On 23 March 2018 at 11:31, Ben Coman <b...@openinworld.com> wrote: > > > On 23 March 2018 at 05:14, Cédrick Béler <cdric...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I just saw students and they still have some problem on windows with the >> launcher. >> >> First, the launcher has to be run in admin mode. >> >> Then, the image download starts but there is an error when uncompressing. >> Here is the stack. >> >> Any idea on how to fix that ? >> > > Now I notice... > the Linux PharoLauncher download is a ZIP file > and the Mac PharoLauncher download is a ZIP file > so... can we make the Windows PharoLauncher download a ZIP file? > > Doing that, at least as an interim measure, would *immediately* make > PharoLauncher > usable to students on locked-down Windows machines in University student > labs. > I'd expect this will improve the success with this experiment > to use PharoLauncher as the main user entry point. > > The problem with using an "Installer" for the Windows PharoLauncher is the > large amount > of testing required to work *reliably* with *all* the "different ways > people work" > under several different versions of Windows introduced different layers of > user security intricacies. > Lets move forward in small steps. A ZIP download/extract is simple, and > consistent with other platforms. > > In the meantime while waiting for that to happen, you can... > > 1. Download/extract http://files.pharo.org/platform/Pharo6.1-win.zip > > 2. Rename Pharo6.1 folder to PharoLauncher > Rename Pharo6.1.* files to PharoLauncher1.1.* > > 3. Metacello new > smalltalkhubUser: 'Pharo' > project: 'PharoLauncher'; > configuration: 'PharoLauncher'; > load. > PhLDeploymentScript doAll. > PharoLauncher open. > Smalltalk snapshot: true andQuit: true. >
> 4. Zip up the parent folder, test on another machine and provide a link to > your students. > > cheers -ben > > > P.S. I was going to suggest also renaming Pharo.exe to > PharoLauncher.exe > but with an empty Documents\Pharo\vms > I get... "Error: Cannot detect Pharo executable in > C:\Temp\MyPharoLauncher\PharoLauncher" > in PhLVirtualMachine>>initializeOn: "File @ C:\Temp\MyPharoLauncher\PharoL > auncher" > since "executables := aFolder allChildrenMatching: self class > executableName." > is empty since "self class executableName" ==> "Pharo.exe" > > It would be nice for that to not be hard coded. I tried digging further > but ran out of time. > I am curious it mattered since using "Pharo.exe" the Launcher went on to > download a VM anyway. > > > P.S.2. > I believe the best path forward for system-wide PharoLauncher installed > under "C:\Program Files" > would be to install there only... > * the VM > * PharoLauncher.ZIP > * a tiny non-Pharo wrapper program as the shortcut linked from AllUsers > > Start Menu > PharoLauncher > that extracts PharoLauncher.ZIP to the user's data area and then starts > that user specific PharoLauncher. > > Then regardless whether: > * they individually download/extract PharoLauncher.ZIP > * the system-wide-wrapper extracts PharoLauncher.ZIP > its a similar experience for users which should aid reliability by > reducing the number of "different " use cases. > Coincidentally I have returned to Windows for a short while so thought I should put my money where my mouth is and have a stab at this. After a few hours trying with NSIS, I went searching for an alternative and Advanced Installer looked like a good chance. https://www.advancedinstaller.com/feats-list.html The important part of (free) Basic Features is "Windows 10/8/7/Vista and UAC installs" Also further down are some CI options. After just the "Simple Installation" tutorial and experimenting a few hours I ironed out a potential solution uploaded for testing to http://www.mediafire.com/file/3g579bmzqspt8e1/BCPharoLauncher.msi with the full build tree at http://www.mediafire.com/file/5ijiww848lbkk7m/PharoLauncher%20Advanced%20Installer.zip Links should be live for 30 days. I've directly attached the much smaller installer-configuration file "PharoLauncher.aip". PharoLauncher was built with some minor changes from above... 1. Download/extracted http://files.pharo.org/platform/Pharo6.1-win.zip 2. Renamed Pharo6.1 folder to BCPharoLauncher Renamed Pharo6.1.* files to PharoLauncher1.1.* 3. Metacello new smalltalkhubUser: 'Pharo' project: 'PharoLauncher'; configuration: 'PharoLauncher'; load. PharoLauncher hardResetPersistanceState: true. PhLDeploymentScript doAll. PhLDeploymentScript closeWindowsAndOpenLauncher. Smalltalk snapshot: true andQuit: true. 4. Moved the image & changes files into a subfolder "PerUserFiles" 5. Built BCPharoLauncher.msi I prefixed my initials to distinguish it from the current official PharoLauncher installer. Hopefully this can be adopted as the official installer and they can be dropped off. Key features: a. Provides a choice to install for "Everybody" (i.e. C:\Program Files (x86)\Pharo\BCPharoLauncher\) or "Only for me" (i.e. C:\Users\Ben\AppData\Local\Programs\Pharo\BCPharoLauncher\) per attached screen snapshot. b. Start the install as a Standard User and it escalates only as needed. c. The Desktop and Start Menu shortcuts run the following script... // File: PharoLauncher.js // Author: Ben Coman 2018.03.24 // Purpose: Facilitate each user to run a personal copy of PharoLauncher.image in their own data area. // Locations basename = "\\PharoLauncher1.1"; WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell"); fso = WScript.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject"); systemFolder = fso.GetAbsolutePathName("."); vmFilename = systemFolder + "\\Pharo.exe" systemBasename = systemFolder + "\\PerUserFiles" + basename; userFolder = WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%LOCALAPPDATA%\\Pharo"); userFolder2 = userFolder + "\\PharoLauncher"; userBasename = userFolder2 + basename; // Ensure user data folder exists for PharoLauncher if( ! fso.FolderExists(userFolder)) { fso.CreateFolder(userFolder); fso.CreateFolder(userFolder2) } // If either image or changes files missing from user folder, copy from system folder. if( ! fso.FileExists(userBasename + ".image") || ! fso.FileExists(userBasename + ".changes")) { //WScript.Echo("Setting up user environment"); fso.CopyFile(systemBasename + ".image", userBasename + ".image", true); fso.CopyFile(systemBasename + ".changes", userBasename + ".changes", true); } // Start personal copy of PharoLauncher WshShell.Exec(vmFilename + " " + userBasename + ".image") cheers -ben
PharoLauncher.aip
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