Linux system wide installer

[Alberto Salvia Novella]

I have created an software that can install The Dark Mod in any Linux system wide.

https://gitlab.com/es20490446e/darkmod-linux

[Xolvix]

I assume this is you then?

https://reddit.com/r/linux/comments/j91pt8/the_dark_mod_linux/

Lots of responses, good to see.

 

[freyk]

nice to have.
Next to the old and new tdm installer, repo packages, etc. 

i have not read your code yet. Does this installer follow the installation instructions from wiki article:
https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Installer_and_Manual_Installation

Edited October 13, 2020 by freyk

[Alberto Salvia Novella]

@freyk

 

[freyk]

I love the idea to link files and i know this works great with TDM..
I PM'ed stgatilov suggested this some months ago

======

Freyk - April 10:
About that recurring TDM folder permissions problem.
And following the Certification requirements for windows apps
What you think about placing some data folders and files outside the tdm folder and add locationspath's in the config file?

for example,
following os standards
for windows: the fm folder and darkmod.cfg inside windows appdata folder.
For linux: fm folder and darkmod.cfg in hidden folder inside users home folder /home/user/.tdm/

----------
stgatilov

It is all great and cool with standards, but the current layout has major benefits.
    It can be installed without admin rights.
    It can be moved or copied and will continue to work (portability).
    It is much simpler conceptually (one dir = whole game, no googling for where this bastard stores saves).
    It already works and has worked for ages.
So I will be strongly against dropping it.

Recently Cabalistic looked into the question of paths and how to support saves/FMs in separate directory. As far as I remember, he concluded that it is hard. And you know, Cabalistic is a very capable developer that we are lucky to have with us. Moreover, maintaining both approaches would be a huge pain both for us and for users (because one of the paths --- and I know which --- will get broken regularly).
I guess path system was changed somewhere around TDM 2.00 last time, and I recall still fixing issues with it for 2.06. I hope this gives you the scope of problems which usually arise from changing path conventions.
So speaking of TDM, those standards can go to hell, and I don't care.
By the way, I guess I already said that most games are installed with steam, which also does not care about Program Files.
Aside from that, I plan a few changes to tdm_updater for the next beta. The most important one is to display warning on start if user has admin rights (more precisely, if the process integrity level is high or above), encouraging the user to restart it as normal user. Also some better handling of file writing error in a few places. The error messages would suggest installing TDM somewhere where user can normally create files, e.g. C:\games\TheDarkMod, and explicitly discourage from Program Files. I hope this would help to shift players into the right mindset.
============

Edited October 13, 2020 by freyk

[Alberto Salvia Novella]

Having it installed as a system wide application makes more sense to me.

It also makes more sense only displaying info or errors that need compulsory attendance of a human. Everything else is better automated or prevented all together.

That said most of my software design ideas come from The Unix Philosophy, in case you are curious.