[L2Ork-dev] Packaging Purr Data as a Flatpak for Linux

[Jonathan Wilkes]

On Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 6:02 AM Sam Thursfield <ssssam at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> There are a few 'app stores' recently developed for Linux. As a Fedora
> user, I'd like to see Pure Data packaged as a Flatpak[1] so I can
> download it from the Flathub app store.[2]
>
> Building Purr Data as a Flatpak bundle is pretty straightforward,
> I have some build instructions working already, with a few caveats[3].
> I'm almost ready to submit this to the Flathub app store.  However, I
> wanted to check in here first that it's OK to do that, and also I want
> to hear your opinions on 'branding'. Let me explain ...
>
> An app on Flathub needs a unique identifier in reverse-DNS
> format. I've used `info.puredata.PurrData` for this.

Hi Sam,

The website is purrdata.net so I suppose the identifier should
start with net.purrdata

> An app also needs
> a human-readable name and an icon. I've used "Pure Data" as the name,

I'd use "Purr Data." Otherwise people will confuse it with Pure Data.

> and the icon from <https://github.com/pure-data/pd-icon>.

Here are some Purr Data graphics:

https://git.purrdata.net/jwilkes/purr-data/blob/master/pd/nw/purr.png

https://git.purrdata.net/jwilkes/purr-data/blob/master/packages/win32_inno/big_cat.bmp

https://git.purrdata.net/jwilkes/purr-data/blob/master/packages/win32_inno/pdPatch_catGraphics.ico

https://git.purrdata.net/jwilkes/purr-data/blob/master/packages/win32_inno/small_cat.bmp

Also, if you open "About Pd" there's an animation of a 3d cat walking around.

> In the
> description of the app I put a note that this is actually the Purr Data
> fork of PD. I think this approach will make it easy for users to find,
> and if someone wants to put a different fork of PD onto Flathub in the
> future we can figure out how to distinguish the two. (I feel like Purr
> Data must be the best option for desktop users, but maybe some people
> really like Tcl/TK :-).
>
> I'm just getting into Pd so maybe I'm missing something important. If
> so I'd appreciate help to find an approach that everyone is happy with!

This sounds great!

What's the maintenance cost with flatpak? For example,
what happens when a new version gets released? Do you have to do
manually package up the new version?

Also, I assume flatpak does some sandboxing of apps. Does that create any
limitations on setting real time priorities/filesystem access/etc.?

Best,
Jonathan

>
> Thanks
> Sam Thursfield
>
>
> [1]. https://flatpak.org/
> [2]. https://flathub.org/
> [3]. The build instructions are here:
> <https://github.com/ssssam/flatpak-info.puredata.PurrData>. The main
> caveat is that support for pro audio apps in Flatpak is still limited,
> so currently we have to use the OSS rather than the JACK audio backend,
> and I'm not sure about MIDI support. I also left a few harder-to-build
> extensions out of the package, and disabled Gem for now.
> _______________________________________________
> L2Ork-dev mailing list
> L2Ork-dev at disis.music.vt.edu
> https://disis.music.vt.edu/listinfo/l2ork-dev