Why require xterm?

[Botspot]

PiGro appears to use x-terminal-emulator as all other programs do, but for some reason PiGro also lists xterm as a required dependency. Why is that? I personally don't like installing xterm, because whenever a new terminal is installed, update-alternatives will switch to treat the new terminal as user-preferred. Meaning that on fresh PiOS, before installing PiGro, opening a terminal means you get the nice lxterminal which is fast, easy to read, well-themed, and supports copy-and-paste. But after installing PiGro, now the rest of the system will use xterm, which uses a much smaller font, is not themed well, does not support clipboard...

Have you considered using something like the pi-apps terminal-run script instead? Terminal-run is special in that it supports the user's choice of terminal, but allows you to run newline-separated lists of commands while setting the terminal title. https://github.com/Botspot/pi-apps/blob/master/etc/terminal-run

[actionschnitzel]

Yeah, I pointed it out in the readme three years ago: https://github.com/actionschnitzel/PiGro-Aid-#exclamation-important

x-terminal-emulator is used by PiGro when an execution is intended to be in an external window.

The reason for using xterm is that it integrates very well into Python/Tkinter. Unfortunately, I haven't found a better solution yet.

This is my current method for embedding:

os.popen(
    f'xterm -into %d -bg Grey11 -geometry {frame_height}x{frame_width} -e "pkexec apt update -y |lolcat && sleep 5 && exit ; exec bash"'
    % wid
)

I've been thinking about a solution for a while. The problem is that sometimes a program in PiOS is set as the new default during installation, which can be really annoying. For example, when you install VSCode, it is set as xdg-open to open directories. So, if I download something in a browser and open the download folder, VSCode will be opened.

[actionschnitzel]

Basicly it is a Raspberry Pi OS Problem :-D . On my Pi5 i use Ubuntu 23.10 and when i install PiGro my default (tilix) stays default.

[actionschnitzel]

Update: To undo the changes I will implement this

sudo update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator /bin/lxterminal Add to: ## 2st Test Feedback https://github.com/actionschnitzel/PiGro-Aid-/issues/74

[Botspot]

Update: To undo the changes I will implement this

sudo update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator /bin/lxterminal Add to: ## 2st Test Feedback #74

No that's bad on systems without lxterminal installed or on systems where the user has already picked a custom terminal of choice. At a minimum, it should detect and store the original x-terminal-emulator preference, see if it changes to xterm, and change it back to the original value only if it changed to xterm during installation.

[actionschnitzel]

Update: To undo the changes I will implement this sudo update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator /bin/lxterminal Add to: ## 2st Test Feedback #74

No that's bad on systems without lxterminal installed or on systems where the user has already picked a custom terminal of choice. At a minimum, it should detect and store the original x-terminal-emulator preference, see if it changes to xterm, and change it back to the original value only if it changed to xterm during installation.

No, no. I'm not going to include the command as it is. The plan is to write a script to capture exactly what the default was before and whether xterm is now the default

[actionschnitzel]

Possible solution:

#!/bin/bash

# Check the current default x-terminal-emulator
current_default=$(readlink /etc/alternatives/x-terminal-emulator)

if [ "$current_default" = "/usr/bin/xterm" ]; then
    terminals=("lxterminal" "xfce4-terminal" "mate-terminal" "uxterm" "xterm" "urxvt" "konsole" "terminator" "gnome-terminal" "gnome-terminal.wrapper" "qterminal" "tilix.wrapper")

    latest_timestamp=""
    latest_terminal=""

    for terminal in "${terminals[@]}"
    do
        path="/usr/bin/$terminal"
        if [ -e "$path" ]; then
            timestamp=$(ls -l --time=atime "$path" | awk '{print $6, $7}')
            echo "$terminal: $timestamp"

            # Check if this timestamp is newer than the currently known latest
            if [[ "$timestamp" > "$latest_timestamp" ]]; then
                latest_timestamp=$timestamp
                latest_terminal=$terminal
            fi
        else
            echo "$terminal not found."
        fi
    done

    echo -e "\nLatest x-terminal-emulator:"
    ls -l --time=atime /etc/alternatives/x-terminal-emulator
    echo -e "\nLatest standard terminal emulator is $latest_terminal."

    # Set x-terminal-emulator to the last used terminal emulator
    sudo update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator "/usr/bin/$latest_terminal"
    echo "x-terminal-emulator set to $latest_terminal."
else
    echo "Current default x-terminal-emulator is not xterm. Exiting

Output:

lxterminal: 10. Okt
xfce4-terminal not found.
mate-terminal not found.
uxterm: 2. Dez
xterm: 2. Dez
urxvt not found.
konsole not found.
terminator not found.
gnome-terminal not found.
gnome-terminal.wrapper not found.
qterminal not found.
tilix.wrapper: 3. Dez

Latest x-terminal-emulator:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14  3. Dez 17:10 /etc/alternatives/x-terminal-emulator -> /usr/bin/xterm

Latest standard terminal emulator is tilix.wrapper.
update-alternatives: /usr/bin/tilix.wrapper wird verwendet, um /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator (x-terminal-emulator) im manuellen Modus bereitzustellen
x-terminal-emulator set to tilix.wrapper.

Will test this a bit more

[actionschnitzel]

PiGro now recognizes when xterm is set as default and displays this message at startup. I hope that this is a pleasant solution.

[Botspot]

This is fine, but it seems much more complicated than necessary. Take a look at this potential change to the pi-apps install script for PiGro:

#!/bin/bash

version=23.04

# remove legacy folders/files if present
rm -rf ~/PiGro-Aid-
rm -f ~/Desktop/pigro.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/pigro.desktop

#prevent lxterm dependency from becoming default terminal
default_terminal="$(readlink -f /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator)"

install_packages https://github.com/actionschnitzel/PiGro-Aid-/releases/download/${version}/pigro-jci-${version}.deb || exit 1

#check if terminal choice was changed after pigro was installed
if [ ! -z "$default_terminal" ] && [ "$(readlink -f /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator)" != "$default_terminal" ];then
  #restore previous choice
  sudo update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator "$default_terminal"
fi

I think I will upload this change to pi-apps from my end, but did you consider an approach like this one?

[actionschnitzel]

Wow, that's really much easier. I did it with 230 lines of code. Way too complicated. If it's ok I'll play a bit with your approach and try to incorporate it into the DEBIAN package.

[Botspot]

Wow, that's really much easier. I did it with 230 lines of code. Way too complicated. If it's ok I'll play a bit with your approach and try to incorporate it into the DEBIAN package.

Sure go ahead. The only difficulty you may encounter is how to store the original value of $default_terminal that was set with the preinst script, for the postinst script to read. I am not sure if variables exported by the scripts are preserved. If not, you could use a temporary file to store the value of $default_terminal for the postinst script to read.

[actionschnitzel]

If not, you could use a temporary file to store the value of $default_terminal for the postinst script to read.

That was exactly my idea.

Would you be interested in taking a look at the current development state of 24.01? A second opinion would be really good.

These are the installation commands for my developer branch:

sudo apt install git xterm python3-pil python3-pil.imagetk python3-psutil python3-distro python3-bs4 python3-dev python3-requests mpg123 lolcat wmctrl gdebi mousepad

git clone -b dev https://github.com/actionschnitzel/PiGro-Aid-.git

#The program icon must currently be copied manually:

sudo cp ~/PiGro-Aid-/images/icons/logo.png /usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/pigro-logo.png

python3 ~/PiGro-Aid-/src/main.py

[Botspot]

I tried your latest dev branch now.

• The network details are now visible correctly.
• The theming options are all greyed out even though I am using default Raspberry Pi Bullseye. It seems like these options should be usable if they work on Bookworm X11.
• Clicking on Software -> Recommended -> bpytop incorrectly shows "Audacity" in the title. This was likely just a typo on your end.
• Viewing software details is inconsistent. On all subsections except Recommended, I had to double-click an item for the details to appear. Sometimes the double-click was ignored, and other times I had to click three times. Sometimes the details would replace the scrollable list, but other times it would be horizontally scaled to appear beside the scrollable list. Also sometimes loading these details was nearly instant, while other times it took close to 10 seconds.
• The animated magnifying glass icon is distracting.
• Only on the Software -> Recommended tab, double-clicking on an item does NOT do anything. On only the Recommended tab, I have to select an item and then click the Select button at the top. Why is that?
• Why not replace the double-click functionality and the click-then-click-Select functionality with a simple single click?
• Are you manually embedding screenshots of some apps? I am curious how that works: if you are capturing these screenshots yourself or if you are finding images online.

[Botspot]

• Why do some root actions require me to enter a password, but others like FM God Mode do not?

[Botspot]

• In System, the Raspi Appearance Settings and Raspi Desktop settings buttons seem to both launch the exact same tool.

[Botspot]

• Does your dialog library allow setting tooltips? It would be much easier to understand things if hovering the mouse over a button would display a short explanation.

[Botspot]

• "Tidy Up Unuesed" is misspelled. It should be "Tidy Up Unused".
• Why require a password to run commands as root, when I am using a passwordless sudo system? You could either require a password only once, or use something like the Pi-Apps sudo_popup function.

  sudo_popup() { #just like sudo on passwordless systems like PiOS, but displays a password dialog otherwise. Avoids 
  displaying a password prompt to an invisible terminal.
    if sudo -n true; then
      # sudo is available (within sudo timer) or passwordless
      sudo "$@"
    else
      # sudo is not available (not within sudo timer)
      pkexec "$@"
    fi
  }

• For terminal windows that appear, have you considered setting the terminal title using a method similar to the pi-apps etc/terminal-run script does?

[Botspot]

• This is not a big issue, but the Tuning tab will assume that an overclock button successfully completed when I actually closed the password dialog window. This could be solved by changing behavior based on the exit code.
• In the zram issue I opened, you said you would "refer to More RAM". But in the Tuning tab, I only see a reference to the Preload tool.
• I just wanted to mention that the More RAM script in Pi-Apps is one of the few scripts that does not require a working Pi-Apps install. I did that intentionally so anyone can directly use it with this command:

  wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/apps/More%20RAM/install | bash

  For uninstall:

  wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/apps/More%20RAM/uninstall | bash

  I mention this because you could make a More RAM button appear for users without pi-apps installed.

[Botspot]

• What happened to the apt one-click installers? Were they replaced by the much shorter list of "Recommended" non-apt apps?

[actionschnitzel]

Thank you for your feedback. It shows me that many of the changes I thought were good are not so good. I have noted all your comments and will implement them.

The theming options are all greyed out even though I am using default Raspberry Pi Bullseye. It seems like these options should be usable if they work on Bookworm X11.

I have problems with both Wayfire and X11. Under X11, there was a bug that caused the window decoration to change without reason when setting an icon theme. This couldn't be reverted. I will continue testing and working on it. Lately, my focus in the Look & Feel tab has been more on Ubuntu/Mate and Xfce.

Recommended Software / One Click

Recommended Software is not finished yet. I intended to merge theOne Click tab with the Nice 2 Have tab. Since you're asking where the One Click tab went, I infer that you liked it. I'm not so sure anymore if I want to proceed with that direction. ReincorporatingOne Click and Nice 2 Have is not a big task. Most of the time, I have invested in making PiGro modular in its file structure. This way, I can now add tabs more quickly.

Why do some root actions require me to enter a password, but others like FM God Mode do not?

I had decided to go completely with pkexec but found out that only sudo works with pcmanfm. This is currently a temporary solution. Earlier versions had if/else statements for PiOS (sudo) and Ubuntu (pkexec). I will reintroduce that. The idea behind executing everything that requires elevated privileges with pkexec was to emphasize that the user is now able to make significant changes to the system.

In System, the Raspi Appearance Settings and Raspi Desktop settings buttons seem to both launch the exact same tool.

Will be changed

Does your dialog library allow setting tooltips? It would be much easier to understand things if hovering the mouse over a button would display a short explanation.

Yes, in the Update tab, the APT buttons should have tooltips. However, I will also add tooltips for all the other buttons.

"Tidy Up Unuesed" is misspelled. It should be "Tidy Up Unused".

Will be fixed

ZRAM

Good to know that it works without Pi-Apps as well. I haven't had the opportunity to implement that function yet.

[Botspot]

Recommended Software / One Click

Recommended Software is not finished yet. I intended to merge theOne Click tab with the Nice 2 Have tab. Since you're asking where the One Click tab went, I infer that you liked it. I'm not so sure anymore if I want to proceed with that direction. ReincorporatingOne Click and Nice 2 Have is not a big task. Most of the time, I have invested in making PiGro modular in its file structure. This way, I can now add tabs more quickly.

This is understandable. I thought your choices in the One Click had good taste, so when I noticed it gone I was mostly just curious if/where you were planning to move it.

I have problems with both Wayfire and X11. Under X11, there was a bug that caused the window decoration to change without reason when setting an icon theme. This couldn't be reverted. I will continue testing and working on it. Lately, my focus in the Look & Feel tab has been more on Ubuntu/Mate and Xfce.

This is because the mutter WM on Bullseye is actually themed by the active GTK theme. So is the lxpanel. It's pretty easy to copy over the window border stuff to another theme and then adjust the style to match the rest of the theme. I made an entire Windows 11 theme for Bullseye but disk corruption wiped it clean. The experience was too painful to repeat all that work. But it can be done.

[actionschnitzel]

Sure go ahead. The only difficulty you may encounter is how to store the original value of $default_terminal that was set with the preinst script, for the postinst script to read. I am not sure if variables exported by the scripts are preserved. If not, you could use a temporary file to store the value of $default_terminal for the postinst script to read.

I updated my DEBIAN-BUILD-SCRIPT. This solution, as far as I can see, has worked.

cat > ~/PIGRO-DEBIAN-BUILD-BOX/debian/DEBIAN/preinst << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash

# preinst script

# Save the path of the standard terminal in a temporary file
default_terminal=$(readlink -f /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator)
echo "$default_terminal" > /tmp/default_terminal_path

EOF

cat > ~/PIGRO-DEBIAN-BUILD-BOX/debian/DEBIAN/postinst << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash

# postinst script

# Read the saved path from the temporary file
default_terminal_path=$(cat /tmp/default_terminal_path)

# Check and restore the path
if [ ! -z "$default_terminal_path" ] && [ "$(readlink -f /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator)" != "$default_terminal_path" ]; then
   # Restore the previous selection
   update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator "$default_terminal_path"
fi

# Clean up: Remove temporary file
rm -f /tmp/default_terminal_path

EOF

This is because the mutter WM on Bullseye is actually themed by the active GTK theme. So is the lxpanel. It's pretty easy to copy over the window border stuff to another theme and then adjust the style to match the rest of the theme. I made an entire Windows 11 theme for Bullseye but disk corruption wiped it clean. The experience was too painful to repeat all that work. But it can be done.

This morning there was a nice surprise. I found PiXnoir in the theme folder after an update. That's a completely new approach that I can work with.

[actionschnitzel]

Are you manually embedding screenshots of some apps? I am curious how that works: if you are capturing these screenshots yourself or if you are finding images online.

I took the screenshots of Pi apps myself ... 200 ... :-( ... still in the worx https://github.com/actionschnitzel/PiGro-Aid-/tree/data/screenshots/pi-apps

All others are extracted with https://pypi.org/project/beautifulsoup4/. That was no fun because I have no idea about HTML. I really wanted to know how it works in Linux Mint and read through the whole mintinstall.py. https://github.com/linuxmint/mintinstall/blob/master/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintinstall/mintinstall.py#L297

I also tried to get the information via appsteam, but I would have to completely rewrite the way Software_Tab works.

My Solution (not perfect) For DEB:

        def apt_screenshot():
            try:
                apt_app = str(apt_entry.get())
                url = f"https://screenshots.debian.net/package/{apt_app}#gallery-1"
                # Make an HTTP GET request to the webpage
                response = requests.get(url)
                # Use BeautifulSoup to parse the HTML
                soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, "html.parser")
                # Find all links with .png extension
                links = [
                    link.get("href")
                    for link in soup.find_all("a")
                    if link.get("href").endswith(".png")
                ]

                url_output = f"https://screenshots.debian.net{str(links[1])}"
                with urlopen(url_output) as url_output:
                    self.app_img = Image.open(url_output)
                self.app_img = resize(self.app_img)

                self.app_img = ImageTk.PhotoImage(self.app_img)
                panel.config(image=self.app_img)
            except IndexError as e:
                print(f"{e}")
                panel.config(image=self.no_img)

For Flatpak:

        def get_flatpak_screenshot():
            url = (
                f"https://flathub.org/apps/{Flat_remote_dict[flatpak_entry.get()]}"
            )
            try:
                # Die URL der Webseite
                # url = "https://flathub.org/de/apps/de.k_bo.Televido"

                # Der zu suchende Teilinhalt
                desired_content = f"https://dl.flathub.org/repo/screenshots/{Flat_remote_dict[flatpak_entry.get()]}-stable/752x423/"

                # Die Webseite herunterladen
                web_content = requests.get(url).text

                # Verwenden von re (regulären Ausdrücken), um die gewünschte URL zu extrahieren
                match = re.search(rf'({desired_content}[^"\s]+)', web_content)

                # Überprüfen, ob der gewünschte Inhalt gefunden wurde
                if match:
                    extracted_url = match.group(1)
                    print("Gefundener Teilinhalt:", extracted_url)
                    og_image_content = extracted_url
                    # return og_image_content
                    with urlopen(og_image_content) as url_output:
                        self.img = Image.open(url_output)
                    self.img = resize(self.img)
                    self.img = ImageTk.PhotoImage(self.img)
                    flatpak_panel.config(image=self.img)

                else:
                    print("No og:image meta property found.")
                    flatpak_panel.config(self.no_img)
            except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
                print("Error fetching URL:", e)
                return None