Bible Analyzer 4.9 Beta (Linux)
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 1:38 pm
I just uploaded a beta of 4.9 for Linux. It has been tested on Linux Mint 15 and seems to work well there. There are some changes from the previous Linux editions of Bible Analyzer.
Past Permissions Issues
As some of you who follow this forum know, Linux permissions have been a pain. Not only to me but to many users who don't understand them. The main issue since 4.7 has been the generation of indexes within many of the modules. Since the modules have been in the protected /opt folder anytime an index was generated root permission was required. Now with the Download Manager, if a user wanted to download a title, root permissions were required to install the file. This is an added burden plus it scares some people. I would get emails from people, "Why do I need to enter my password...?" "This is dangerous...." I would reply "You have to enter your password when you install an app don't you? Now you are just installing some more files."
Anyway, I decided, for good or bad, to place all the modules in the user's /Documents folder. Some developers place files such as this in the hidden .config folder, but I wanted to give users easy access to them. This also avoids the permissions issues, but it does have some drawbacks:
* The app must still be installed in the protected /opt folder for the Software Center
* If the modules are in a user folder, another user will have access to the BA app but not the modules thus BA won't start.
How I dealt with these matters:
I placed all the included modules in a zip archive that will install in the /opt folder with the BA app. When BA is first run after installation, it will look for a /Documents/BibleAnalyzer/Modules folder and if found try to start. If the folder is not found it will create one and populate it with all the standard installation titles in their designated folders. If the /Documents/BibleAnalyzer folder is deleted, Bible Analyzer will just regenerate a new one on next start. This will allow any user to have their own set of modules.
The only downside I see is the compressed module archive is stored in the /opt folder, but it is only around 8MB and should not be much of an issue.
If this arrangement causes issues or I have missed something, let me know. But I think it is the best compromise. No more passwords and each user has their own set of modules without having to reinstall.
Also, this version has an option to add another path to a module location somewhere else, such as another drive or thumbdrive. See Options I.
Here is the link,
http://www.bibleanalyzer.com/bibleanaly ... -2_all.deb
Past Permissions Issues
As some of you who follow this forum know, Linux permissions have been a pain. Not only to me but to many users who don't understand them. The main issue since 4.7 has been the generation of indexes within many of the modules. Since the modules have been in the protected /opt folder anytime an index was generated root permission was required. Now with the Download Manager, if a user wanted to download a title, root permissions were required to install the file. This is an added burden plus it scares some people. I would get emails from people, "Why do I need to enter my password...?" "This is dangerous...." I would reply "You have to enter your password when you install an app don't you? Now you are just installing some more files."
Anyway, I decided, for good or bad, to place all the modules in the user's /Documents folder. Some developers place files such as this in the hidden .config folder, but I wanted to give users easy access to them. This also avoids the permissions issues, but it does have some drawbacks:
* The app must still be installed in the protected /opt folder for the Software Center
* If the modules are in a user folder, another user will have access to the BA app but not the modules thus BA won't start.
How I dealt with these matters:
I placed all the included modules in a zip archive that will install in the /opt folder with the BA app. When BA is first run after installation, it will look for a /Documents/BibleAnalyzer/Modules folder and if found try to start. If the folder is not found it will create one and populate it with all the standard installation titles in their designated folders. If the /Documents/BibleAnalyzer folder is deleted, Bible Analyzer will just regenerate a new one on next start. This will allow any user to have their own set of modules.
The only downside I see is the compressed module archive is stored in the /opt folder, but it is only around 8MB and should not be much of an issue.
If this arrangement causes issues or I have missed something, let me know. But I think it is the best compromise. No more passwords and each user has their own set of modules without having to reinstall.
Also, this version has an option to add another path to a module location somewhere else, such as another drive or thumbdrive. See Options I.
Here is the link,
http://www.bibleanalyzer.com/bibleanaly ... -2_all.deb