Wire-desktop: [Feature request] Windows portability

[vatterspun]

Obviously Wire is already platform-portable, meaning it works on multiple operating systems. The goal here is to be settings-portable, meaning it would work across Windows machines.

Current behavior

Writes the program to appdata and writes settings to appdata\local and appdata\roaming.

Requested behavior

1. Write program and all settings to the same folder (or at least the same root folder) e.g. c:\wire\ and c:\wire\settings
2. When the folder is moved to another folder (like x:\wire or c:\Users\Admin\Desktop) the program should launch with the same settings as before

Why is this useful?

• Ease of encryption e.g. store inside a TrueCrypt / VeraCrypt volume

• USB drive - Someone who uses a public terminal at an internet cafe, computer lab, etc.

• Cloud capability - An individual who has this stored on their cloud drive (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.) will have the same experience/settings from one machine to another without a reinstall

• Ease of backup - just copy the folder to a backup drive -- no hunting for the proper files inside appdata

Who cares?

Several messaging tools offer a portable version for greater anonymity (it's easy to dump a flash drive). Pidgin, two Tox clients, Telegram and Microsoft's Skype all have this capability.

Possible issues

Going this route can make updating the client more complicated. When a new version comes out, users will have to avoid overwriting the old config file or lose their settings. As such, I recommend this as an optional setting (a command argument like "--portable") or separate release version.

[smaragdus]

1+ for portable version.
For example Telegram, Isotoxin and all other Tox clients offer portable versions or portable mode on Windows which facilitates usage and backup.

[ConorIA]

For reference #397 #427

[vatterspun]

For reference #397 #427

Sorry @ConorIA I thought I ran a search before I posted. My fault. Maybe the use case bit will be useful to devs asking "why does this matter and who cares?"

[lipis]

We have to do something about #427 :)

[janost]

+1, having a portable option would be nice.

[ConorIA]

427 has been merged, which means that one could install to a USB stick and run with the --portable flag. The only thing I am not sure about is whether the install location is customizable.

[vatterspun]

@ConorIA Great news, thanks.

[sergeevabc]

Right now the only Windows distribution is WireSetup.exe, which silently installs the app into C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\wire, creates settings’ folders in C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Wire, then the app is immediately launched. So, why this issue about portability was marked as closed?

A portable application does not leave its files or settings on the host computer or modify the existing system and its configuration. The application does not write to the Windows registry or store its configuration files in the user's profile; instead, it stores its configuration files in the portable directory.

[vatterspun]

I don't know if this should be closed or what and yeah some clarity on this would be nice. I was guessing the argument enabled path portability, which would let you move the program to a USB or cloud drive, use the "--portable"argument, and it would save settings to the local folder.

Ultimately I'm waiting for a quiet weekend to test this assumption.

[ConorIA]

@vatterspun, on Linux, this is especially useful with the AppImage, or even with an unpacked image from a built app. @sergeevabc is right that it is less useful when the installer automatically installs to a user's AppData folder. That said, I hope that you are right that you can just copy C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Wire to a USB key and take it for a spin. Please do let me know if it works.

[vatterspun]

Update2: I noticed that the program won't start with anything but the latest version so I've refined my setup process.

Update: I've verified the program as portable. Here's my data:

Setup: My test was done in Win7x86 as it's probably the most popular Windows OS.

Steps:

1. Download and run the setup file https://wire-app.wire.com/win/prod/WireSetup.exe
2. Wait for the registration window to pop up and then close the program (make sure to right-click on the task bar and select "close")
3. Go to C:\Users_USERNAME_\AppData\Local\wire and copy all files present to a folder of your choice
4. Run _Wire.exe --portable_
5. Sign in or sign up for an account and verify via email
6. Delete leftovers from C:\Users_USERNAME_\AppData\Local\wire and C:\Users_USERNAME_\AppData\Roaming\Wire

Seems portable, though it writes setting to a LOT of files and folders:

[sergeevabc]

There is a precise word for how portability is implemented in this case — rush job, i.e. in a slipshod manner, without due care of end-user expectations. Either Wire’s installer should have portable option (see WikidPad’s installation routine for example) which allows a user to choose the path or Wire should be deployed as ZIP package as well (see Telegram’s releases page for example). It would greatly ease the pain of installing and _updating_ (yes. it’s a huge pain at present) for those of us who use Wire on the go.

[ConorIA]

@sergeevabc, in this case, it wasn't so much a rush job as it was a climate scientist trying to implement a workaround! The Wire devs can produce true portable binaries with the electron-builder. I've got a PR to accomodate such a build, but I can't get the Gruntfile updated appropriately and don't have any more time to spend on this. Make some noise over on #982 if you wish!

[vatterspun]

I agree that the approach that @sergeevabc is suggesting would ease the process of updating, but I'm just happy to arrive at this point. I've asked a lot of programs to go this route and enable portability and the answer is frequently "no" or silence. Also, there's arguably there's some benefit to responding to quality feature requests quickly versus a slow, more robust change.

[sergeevabc]

Agggrrrhhh! Once again I face the need to update Wire without polluting OS, but there is no simple solution. At least provide command-line switch like --extract PATH for official Windows package.

[vatterspun]

@sergeevabc Alternatively, Telegram has a portable application format that's a little easier to update via the PortableApps format: https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/telegram-desktop-portable

To be clear, I do prefer Wire, but if that's a critical feature for you.

Again, I'm just happy they were willing to add portable functionality.

[smaragdus]

@sergeevabc
I totally agree with you that the implementation of portable mode is disastrous, it is so terrible that it defeats the purpose of portability. Anyway, I do not care about Wire any more- portable or not I am no longer using JavaScript+Electron software- this is the death of programming. I removed all Electron stuff from my system (with one exception but I will remove it as well after I take some screen-shots).

@vatterspun
The manual update of Telegram is easy- download the archive, extract it and replace the old executable (Telegram.exe) with the new one. For me Telegram is by far superior than Wire but I am about to dump it too- the developers ruined the GUI and added a bug which they called a "feature". Anyway, why mess with the slower PortableApps version when Telegram offers a natively portable and stealth version?

[sergeevabc]

@smaragdus, +1

Performance matters. Memory usage matters. Its simply not ok for apps to be sluggish.
Electron is Flash for the desktop

[vatterspun]

@sergeevabc I honestly don't know if thread hijacks are a thing on Github but maybe you could start a new issue encouraging the authors to move away from Electron and toward the React framework as the article suggests? This thread is increasingly a comment on overall development direction and not on a specific feature.

[ConorIA]

@vatterspun #642 but see #994 and https://gitlab.com/ddobrev/Fibre/

[vatterspun]

@ConorIA That's not quite what I was looking for. I think you meant to point that to smaragdus or sergeevabc.

[ConorIA]

Sorry @vatterspun, it was #567 I had meant to link.

[sergeevabc]

Revisiting ostensibly implemented portability feature in year 2019. Meh, still a desktop dinosaur.