Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Issues and Comments on the Current Beta Versions
Brother Mike
Posts: 198
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:18 pm
Location: Santa Clarita, CA

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by Brother Mike »

Greetings, Bro. Tim

What a blessing to have BA 5.5 on my Linux Laptop. And what a blessing you are for your persistence in getting BA to all.

Stayed up late last evening to get BA installed. Using your outline and the thread (plus google) i was able to get BA up and running without too many bumps.

The only issues found so far:
1) The SPad still has that URL can't be found message when clicking into it, but seems to work fine otherwise.
2) I cannot seem to get my Scourby MP3 files linked. I tried to link them, but BA hung up for quite some time and I had to force my way out. When I try to link again, it says they are already, but not in the linked audio groups drop down, and of course I get an error when I try to press the speech button. I will submit an issue report shortly on that.

Other than these, so far, so good.

God Bless and thank you again for your hard work on BA and especially BA on Linux. I am running Ubuntu 22.04.

May you and yours have a blessed Christmas.

Brother Mike
Posts: 198
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:18 pm
Location: Santa Clarita, CA

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by Brother Mike »

I also receive an error when selecting Dual Bible Viewer in Master Control Panel. A report has been submitted.

After reporting and the report dialog closes, the dual Bible viewer does return to a normal state and provides functionality

When changing a layout, the Bible panel flickers when moving the mouse. Returns to normal after a restart

Brother Mike
Posts: 198
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:18 pm
Location: Santa Clarita, CA

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by Brother Mike »

Hello Bro. Tim

Well, I was wrong about the SPad working. Both it and Notes are having issues. Cannot export, save, set links, etc. Getting many javascript messages (nothing turns up in the terminal with errors, just javascript dialogs).

The javascript errors center always around reference errors and not being able to find variables (getcontent, setcontent, makelink, etc)

Tim
Site Admin
Posts: 1454
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:14 pm

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by Tim »

I'm working on all these errors now.

I imported some code from updates I made on the Windows and Mac editions and will try to meld them into the Linux edition. It will fix some things but may break some others until sorted out.
Tim Morton
Developer, Bible Analyzer

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Rom 4:5 AV)

darrel_jw
Posts: 279
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 3:38 am

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by darrel_jw »

Do we have a time frame for the update?

Darrel

Tim
Site Admin
Posts: 1454
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:14 pm

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by Tim »

I have the code pretty well merged. The problem, as always it is, is how to package it. For some reason Ubuntu did not include the wx library in the 22.10 release. Maybe it will be in the 23.04, but who knows. But that presents another problem. Almost certainly 23.04 will have Python 3.11 which has some major changes from 3.10...and, of course, wx will not yet run on 3.11. SO the dilemma is one library will finally be there while another is taken away. It is virtually impossible to change the Python version on any Linux distro because it breaks so many things. I tried it once and had to completely reinstall Linux because it made an irreparable mess.

If you read my rant post in another thread I made a couple weeks ago, this just adds to the frustration. I checked on a Flatpak and before one can use a Flatpak app they must download an entire Gnome framework of several hundred MBs first then the app will be a couple hundred more MBs because of the bundled libraries. This is very impractical. A typical non-power-user won't do this and shouldn't have to. With Windows and Mac a skeleton Python library can be bundled right with the app and is relatively small. Not so with Linux. For example, the Windows setup file of Bible Analyzer includes all the libraries including Python and wxPython and only weighs 26MB. Once Ubuntu or another distro compiles wxP for their package system (apt, etc), they build it with a different internal linking which make the files much smaller. But until they do that the libraries are huge.

So, I will put up a new deb in a day or two for those of you who went through the ordeal of getting wxP installed through pip, but I still cannot release it to the public because of these constant dependency issues.

One option I'm considering is once the libraries are built for 23.10, and if it has wxP 4.2, is to tell potential users they must add the 23.10 repository to their system before they can install Bible Analyzer. Some won't do this, but they will have to or do without. But this still doesn't address the Python 3.11 issue.
Tim Morton
Developer, Bible Analyzer

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Rom 4:5 AV)

darrel_jw
Posts: 279
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 3:38 am

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by darrel_jw »

So probably a silly question - do I need to bail on BA? I will not go back to windows and I need a bible that I can use on Linux. I have tried installing BA in Wine, PlayOnLinux and CrossOver and the windows install fails on all 3. theWord plays quite well on wine. I am willing to work with deb package when you release it.

Darrel

Brother Mike
Posts: 198
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:18 pm
Location: Santa Clarita, CA

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by Brother Mike »

Bro. Tim.

I am going to ask a dumb question, so please excuse it. But, just wondering if your are aware that you can run multiple versions of Python on a Linux box?

https://www.how2shout.com/linux/install ... jellyfish/

Yes, it takes a bit of fussing around, but if someone does not want to understand how to use Linux, and DO IT, then they have no business using it, and should go to another less challenging OS,

Just. That. Simple.

If you have a version of BA that works perfectly on a specific version of of Python, let me have access to it and I can spin up a VM, install the preferred Python and test drive it. If you want to go down that trail. I am not ready to ditch BA yet.

PS: Just a completely unrelated question (sort of), what is your development platform for Python?

Tim
Site Admin
Posts: 1454
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:14 pm

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by Tim »

Brother Mike,

Thanks for looking into these Linux issues, but I think the Python version issue may soon be moot. I was checking the github of the platform Bible Analyzer is built on, wxPython, and it seems they have a made a commit to support v3.11. It is not released yet but I could build the platform directly from there if need be. But there is a good chance a release including 3.11 will be made soon. That will resolve that issue. Hopefully, there won't need to be many changes in the BA code to accommodate it.

The other issue is the wx 4.2 requirement that hopefully will be in a Ubuntu repository by April. If that is the case users of 23.04 will be able to install BA and its dependencies as any other program. Those who stick to the LTR versions will have to either include the 23.04 repository (which should not be an issue because it is an "official" one) or wait until April of 2024 for the next LTR. Linux Mint users and other distros which only build off of the LTR versions will have to do the same...or I may be able to package the 23.04 wx code with BA and solve that issue for them too.

Linux users should be used to having to wait. That's the reality of the Linux world.

p.s I am not going to further complicate things by dealing with Wine. I guess I understand the concept of Wine. People want to run Windows apps on Linux systems, but the elephant in the room for me has always been why not just run the Windows apps on Windows? Not many realize that most Windows programs are compiled with Microsoft compilers (Bible Analyzer is an exception) and so the users are still indebted to Microsoft for the programs they run on Wine. Plus the whole purpose of Wine is to replicate or imitate Windows, so I fail to see the appeal...but to each his own.
Tim Morton
Developer, Bible Analyzer

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Rom 4:5 AV)

darrel_jw
Posts: 279
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 3:38 am

Re: Bible Analyzer 5.5 Beta (Linux)

Post by darrel_jw »

Just a comment, let's be careful to keep this forum directed towards BA and not what one does or does not do with Linux. We have varying degrees of expertise as users and developers, so let;s stay off peoples toes, Just a thought...

Darrel

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