qTox self-contained (portable) Like The Tor Browser

Created on 3 Jun 2016 · 16Comments · Source: qTox/qTox

Discussion about making qTox portable again! --Tronald Dump

Static binary isn't working. Finding solution or alternative! ( example software that doesn't need installation, to inspire: Blender.org, ricin.im, uTox.org, and TorBrowser. www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en

Today common software is easy to run for a reason: more normal users are using Ubuntu and Co... they never used a Terminal before (my mother for example). For example, TorBrowser, I only need to doubleclick the .desktop file!

This should be possible for qTox.

C-discussion M-packaging proposal

Source

alugarius

All 16 comments

Hello, we're working on getting the static portable builds of qTox working again.

You can download the latest experimental builds here:
Linux 64-bit: https://build.tox.chat/view/qtox/job/qTox_build_linux_x86-64_release/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/qTox_build_linux_x86-64_release.tar.xz
Linux 32-bit: https://build.tox.chat/view/qtox/job/qTox_build_linux_x86_release/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/qTox_build_linux_x86_release.tar.xz

tux3 on 3 Jun 2016

👍1

How about trying other methods, it don't have to be in one file, like uTox, it can also use appimage or be like blender ( blender only needs the glib and has python and other stuff in a data folders/ the binaries are next to the folders ).

alugarius on 3 Jun 2016

I'll test the bin if my phone is charged, ....the socket needs a home

alugarius on 3 Jun 2016

utox runns

uTox<(They see me workin' they hatin'!)
wayland says nope

alugarius on 3 Jun 2016

libwayland-egl.so.1 is it called ,
@tux3 do u want to fix ore want to keep going ? ^^

well, it got much better! It works perfect on ubuntu class systems ( fedora, suse should work, this tests come later! to prove)

alugarius on 3 Jun 2016

@alugarius If you don't have wayland support installed, it sounds like a bug with your distribution. I could try removing wayland support, but then it would break for people who use wayland...

Do you have the libwayland-egl1-mesa package installed?

Using AppImage or something similar could work yes, that's not a bad idea at this point.

tux3 on 4 Jun 2016

👍1

@tux3 if you want to build app images for each commit, here's the script AppImage's creator made for Ricin → https://github.com/RicinApp/Ricin/blob/master/appimage.sh

It shouldn't be hard to modify to fit qTox i guess, else you'll have to ping probonopd.

SkyzohKey on 4 Jun 2016

👍1

@RazZziel can also help, he is an pro in adding software to appimage!
He made portablelinuxgames.org and I worked with him years ago!

alugarius on 4 Jun 2016

@SkyzohKey ,Thanks for helping! We need to work together, all client developers!
I don't have Wayland installed, I tested it on Slacko Puppy Live. It has nothing to do with Wayland!

I have no issues on ubuntu! Apropos, could qTox or uTox work on ubuntu phone (desktop mode?)

even Qt itself is downloadable as an offline installer (self contained) there HAVE to be a way, else i cant really use it!
And without portable qTox / how should i use the "make tox portable" option? this is only an awesome feature if i have an portable client!

here is an screenshot of q- and uTox's folder in portable mode! qTox should make an subfolder too, it looks on an flashstick nicer!
bildschirmfoto vom 2016-06-04 23-25-35

alugarius on 4 Jun 2016

As someone who has used OS X's .app application format and and recently discovered .appimage (further reading here ) I really like @SkyzohKey 's idea of creating such a format so that someone could potentially load qTox onto a USB drive in portable mode and use it across multiple different Linux distributions. And as such I find such an idea very attractive for a packaging proposal.

RowenStipe on 5 Jun 2016

👍1

@RowenStipe
An automatic script that compiles qTox with all depencies and packs it to appimage! Thanks to simple_make.sh its possible!

alugarius on 5 Jun 2016

QTox works on suse, I could not test fedora . It crashes in vm with gnome blue screen (open source windows?)
Whatever. No other problems with qTox portable so far.

alugarius on 9 Jun 2016

If the qTox binary continiue the work like it does now, I could replace uTox

alugarius on 11 Jun 2016

I wanted to bring on the snap solution again, if it fits in ya time read this
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/06/snap-to-be-universal-linux-package-format

alugarius on 15 Jun 2016

Possible workaround (at least in Windows): Run qTox in concert with Advanced Onion Router. Both programs are portable and can be run self-contained.

That said, it would be nice to integrate them just so you can set clear expectations about image and file transfers: tor transfers are going to be considerably slower than other connections.