(OLD) (ARCHIVED) Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[MochiMoppel]

The Puppy Package Manager (PPM) tends to download, install and then delete packages. I prefer to keep the package, inspect the contents and - maybe - install it by clicking on the downloaded pet file. I don't want PPM to install it for me. Adding a download-only button to PPM can help here, but adding such button to older distros is cumbersome and may not even work. Too many PPM flavors.

Another cause for trouble is the download directory. PPM insists on downloading to /root. Downloads to /root, even temporary ones, eat into the personal storage space (e.g. remaining space on pupsave file) and may freeze the system. Direct downloads to a destination outside of Puppy, e.g. /mnt/home, would alleviate the problem.
The following solutions can solve both problems.

Solution 1
Extremely simple, keeps downloaded pets, prevents automatic installation, works even in very old Puppy versions

Necessary actions:

Step 1: Open editor and create new document
Step 2: Add line dir_prefix = /mnt/home/downloads <= adapt path. No quotation marks!
Step 3: Save as /root/.wgetrc

What happens
Pushing the "Install" or the "Download-only" button in PPM will save packages directly to the defined directory.
PPM doesn't like that and responds with funny messages: "Error, failed to download XXX.pet", followed by an equally phony "Finished. The packages have been downloaded to /root". Ignore them. Tip: If you have a choice between an "Install" and a "Download-only" button, always push the "Install" button. This prevents the second message. In no case will packages be installed.

How it works
As many other programs, PPM "outsources" the downloading job to /usr/bin/wget, yet PPM blindly relies on wget's default behaviour. By default wget downloads to the current working directory, so PPM would set this directory with a "cd /root" command, and when it passes the package's URL to wget it would expect that wget saves the file to /root. PPM is not clever enough to check if the user has set a different default path in the .wgetrc config file and it also doesn't bother to add the target directory to the download parameters . When wget passes control back to PPM, PPM would search for the downloaded file in /root, can't find it and cries foul.

How to reset
Many options...
- Delete or rename .wgetrc
- Comment out the line (# dir_prefix = /mnt/home/downloads)
- If you feel nerdy, set it to default: dir_prefix = . (that's a single period, representing the current directory)
and of course you can scriptify any of those simple manual tasks

Solution 2
Some editing necessary, keeps PPM fully functional, works in all fairly new Puppies. Tested in Lucid 5.2.8

Necessary actions:

Step 1: Open file /usr/local/petget/downloadpkgs.sh with an editor
Step 2: Find line cd /root and change to cd "/mnt/home" (or whatever download directory you prefer)
Step 3: Find lines

/usr/local/petget/verifypkg.sh /root/$DLPKG
else
/usr/local/petget/installpkg.sh /root/$DLPKG

Change to

/usr/local/petget/verifypkg.sh $DLPKG
else
/usr/local/petget/installpkg.sh $DLPKG


Step 4: Find line
<text><label>$(gettext 'Finished. The packages have been downloaded to') /root $(gettext 'directory.')</label></text>
Change to
<text><label>$(gettext 'Finished. The packages have been downloaded to') $PWD $(gettext 'directory.')</label></text>

What happens
Pushing the "Install" or the "Download-only" button in PPM will download packages directly to the defined directory. If the defined directory does not exist (unmounted, removed, misspelled etc.) the packages will be downloaded to /root. By default PPM will delete downloaded packages after installation. If you want to keep them, do this:

Optional actions (to prevent deletion of downloaded packages):

Step 5: While still editing file downloadpkgs.sh find line
[ "$PASSEDPARAM" != "DOWNLOADONLY" ] && rm -f /root/$DLPKG 2>/dev/null
Comment it out by putting a # in front:
#[ "$PASSEDPARAM" != "DOWNLOADONLY" ] && rm -f /root/$DLPKG 2>/dev/null

Step 6: Save and close downloadpkgs.sh and open file /usr/local/petget/installpkg.sh
Step 7: Use the "Find" dialog of your editor and search for the string "rm -f $DLPKG"
Depending on PPM version this will find once or twice these 2 lines:

rm -f $DLPKG_BASE 2>/dev/null
rm -f $DLPKG_MAIN.tar.${EXT} 2>/dev/null

Comment them out by putting a # in front:
#rm -f $DLPKG_BASE 2>/dev/null
#rm -f $DLPKG_MAIN.tar.${EXT} 2>/dev/null

What happens
After completing steps 1-7 you will have a PPM that
- Works as usual, but for downloads uses the path set in step 2
- Keeps the downloaded packages after install
- Handles inaccessible download directories gracefully, falls back to /root

Solution 3 (added 2014-12-17)
Here the pizza with everything. A pet with the features of solution 2. Does not work with Lucid, but should be OK with all recent Precise and Slacko variants. For users of Precise: The "Download-only" button is also inluded, so no need to apply a manual patch.

The pet is the result of following vivid discussions and put here for better accessibility.

Features:
- Option to keep or discard packages after installation
- Last selected download folder will be saved
- New folders will be created on-the-fly if they don't exist.


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[mavrothal]

[MochiMoppel]

[mavrothal]

[mavrothal]

[MochiMoppel]

You've opened Pandora's box. Good luck

[mavrothal]

[MochiMoppel]

Sorry for getting into nitpicking mode, but I stumbled on something that made me scratch my head for half an hour.

The "Finished. Packages have been downloaded" gtkdialog in downloadpkgs.sh. I don't know if you misplaced the quotes or if this was intentional. Anyway, my suggestion:

[mavrothal]

[MochiMoppel]

[mavrothal]

[bigpup]

mavrothal,

Thanks for doing this!

Tried it in Tahrpup 6.0

Selecting a download location works for me.

I am selecting /mnt/home

After restarting PPM as requested in the config window.

However,
It only works if I also have the "Save installed pets too" checked.

If "Save installed pets" is not checked it goes back to /root.

When selecting a package in PPM I am selecting to download only.

[mavrothal]

[MochiMoppel]

[bigpup]

Tahrpup 6.0

Version 6 seems to be working OK.
No problems so far using it.

Thanks

Seems version 6 is your sweet spot in developing additional features for Puppy

Edit:
Well, maybe that sweet spot is going to change to version 7 for this one.