting doesn't help. There must be a difference in installing PNDs manually and by using PNDmanager that causes it. PNDstore also worked fine (haven't tried that for a while though)

edit: here start of my old post http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/7831-pndmanager/?p=281959 

 

[bzar]

That's strange: PNDManager (actually libpndman) writes the files to a temporary location during download, then moves them to final location after it finishes. There shouldn't be anything special about it.

 

[b_o_b]

It is pretty inconvenient and is the main reason I don't use PNDmanager that much. If I can help you solve this I will gladly do some tests or share config files.  

 

[bzar]

I honestly have quite little to go on here. If it works when you place a PND where PNDManager would it should work when PNDManager does it. At least it should when you reinsert the SD card since that triggers the libpnd daemon to check it for PNDs. All I can think of is something with permissions or something. If you move a PND you downloaded using PNDManager to another location, then move it back to where it was does it get recognized when you rescan? If it doesn't there must be something different about the metadata or the file itself. Files are checksummed on download so that sounds unlikely. You could try downloading the same PND to two different locations using PNDManager and PNDStore, then "ls -l" both locations and see if there's anything different about the file sizes or permissions.

 

[b_o_b]

PNDmanager doesn't save the PNDs in /pandora/apps - they are saved in /pandora/desktop. 
 
I just tried PNDstore and it doesn't work at all and crashes immediately. Maybe the .out file created after the crash helps? 
 

Spoiler

======================================================================================

PND             : /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/apps/PNDstore-1.0.3.pnd
PND_FSTYPE      : Squashfs
APPDATADIR      : /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/appdata/pndstore
APPDD_FSTYPE    : vfat
PND_CPUSPEED    : <unset>
EXENAME         : PNDstore
ARGUMENTS       : --working-dir=.
=======================================================================================
[ START ]--- Mount the PND ----------
Mounting : mount -t squashfs -o ro "/dev/loop0" "/mnt/utmp/pndstore"
Mounting the Union FS : mount -t aufs -o exec,noplink,dirs="/media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/appdata/pndstore=rw+nolwh":"/mnt/pnd/pndstore=rr" none "/mnt/utmp/pndstore"
[sUCCESS]--- Mount the PND ----------
[ START ]--- Starting the application ( PNDstore --working-dir=. ) ----------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./PNDstore", line 6, in <module>
    from pndstore_core import options
  File "/mnt/utmp/pndstore/pndstore_core/options.py", line 7, in <module>
    import libpnd
  File "/mnt/utmp/pndstore/pndstore_core/libpnd.py", line 264, in <module>
    pxml_get_associationitem1_parameter = p.pnd_pxml_get_associationitem1_parameter
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.py", line 378, in __getattr__
    func = self.__getitem__(name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.py", line 383, in __getitem__
    func = self._FuncPtr((name_or_ordinal, self))
AttributeError: /usr/lib/libpnd.so.1: undefined symbol: pnd_pxml_get_associationitem1_parameter
[ FAILED]--- Starting the application ( PNDstore --working-dir=. ) ----------
[ START ]--- Restoring the frame buffer status ----------
[sUCCESS]--- Restoring the frame buffer status ----------
[ START ]--- uMount the PND ----------
[ START ]--- Waiting the Union to be available ----------
[sUCCESS]--- Waiting the Union to be available ----------
auplinklink.c:223: AUFS_CTL_PLINK_MAINT: Inappropriate ioctl for device
rmdir: failed to remove `/mnt/utmp/pndstore': Device or resource busy
[ START ]--- Waiting the PND mount dir to be free ----------
[sUCCESS]--- Waiting the PND mount dir to be free ----------
cleanup done
[sUCCESS]--- uMount the PND ----------
=======================================================================================
Return code is : 3

After cut and paste the PNDs created by PNDManager from /pandora/desktop to /pandora/apps the PNDs were shown in minimenu. 

So I guess the only question that remains is: why is PNDManager saving the PND's in /pandora/desktop instead of /pandora/apps?

This is the PNDmanagers config file:

Spoiler

[panorama]

dataDirectory=/mnt/utmp/pndmanager

uiDirectory=interfaces

ui=PNDManager

fullscreen=false

 

[PNDManager]

showSplashScreen=false

showHints=true

mouseCursorVisible=false

lastInstallDevice=

lastInstallLocation=

loggingVerbosity=5

maownloads=4

username=

apiKey=

customDevices=

 

[bzar]

PNDManager asks where to save the PND. It's right after you select it for download. It's the menu, desktop or both selection. Menu means "/pandora/menu/", desktop "/pandora/desktop" and both "/pandora/apps". All should be visible in minimenu AFAIK though.

 

[b_o_b]

Damn... and I have never noticed that.. I don't think I have ever knowingly changed the setting. Oh well, at least this fixed it. Seems like minimenu isn't using /destop location in my case but to be sure I will not run into issues in the future I have selected both.    

Thanks for your help B-ZaR!

 

[bzar]

You're welcome! PNDManager should remember your location selection for future downloads in its settings.cfg so you don't have to remember to set it every time

Have fun!

 

[bzar]

New PNDManager 1.4.0.2 is now available in the repo

New stuff:

• Added a settings view for common settings
• Added a setting to flip OK/Back buttons

Huge thanks to Christoph.Krn for working with me on this

 

[milkshake]

Woop

 

[Neelix]

New PNDManager 1.4.0.2 is now available in the repo

New stuff:

• Added a settings view for common settings
• Added a setting to flip OK/Back buttons

Huge thanks to Christoph.Krn for working with me on this

Very nice.

Any chance of adding the mouse visibility option to the settings screen and a way to get to the welcome screen without enabling it and restarting? (an "about" button)

- Neelix

 

[bzar]

The former is easy and quick to add, the latter should be thought out more. Why is it needed?

 

[Neelix]

Hmmm... Mainly I was thinking it would be good way to be able to check the current version number, (I've had occasions where I've updated it, and restarted it but it had failed to unmount cleanly so I was still actually running the old version after the restart) but I just looked at it again and I realised the version number isn't there anyway. I also just noticed that the instructions there no longer fit neatly into the window. (I never run it in full-screen mode)

- Neelix

 

[bzar]

Current version number is easily checked from the installed packages list like for any other PND

 

[Neelix]

Current version number is easily checked from the installed packages list like for any other PND

Not if you're running a different version from what's installed. (see comment in my previous post)

- Neelix

 

[Christoph.Krn]

Any chance of adding the mouse visibility option to the settings screen [...]

May I ask what the setup looks like where you're using PNDManager with a mouse? Are you changing this mouse visibility setting frequently / would you like to change it (more) frequently?

(I've had occasions where I've updated it [PNDManager, remark Christoph.Krn], and restarted it but it had failed to unmount cleanly so I was still actually running the old version after the restart)

...irrespective of whether or not PNDManager should have its running version number easily accessible somewhere, should it really be up to the user to verify that such a hiccup has not occurred?