[PC-BSD Pbi-dev] Easy-bake PBI modules

[Jesse Smith]

On 11-10-27 01:30 PM, Ken Moore wrote:
> On 10/27/11 10:48, Jesse Smith wrote:
>> Fellow PBIers,
>>
>> I believe I've come up with a tool which will make it much easier for 
>> non-developers to create PBI modules. The tool is simply named (I'm 
>> not feeling creative today) EasyPBI. It's a Qt-based graphical 
>> application which will create new PBI modules with just a few mouse 
>> clicks.
>>
>> Right now it's a little rough, the last time I did any real coding in 
>> Qt.... well, KDE 2.2 was considered current. At any rate, I'm 
>> attaching my first attempt here. To compile it you will need the Qt 
>> development libraries installed on your system.
>>
>> To compile EasyPBI, save the attached tar archive and run the 
>> following commands
>>
>> tar zxf EasyPBI-0.1.tar.gz
>> cd EasyPBI
>> qmake
>> make
>>
>> Then run
>> ./EasyPBI
>>
>> The interface is a small window which displays the key fields of a 
>> PBI module. At the bottom of the screen the app displays instructions 
>> for the user to follow. To start off, we go to the File menu and 
>> select New Module. We pick which port we want to build. The app tries 
>> to fill in as many fields as possible and prompts the user to fill in 
>> the blanks for us. Then the user hits the Create Module button at the 
>> bottom of the window. EasyPBI will then try to build the module and 
>> bundle it as a tar archive. Its last step is to notify the user that 
>> the module has been created and provides the location of the tarball 
>> and the pbi-dev mailing list address so users can submit their module.
>>
>> The app can be used to build several modules, one after another.
>>
>> Right now I'm thinking more instructions and an option to open then 
>> port's FreshPort's page would be a logical next step. Comments, 
>> suggestions are welcome.
>>
>> - Jesse
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Pbi-dev mailing list
>> Pbi-dev at lists.pcbsd.org
>> http://lists.pcbsd.org/mailman/listinfo/pbi-dev
>
> Jesse,
> I just gave EasyPBI a whirl, and I must say that I am impressed! It is 
> still a bit rough, as you mentioned, but overall it is a nice 
> interface for a "casual" user to build a PBI module.
> I have a couple suggestions here from my first use....
>
> GUI
> -------
> 1) Make use of the QT spacers to allow the GUI to dynamically fit to 
> the current size of the window.
> 2) There is an extra bar under the "File" and "About" menus that I can 
> move around, but has no discernible purpose.
> 3) A button to open up the freshports page for the selected port in 
> the default web browser might be a good idea (as you mentioned)
>
> Execution
> ------------
> 1) Instead of creating the modules in the home directory, I would 
> recommend the following folder/structure:
>    1-a) Create a EasyPBI-modules/ directory in the home folder and 
> place the uncompressed modules there
>    1-b) Create a subdirectory within EasyPBI-modules/ for the 
> compressed modules
> 2) Since you are using the /usr/ports/ directory on the system, you 
> might want to have some sanity checks to make sure the ports tree is 
> actually on the user's system or prompt the user to get it if it is not.
> 3) In addition to creating the modules, you could actually have a 
> button to run the pbi_makeport command on the newly-created module to 
> actually run the process to build the PBI. This will take a bit more 
> work, but I think it would make a nice complement to the program.
>
> All in all, it seems like a great start for the program. Would you 
> like some help with it? I do a lot of Qt development and could help 
> you out with the GUI if you are a bit rusty on it.
> -- 
> ~ Ken Moore ~
> PCBSD/iXsystems
>


Ken,

Thank you for the feedback and the recommendations. I agree with all of 
the above. I would certainly welcome help with the GUI. Most of my work 
is more "behind the scenes" so interface design is a weak point for me. 
If you could tidy it up and send me a patch, it would be very helpful.

I haven't used pbi_makeport yet, but I can look into adding a button to 
build the PBI.

Thanks,
Jesse

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