Electron-builder: Linux: Be more restrictive with executable name

[lbssousa]

• Version: 7.11.3

• Target: Linux (any)

Currently electron-builder uses productName info for naming app's main executable, which may be painful for Linux binaries being run from command terminal, if that info contains uppercase letters, spaces, etc.

I would like to suggest a new option executableName for Linux binaries, with the following restrictions:

• should not contain spaces
• should not contain uppercase letters
• should not contain any special characters which have some meaning for the shell (e.g.: &).

If no executableName is provided in package.json, electron-builder could calculate it from name or productName options (convert to lowercase, strip spaces, replace special characters with - or _, etc.).

[develar]

executable name will be not changed and productName will be still used — please see https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-packager/issues/297#issuecomment-207749334

executableName will be added.
https://github.com/wireapp/wire-desktop/issues/125

[develar]

We already use name for AppImage. To simplify.... ok, name will be used by default on Linux instead of productName.

if it is not important for you — name or productName doesn't matter for you.

If it is important for you — you want name.

Should electron-builder force you to explicitly set executableName? Should electron-builder bother you about it? No. No.

So, name will be used not only for AppImage, but for all linux targets.

[lbssousa]

Using name by default for Linux executable name is reasonable, but it's not clear to me in your documentation which character set is allowed for name.

I would still suggest you to e.g. convert name to lowercase for naming Linux executable, if no explicit executableName option is given.

[develar]

but it's not clear to me in your documentation which character set is allowed for name.

name according to npm rules — https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json#name "must not have uppercase letters in the name", "name can't contain any non-URL-safe characters."

[lbssousa]

Very good. So name is in fact a good choice here.

To summarize:

• name would be used for main Linux executable name, AppImage name, etc.
• productName would be used for desktop entry Name property.

Right?

[develar]

Yes. Also, in any case, all file names are sanitised using https://www.npmjs.com/package/sanitize-filename

[develar]

@lbssousa Your are right. npm doesn't restrict name to be lowercased. But snaps does. So, electron-builder will lowercase your name in any case for all Linux targets.

[probonopd]

Please use the proper unchanged application names (including capitalization, if any) for AppImages like you do for macOS. Every time I see an application like e.g., RcloneTray spelled correctly (RcloneTray.dmg) for macOS but wrongly (rclonetray.AppImage) for Linux it reminds me that macOS still feels more polished to me.

Point in case:
https://github.com/dimitrov-adrian/RcloneTray/releases