Linux installation

[Bob Warren]

Hi Rev folks!

With (more than) a little off-list help, I have managed to improve my 
standalone module for discovering fundamental system path information in 
Linux. You can download it here:

http://www.howsoft.com/runrev/sysinfo/get_sys_info_linux.zip

When extracting the program from the ZIP file, please note that you may 
have to give it "executable" status by right-clicking the file and 
changing the properties. This is a little problem I am still working on.

It is still a GUI version, but now it really is 100% invisible! As 
before, the output file (sys_info.txt) contains the following paths, but 
you will see that if a path is not available in a particular distro, it 
is marked as such. Here's an example of what you get in Ubuntu 
(Debian-based, Gnome):-

/home/bob/Desktop/            (DesktopFolder)
/home/bob/                (PreferencesFolder)
/usr/                    (SystemFolder)
/tmp/                    (TemporaryFolder)
/home/bob/                (ApplicationSupportFolder)
failed                    (FontsFolder)
failed                    (StartupItemsFolder)
/home/bob/.Trash/            (TrashFolder)

- and here's what you get in Kurumin (Debian-based, KDE):

/home/kurumin/Desktop/            (DesktopFolder)
/home/kurumin/                (PreferencesFolder)
/usr/                    (SystemFolder)
/tmp/                    (TemporaryFolder)
/home/kurumin/                (ApplicationSupportFolder)
failed                    (FontsFolder)
failed                    (StartupItemsFolder)
failed                    (TrashFolder)

[N.B. In the above, "kurumin" is also the default user name.]

This new version should not get hung up if a path is not available in 
the distro. Regardless of the paths available, the module should always 
quit after it has done its job.

For an example of how to shell this module (get_sys_info_linux) from 
your Rev handler, please refer to the demo stack for my File/Picture 
Chooser Widgets at:

http://www.howsoft.com/runrev/stacks.htm

In addition, you would be advised to delete the file "sys_info.txt" 
before calling the shell and also, after shelling, to set a timer on the 
appearance of the "sys_info.txt" file so that if in fact it does not 
appear for any reason, your Rev handler does not get stuck in an 
infinite waiting loop. This is another aspect that requires a little 
polishing.

There may be further improvements to this module, and it is possible 
that the next version will be a lighter console (i.e. non-GUI) rendering.

I hope that this temporary workaround is of some use to you. Please let 
me know if you have any observations.

Regards to all,
Bob Warren