digiKam AppImage Linux 64 bits bundle

[Gilles Caulier-4]

Hi all, 

For the next 5.3.0, a new digiKam bundle will be proposed : the Linux 64bits ApppImage.

What's AppImage exactly ? Well it's simple : it's a stand alone Linux executable which embed all requirement to run an application.

The executable is in fact an archive which is automatically decompressed somewhere in /tmp using Fuse file system. The contents is a copy of libraries, settings, data files of application, including plugins and mandatory dependencies. The AppImage is not installed on the system and do not require root right.

Typically, it's an alternative of official package provided by Linux distro team.

The goal is to provide a recent release of application without to wait that your distro team build relevant packages with all required dependencies

For technical reasons, the AppImage is compiled on an older CentOS 6.8 to be sure that i can be executed on all major Linux distro, as Suse, RedHat, Debian, Ubuntu, etc... The time to build The bundle is around 3 hours from scratch, less if Qt5+KF5 dependencies are already pre-compiled. This will be perfect to test dysfunctions fix in real time without to wait a next official release.

AppImage SDK provide also a desktop integration of the bundled application, as Icons and USB events when a camera is connected to computer. At first run of AppImage, a dialog must appear to ask about desktop integration...

Some problems still present in this bundle. The main one identified is the non video files support (thumbnails + preview), as under Linux, Gstreamer puzzle is used and it's really impossible to package with AppImage, due to huge list of runtime dependencies. For the future, we plan to drop Qt5::Multimedia to another frameworks to handle video files (something less complicated...)

The AppImage can be downloaded here :

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzeiVr-byqt5SUZRMGtWa3VCUDg

For all unknown possible problems, i recommend to test it with a new account on your computer and with a test collection. Do not use it yet in real production.

Thank in advance for your feedback.

Gilles Caulier

[Gilles Caulier-4]

Hi all, 

I just completed to build a 32 bits version of digiKam AppImage bundle here :

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzeiVr-byqt5WnBDN0VfSk9UTWM

All feedback are welcome

We have now a complete AppImage solution ready for next 5.3.0...

Best

Gilles Caulier

2016-10-23 20:13 GMT+02:00 Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]>:

Hi all, 

For the next 5.3.0, a new digiKam bundle will be proposed : the Linux 64bits ApppImage.

What's AppImage exactly ? Well it's simple : it's a stand alone Linux executable which embed all requirement to run an application.

The executable is in fact an archive which is automatically decompressed somewhere in /tmp using Fuse file system. The contents is a copy of libraries, settings, data files of application, including plugins and mandatory dependencies. The AppImage is not installed on the system and do not require root right.

Typically, it's an alternative of official package provided by Linux distro team.

The goal is to provide a recent release of application without to wait that your distro team build relevant packages with all required dependencies

For technical reasons, the AppImage is compiled on an older CentOS 6.8 to be sure that i can be executed on all major Linux distro, as Suse, RedHat, Debian, Ubuntu, etc... The time to build The bundle is around 3 hours from scratch, less if Qt5+KF5 dependencies are already pre-compiled. This will be perfect to test dysfunctions fix in real time without to wait a next official release.

AppImage SDK provide also a desktop integration of the bundled application, as Icons and USB events when a camera is connected to computer. At first run of AppImage, a dialog must appear to ask about desktop integration...

Some problems still present in this bundle. The main one identified is the non video files support (thumbnails + preview), as under Linux, Gstreamer puzzle is used and it's really impossible to package with AppImage, due to huge list of runtime dependencies. For the future, we plan to drop Qt5::Multimedia to another frameworks to handle video files (something less complicated...)

The AppImage can be downloaded here :

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzeiVr-byqt5SUZRMGtWa3VCUDg

For all unknown possible problems, i recommend to test it with a new account on your computer and with a test collection. Do not use it yet in real production.

Thank in advance for your feedback.

Gilles Caulier