Akira: Appimage package

[philipzae]

Look forward to using your app once it comes out as i'm currently using balsamiq and pencil for UI designing and would suggest that you package it as an appimage to ensure it easily runnable on any linux distro.

https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit

[probonopd]

__Edit 2020: An AppImage for testing is available now at:
https://github.com/probonopd/Akira/releases/tag/continuous__

[Alecaddd]

Thanks guys, I will definitely package it as an AppImage to make it available and usable in every distro.
I'm working on the first pre-alpha draft, and actually, I decided to code it in Vala and Gtk, which I found myself more comfortable than Qt.
I should be able to release something really basic, but usable, before the end of the month. Maybe some of you could contribute with a PR for the travis file to aut trigger the compiling of an appimage. That'd be neet.
Cheers

[probonopd]

Please see https://github.com/probonopd/linuxdeployqt, it has a template that you can literally copy and paste and go from there.

[Alecaddd]

@probonopd Does this work with Vala and CMake apps as well? I'm not using Qt anymore.

[probonopd]

Yes. See the CMake section on https://github.com/probonopd/linuxdeployqt.

[Alecaddd]

Hi @probonopd, I'm trying to build an AppImage for Akira but it keeps failing.
Here's the file: https://github.com/Alecaddd/Akira/blob/appimage/.travis.yml

[Alecaddd]

By default is installing old versions of the required dependencies.
Is this related to the fact that I need to compile for trusty?

Found gtk+-3.0, version 3.10.8
--   Found granite, version 0.1.4
--   Found glib-2.0, version 2.40.2
--   Found gee-0.8, version 0.20.0
--   Found gobject-2.0, version 2.40.2
--   Found libxml-2.0, version 2.9.1
--   Found gtksourceview-3.0, version 3.10.2

Is there a way to specify an updated or specific version during the apt-get install process?

[probonopd]

Yes. We recommend to build for the oldest still-supported LTS (Long Term Support) version which is 14.04 trusty at the moment, so that the resulting AppImage will be compatible with those systems, too. So you need to find versions of those dependencies that are new enough to work with Akira, but for 14.04. Maybe there are PPAs, maybe you need to compile them from source.

[Alecaddd]

@probonopd I'm adding all the necessary PPAs and travis seems to install everything correctly, but the process exits with this error:

iconToBeUsed: "/home/travis/build/Alecaddd/Akira/appdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/com.github.alecaddd.akira.svg"
ERROR: Could not copy "/home/travis/build/Alecaddd/Akira/appdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/com.github.alecaddd.akira.svg" to "/home/travis/build/Alecaddd/Akira/appdir/com.github.alecaddd.akira.svg" 

The icon is there and I'm copying everything. Do you know how I can troubleshoot this?

[probonopd]

@Alecaddd smells like this might be a linuxdeployqt bug. Can you point me to a Travis CI build where I can see this?

[Alecaddd]

There you go:
https://travis-ci.org/Alecaddd/Akira/builds/320772567

Thanks for taking the time to check this

[probonopd]

Triggered a build, let's see how it goes:
https://travis-ci.org/probonopd/Akira/builds

[Alecaddd]

Thanks for checking, be sure to build off of the appimage branch. I removed methods and features not supported by those packages version

[probonopd]

Very strange. It seems like in the second run of linuxdeployqt it does not recognize the pre-existing icon here:

https://github.com/probonopd/linuxdeployqt/blob/c1ee04f1164021bc82cd46fff1476af20659ae41/tools/linuxdeployqt/main.cpp#L315-L318

It _should_ recognize the pre-existing icon and not attempt to copy it (again):

https://github.com/probonopd/linuxdeployqt/blob/master/tools/linuxdeployqt/main.cpp#L324-L326

But for some strange reason this is not working as it should...

[probonopd]

https://github.com/Alecaddd/Akira/blob/0d0aa391c4f43eeaa8a998daddb7167af559ae87/.travis.yml#L4

This is much too new. The resulting AppImage would only run on late-2016 and newer distributions, which kinda defeats the point. Please lower the build-time requirements to the oldest still-supported Ubuntu LTS version, which is at this point 14.04 trusty.

I am not even sure whether linuxdeployqt works properly on such new systems.

[Alecaddd]

Lowered the target to trusty but I get the same error with the missing icon.

[probonopd]

Looks like I am getting somewhere with my builds but the UI looks a bit off, maybe this needs to be tweaked for trusty?

https://github.com/probonopd/Akira/blob/patch-1/.travis.yml

[Alecaddd]

Oh wow, that's a good sign!
Can you make a PR to the appimage branch with the edits you made to make it work?
With that, I can start tweaking the app to make it compatible with Trusty and test everything locally.

EDIT: I saw you linked the travis file in the comment. I'll use that. Thank you so much! 👍

[Alecaddd]

Ok, I'm getting super excited about this!
The deployment via Travis works, just a couple of things are missing.

1. I need to use a couple of slightly more updated packages. Considering that I can build from source inside travis, is it ok for AppImage? It won't create any issue if the OS or the Distro doesn't have those packages, right? Is everything embedded into the app?

2. The AppImage comes without an icon, is there something I'm missing?

Cheers

[probonopd]

I need to use a couple of slightly more updated packages. Considering that I can build from source inside travis, is it ok for AppImage?

Yes. As long as it is not one of the blacklisted libs (which we expect to come from the system) you should generally be fine.

The AppImage comes without an icon, is there something I'm missing?

Where exactly is the icon missing? Please use QApplication::setWindowIcon().

[SkyzohKey]

Look at the Bash script that I used to build Ricin when I was developing it. It's Vala/Gtk+3 based so you should have minor tweaks to apply :)

https://github.com/RicinApp/Ricin/blob/master/appimage.sh

[probonopd]

@SkyzohKey this is a very manual way of doing things; in the meantime, using linuxdeployqt may be an easier route - although I haven't tried it on Vala/Gtk+3 apps specifically so far.

[SkyzohKey]

@probonopd Yeah but this project is no longer Qt driven. If I understand correctly it's now 100% GTYK+3/Vala. And the file you made for Ricin should be simple to adapt to Akira' usecase :)

EDIT: nvm, linuxdeployqt looks promising, great work guy!

[probonopd]

Despite its name, linuxdeployqt also works for non-Qt software.

[armansansd]

Hi !
I've been trying to install akira on arch (using meson but also from a repo on yaourt)
But in both cases there is a problem with the interface. I don't get any error message in my terminal, and I don't really know where to look for a log.
I saw that @probonopd had a similar issue, I'm looking for clues :)

[Alecaddd]

That looks like it's supposed to.
Akira is still in early development, and the screenshot in the readme file it's just a mockup.
Still, a long way to go and many hours of coding before it'll be usable.
Cheers

[armansansd]

Ho sorry !
well then it's working perfectly.
Good luck with your project, I can't wait to test it :)

[ni-code]

Hello, I can't run the appimage on open suse tumbleweed, it complains about libthai, At the moment the libthai version on open suse tumbleweed is 0.1.27-2.1.

'''
$./Akira-d74196b-x86_64.AppImage
akira: /tmp/.mount_Akira-2YuEj3/usr/lib/libthai.so.0: version `LIBTHAI_0.1.25' not found (required by /usr/lib64/libpango-1.0.so.0)
'''

[probonopd]

As per https://github.com/AppImage/AppImages/blob/master/excludelist, libthai should __not__ be bundled inside the AppImage.

[ni-code]

Is there any workaround to run the appimage in suse tumbleweed?
I'm sorry for the off-topic question, I'm not a developer.

[Alecaddd]

I'd suggest to not stress too much for now 😄
Akira is still in early development and it doesn't work at all.
As soon as a barely usable alpha is ready, I will be sure to build the AppImage by myself and release it globally.
Thank you so much for your interest in Akira, it's a massive project that needs a lot of works, but it will happen soon.
Cheers

[xordspar0]

:raised_back_of_hand: I'd like to volunteer to take on building an AppImage once we're ready. I have a little bit of experience with it.

[jpcima]

Hello, I can't run the appimage on open suse tumbleweed, it complains about libthai, At the moment the libthai version on open suse tumbleweed is 0.1.27-2.1.

Hello, same issue here. Most likely, libpango is missing from the AppImage.

[azzamsa]

any update?

I am searching for Appimage release, can't found it in README. thanks.

[probonopd]

I have started __from scratch__ on working on an AppImage build (using my new go-based appimagetool and GitHub Actions):
https://github.com/probonopd/Akira/blob/patch-2/.github/workflows/build.yml

AppImage for testing is available at:
https://github.com/probonopd/Akira/releases/tag/continuous

(Note that this AppImage bundles _everything_ including glibc and Gtk, so it should run even on older systems than the build system.)

[probonopd]

This is what I currently get.

I suppose it tries to load (some but not all) icons from a wrong (system-wide rather than relative) location, and something with fontconfig is broken.

But hey, I have a running application on a Xubuntu 18.04 system... it's a start. Anyone has any ideas?

[probonopd]

Could it be that instead of the Gtk default theme and Adwaita icon theme we need to bundle an Elementary specific theme and icon theme?

[Alecaddd]

Yes, Akira relies on the elementary OS theme and icons.
Those should be bundled inside the appimage like we're doing for snap and flatpak to guarantee visual consistency

[probonopd]

Looking at

https://github.com/akiraux/Akira/blob/3feb6961655a58363f5e734b52e6d3e016090ba6/src/Application.vala#L110-L114

it seems like the application prefers the elementary theme and icons if they are _somewhere_. Where on the filesystem is this _somewhere_, can it be a path relative to the main executable? The code seems to suggest they are tried to be loaded from /com/github/akiraux/akira. I don't quite understand what this is - certainly not a path in the filesystem?

[probonopd]

cp: cannot stat '/usr/share/icons/elementary': No such file or directory

Where are the required theme and icon stored in the Docker container, so that I can copy them from there?

[probonopd]

Installing and bundling into the AppImage the packages elementary-theme and elementary-icon-theme made quite a difference...

Here it is running on Deepin Linux 20:

[probonopd]

Now, probably we should default to using the elementary theme for Akira:

Again, running on Deepin Linux 20.

[probonopd]

We probably also need to bundle (and compile) some schemas.

Currently Insert -> Artboard -> (start drawing) results in:

(Akira:32595): GLib-GIO-ERROR **: 20:07:14.363: Settings schema 'org.gtk.Settings.ColorChooser' is not installed
Trace/breakpoint trap

[probonopd]

Fixed. Looks pretty functional to me now, at least on Deepin Linux 20:

Note that none of the Elementary libraries, themes, or icons ship with Deepin Linux.

[probonopd]

Looks like we are getting somewhere:

This is the Akira AppImage from https://github.com/probonopd/Akira/releases/tag/continuous running on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Please go ahead and test the AppImage, I'd appreciate any feedback - especially things that are not working perfectly yet.

[Alecaddd]

Wonderful, I'll test it later today and let you know if everything works.

Should I do something to automate the build of a new appimage for every release?

Thank you so much for your contribution

[probonopd]

As soon as you have tested it and like the result, I can send a pull request for the automatic AppImage generation and uploading.

[probonopd]

fwiw, I just ran the Akira AppImage on KDE neon User Edition 5.6 Live ISO which is based on Ubuntu xenial from 2016. (Of course, no elementary libraries are installed there.)

[Alecaddd]

Lovely!

[probonopd]

Manjaro 17.1.1:

[Alecaddd]

Tested on Ubuntu 18.04.
Everything works and looks great, save and load files, export, etc.

I stumbled upon a single issue which it doesn't happen with the native elementary app.

1. Unzip this file and open it with Akira: single.zip
2. Go to Export > Highlight Area to export > draw a rectangle around the free items with the image in the canvas.
3. In the Export Dialog, click the transparency toggle, then export the file.
4. Without closing the application or the current file, repeat point 2 and 3.
5. Upon toggling the transparency toggle, the app crashes.

I don't know if this is related to Appimage or something sketchy going on with my code.
This doesn't happen with the native elementary app, or the flatpak. Didn't test with the snap.

[azzamsa]

Tried with i3wm.

basic

basic functionality works, but there is a black gap between the window and the app.

single.zip test

failed at 3rd step. App crashed.

$ ./Akira-c12e816-x86_64.AppImage
Run experimental self-contained bundle

(Akira:19057): dbind-WARNING **: 09:41:55.821: AT-SPI: Error retrieving accessibility bus address: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.a11y.Bus was not provided by any .service files

(Akira:19057): Gtk-WARNING **: 09:42:22.689: gtk_widget_size_allocate(): attempt to allocate widget with width -636 and height 16

(Akira:19057): Gtk-WARNING **: 09:46:38.409: gtk_widget_size_allocate(): attempt to allocate widget with width -636 and height 16

(Akira:19057): Gtk-WARNING **: 09:46:38.431: gtk_widget_size_allocate(): attempt to allocate widget with width -636 and height 16

(Akira:19057): GLib-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.021: g_variant_new_string: assertion 'string != NULL' failed

(Akira:19057): GLib-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.021: g_variant_ref_sink: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(Akira:19057): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.021: g_settings_schema_key_type_check: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(Akira:19057): GLib-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.021: g_variant_get_type_string: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(Akira:19057): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.021: g_settings_set_value: key 'export-folder' in 'com.github.akiraux.akira' expects type 's', but a GVariant of type '(null)' was given

(Akira:19057): GLib-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.021: g_variant_unref: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(Akira:19057): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.078: gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(Akira:19057): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.078: gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(Akira:19057): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.078: gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(Akira:19057): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.078: gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(Akira:19057): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.078: gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(Akira:19057): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.078: gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(Akira:19057): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.078: gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(Akira:19057): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 09:47:37.090: gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(Akira:19057): Akira-ERROR **: 09:47:56.191: ExportManager.vala:509: Unable to export images: Failed to open “/Untitled.png” for writing: Permission denied
Trace/breakpoint trap

[probonopd]

there is a black gap between the window and the app.

This seems to be a known issue which appears when no AppImage is involved as well:
https://github.com/numixproject/numix-gtk-theme/issues/206
We need to see whether there is a way to fix this without having to edit files in the user's $HOME.

I stumbled upon a single issue which it doesn't happen with the native elementary app. (...) Without closing the application or the current file, repeat point 2 and 3.

Not sure at all what is going on there or how this might be related to AppImage, maybe someone with gdb skills can find out?

[Alecaddd]

I stumbled upon a single issue which it doesn't happen with the native elementary app. (...) Without closing the application or the current file, repeat point 2 and 3.

Not sure at all what is going on there or how this might be related to AppImage, maybe someone with gdb skills can find out?

I might be able to solve this with the next release as I'm removing a bunch of annoying GTK Warnings when opening the export dialog. That might be related to the crash.

[probonopd]

there is a black gap between the window and the app.

Maybe we need to export GTK_RC_FILES and ship a private gtkrc file.

[Alecaddd]

@probonopd I just released v0.0.13 where I fixed all the GTK warnings in the export dialog.
Hopefully that should fix the crash with the AppImage.

[probonopd]

Thanks @Alecaddd. New build is up:
https://github.com/probonopd/Akira/releases/tag/continuous

[Alecaddd]

This works perfectly for me, no more crashes!

[probonopd]

You would not believe where I got this running. Actually I was shocked to see this work :100:

Yes, what you are seeing here is the content of the AppImage running on... __FreeBSD__.

Caveats: Some steps are currently needed to be done manually.

• The linux64 compatibility layer for FreeBSD needs to be set up and configured by the user
• The AppImage needs to be extracted with --appimage-extract; not clear yet whether we can change this, https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit/issues/98#issuecomment-683263860
• chmod +x squashfs-root/usr/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (I think I can remove the need for this)
• brandelf -t linux squashfs-root/usr/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (I think I can remove the need for this)
• As root: sysctl compat.linux.osrelease=4.0.00 (possibly I can patch the ELFs and/or patch away a check in the bundled ld-linux in the AppImage to remove the need for this)

[azzamsa]

Sadly the gap persists.

[probonopd]

Yes. Sadly I have not found a good way to fix this. It happens only on some host systems. We need someone who understands what Gtk is doing here and why... this seems to be an issue that also exists outside of the AppImage world.

[xordspar0]

Does Akira draw a semi-transparent shadow around the window? Is that what the black area is?

[albfan]

This is related with i3wm. I see this error in many other issues in other apps, always related with i3.

https://github.com/EliverLara/Ant/commit/3fc9a80f0d4ffe8370792a72f5de4b44d6603fe3

[azzamsa]

I've tried to put the code below in /.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css, to get rid of window gap problem. But it doesn't work.

.window-frame {box-shadow: none; margin: 0;}

[probonopd]

Yes, I have also not found a solution for this yet but it seems to also occur outside of the AppImage world. Maybe we need a Gtk expert here.

[hcsubser]

So I downloaded probonopd's appimage and tried to fix the problem with that black box around the window and it seems to be the problem with the elementary theme. I unpacked the appimage and them ran it using some other themes such as Adwaita, Qogir-light and Greybird and not a single one of them had the that black box so it seems like the elementary theme is broken. After that by randomly removing .css files from elementary theme directory I found out that the problem comes from file called gtk-widgets.css, to make sure that that is the case I replaced that file with the gtk-widgets.css from Qogir-light theme and the black box seems to be gone, however this really is not a fix since now it looks like a real frankenstein theme.

Because I dont have any knowledge with making gtk themes I could not really find a solution, however for the time being a temporary fix would be to use some other theme for the appimage like Adwaita or Adelementary theme which actually looks simiplar to the elementary theme
-problem seems to be with the gtk-widgets.css file

[probonopd]

Thanks for your analysis. Maybe we can nail it further down to something particular inside gtk-widgets.css in the elementary theme. If possible, I'd like to keep using the elementary theme for elementary apps, because that's what they have been designed for. But it would be good to get rid of that black frame.

Maybe @danrabbit knows what might be causing this thick black extra border that appears on _some_ systems?

[albfan]

I just tried https://github.com/probonopd/Akira/releases/download/continuous/Akira-26-x86_64.AppImage and everything works as expected:

So this is not akira related but i3wm and elementary theme related. I suggest to open an issue on those projects to track that.

In any case, this issue is done (there's an akira appimage package)

Anyone see a reason to keep this issue open here?

[probonopd]

Anyone see a reason to keep this issue open here?

Yes, https://github.com/akiraux/Akira/releases/download/continuous/ does not have an AppImage yet. Sending a PR.

[albfan]

Ok. For the black box I just open https://github.com/elementary/stylesheet/issues/843

About appimage, the issue itself makes then sense, but not to resolve it here. Is there any possibility of generate the appimage externally? Doesn't make much sense to me to keep the appimage setup here, as we are not experts on appimage, so can only blindy accept changes.

As an example this is the repo that keeps the flatpak setup for akira (external): https://github.com/flathub/com.github.akiraux.akira

Again @Alecaddd will know better.

[probonopd]

Is there any possibility of generate the appimage externally?

Although it would be possible, it would hardly make any sense to do so. Please see my comments in the pull request.

[albfan]

25 #47 #131 #3

Maintainers of this project asking "have no idea" "something must be wrong with appimage"

Here is not the place to maintain the appimage. That is out of question.

appimage workflow:

• People trying each master commit
• People complaining about broken or missing features
• People looking for a solution
• Maintainers asking other developers to fix appimage setup here

Why do we plan releases if run from master is ok?

Is master the new stable?

Seriously I tried to explain it several times. This shouldn't be maintained here.

[probonopd]

Once AppImage creation works, it is zero-maintenance. An AppImage will get built for each git push without further intervention by anybody. It's called "continuous builds". Those are meant for testers, developers, and advanced users.

For regular users, "normal" releases can still be made.

The point of continuous builds is to be able to see immediately if something was broken in the software by a commit, so that it can be reverted immediately back to a working state.

According to Wikipedia,

"Continuous delivery" makes sure the software checked in on the mainline is always in a state that can be deployed to users and "continuous deployment" makes the deployment process fully automated.

In my own software, I only produce continuous builds and no releases at all anymore. But no one is asking Akira to do the same ;-)

[bilelmoussaoui]

Once AppImage creation works, it is zero-maintenance. An AppImage will get built for each git push without further intervention by anybody. It's called "continuous builds". Those are meant for testers, developers, and advanced users.

For regular users, "normal" releases can still be made.

The point of continuous builds is to be able to see immediately if something was broken in the software by a commit, so that it can be reverted immediately back to a working state.

According to Wikipedia,

"Continuous delivery" makes sure the software checked in on the mainline is always in a state that can be deployed to users and "continuous deployment" makes the deployment process fully automated.

In my own software, I only produce continuous builds and no releases at all anymore. But no one is asking Akira to do the same ;-)

There's nothing that costs 0 maintenance