Feature Request: Flatpak Support.

[BeatLink]

In the coming days, I will attempt to create a flatpak package and upload it to flathub, with your blessings ofcourse. This issue will be to document my progress, raise issues and discuss decisions that need to be made.

[BeatLink]

To start with, the app id will be "org.gmusicbrowser.gmusicbrowser". Let me know if that needs to be changed.

The runtime will be GNOME

[BeatLink]

Ive already made an initial flatpak manifest. It compiles, but if shows the following error

Can't locate Gtk2.pm in @INC (you may need to install the Gtk2 module) (@INC contains: /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0/x86_64-linux /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0 /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.30.0/x86_64-linux /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.30.0 /usr/lib/perl5/5.30.0/x86_64-linux /usr/lib/perl5/5.30.0) at /app/bin/gmusicbrowser line 25.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /app/bin/gmusicbrowser line 25.

Im not sure how to include the gtk2.pm

Here's the repo with the added flatpak files.

https://github.com/BeatLink/gmusicbrowser

[BeatLink]

The bug has been solved earlier this morning and I'm making great progress! The build compiles successfully and i am now ready to perform the first test

[squentin]

I'm really not familiar with flatpack.
I haven't look at what you've done, but be aware that the latest official release is very old (sorry), so you should use the latest git version instead. The master branch is the gtk3 port, it is still in beta. If you want the gtk2 version you should use the branch v1.1.x which will probably only receive bugfixes.

[BeatLink]

ahh okay. Im currently building with the 1.1.x branch. Is the gtk3 port stable?

[BeatLink]

Also, dont sweat gmusicbrowser being old. It just goes to show how good the app is when it hasnt needed a major change in 5 years and still works great XD

[squentin]

The gtk3 port is stable but there are some small bugs, mainly sizing of elements in some layouts and some the icons are a mess though it's doesn't show too much, it's mostly small things and theming.
Also the SongList is slow when filling/removing lots of songs, which may not be fixable, but the SongTree is fast and can be made to look mostly like a regular SongList.
On the other hand some old plugins like webcontext work again as they don't need perl bindings for libraries just their introspection data.

[BeatLink]

ooh okay great! Im happy to report that the build is going great! The app will launch successfully now. All that is left to add is include the music playing command and dependencies to handle the different file formats. things like mpg123 and its flac and ogg counterparts

[BeatLink]

Once its all done and polished, ill upload it to flathub.org! With your blessings ofcourse

[BeatLink]

It works! Everything checks out. I will go ahead and submit the code to flathub

[BeatLink]

Slight snag with the build but im working on it. Baiscally, flatpak uses a special library folder to save data in (under /app) but gmusicbrowser has some hardcoded paths in the executable under /usr that makes the build break. I've created a simple pull request to fix it here:

#175

Once thats approved, i can try the build again

[BeatLink]

Ive created a patch to bypass the executable issue. The flatpak build is now fully functional!

I will be submitting this build to flathub tonight. Only locales/translations and mpv arent working in this build according to gmb's console output

[BeatLink]

The flathub builds are failing due to not being able to find the appstream file. Renaming the file should do the trick. I've opened a PR here #178