Packaging for Arch Linux

[w568w]

Thanks for your app! I wasn't sure which category this issue belongs to, so I'm using the blank issue template.

I'd like to help make your application more accessible to Linux desktop users, so I've packaged it and published it in the AUR (Arch User Repository): https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/dataset-editor

This means that, users of Arch Linux and its derivatives can now install the program with a single command:

$ [yay|paru] -S dataset-editor

This also provides them with the correct application shortcuts, etc.

I'm opening this issue to request two things:

1. Could you please add this AUR installation method to the README? You can refer to other projects for examples of how to do this: Example. Another Example

2. I noticed that while the app runs perfectly fine on Linux, it seems to always try to write to C:\ProgramData\dataset-editor on startup. For example, when run from /home/user, it creates a directory structure like /home/user/'C:\ProgramData'/dataset-editor. There might be an issue with the path-selection logic, as it seems to assume the process.resourcesPath directory always exists, which is not true on Linux:

DatasetEditor/app/paths.js

Lines 7 to 10 in 2a0438f

	? app.getAppPath()
	: existsSync(join(process.resourcesPath, 'tagger'))
	? process.resourcesPath
	: join(process.env.PROGRAMDATA || 'C:\\ProgramData', 'dataset-editor');

Perhaps you could consider a more platform-agnostic approach for path selection? Typically, the expected locations on Linux are:

• For configuration files: ~/.config/dataset-editor
• For state files (e.g., history): ~/.local/state/dataset-editor
• For other data files: ~/.local/share/dataset-editor
• For cache files: ~/.cache/dataset-editor

Thanks again for this great app.

[w568w]

BTW, I've noticed an issue when packaging: when running pnpm build outside of a git repository (e.g., from a downloaded tarball, vite build outputs an incomplete index.css file in the dist directory. The file size is smaller than usual (~20 KB vs. ~80 KB normally), and this occurs without any warning messages. As a result, the final application's styles are completely broken.

While it's not a critical bug, it does create inconvenience for packaging, as users are forced to clone the entire commit history to compile the project. It would be great if you could look into this.

[Jelosus2]

Hey, great job porting it to Linux, sadly I can't add it to the README because it was published by a 3rd party and therefore I cannot verify the integrity of the app. As for the second point, that's because it was meant only for Windows at the start, I had planned an update to support Linux but I'm quite busy IRL with school. And I'll have to investigate the issue of building outside of a git repository because I honestly don't know what could be causing this. If you are interested on helping with Linux porting you can add me on Discord: jelosus1. Thanks again for your hard work :)

[w568w]

sadly I can't add it to the README because it was published by a 3rd party and therefore I cannot verify the integrity of the app

Let me clarify: the AUR does NOT distribute any final binary executable. It only distributes the build recipe. The actual compilation is performed by the user on their own machine. You can inspect the build script yourself here: https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=dataset-editor

When someone runs yay -S dataset-editor, they are NOT downloading an unverified third-party file from somewhere else. Instead, yay helps them git-clone your repository locally, installs the necessary dependencies such as pnpm, and then uses electron-builder to compile the app on their machines and package it.

Therefore, listing it in the README should pose the same security risk as simply providing manual build instructions there.

If you are interested on helping with Linux porting you can add me on Discord

Thanks. I may contact you there if necessary :)

[Jelosus2]

I see, does this work for all linux distributions tho?

[w568w]

I see, does this work for all linux distributions tho?

It's Arch-based-distro (inc. Arch Linux, EndeavourOS, CachyOS, etc.) only, I'm afraid.

For DEB-based distributions (e.g., Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint) and RPM-based ones (e.g. Fedora), the best way is to distribute your application as an AppImage or publish it through Flatpak. The former is much easier; just following the electron-builder docs: https://www.electron.build/appimage may work. (I've tried it, but there seem to be some dependency issues with sharp and it doesn't run properly.)

[Jelosus2]

I see, thanks, I'll check it out

[Jelosus2]

Linux packaging has been added in the rewrite branch. They'll be available in the next version release

[Jelosus2]

Closing the issue because the changes have been added to the latest app version