Building Electric Drummer for Linux

[scripting]

As long as @emk is here, let's figure out how this works.

I don't have a Linux with a GUI to test it on, so he'll have to do the testing.

I am using electron-package to build the Mac version.

https://github.com/electron/electron-packager

Now to figure out how to do a Linux build.

[scripting]

This is the command I use to build E/D for the Mac.

sudo electron-packager . "Electric Drummer" --platform=darwin --arch=all --overwrite --icon=drummer.icns --electron-version=7.1.10

I assume I want to change the platform value. What to change it to? I am looking for a list of possible platforms and coming up empty.

Should I just try it replacing "darwin" with "linux"?

[scripting]

I did try it, and sheeeeet it seems to have worked! :-)

Here's what the app said.

Official Linux/ia32 support is deprecated.
For more info: https://electronjs.org/blog/linux-32bit-support
Packaging app for platform linux x64 using electron v7.1.10
Packaging app for platform linux arm64 using electron v7.1.10
Packaging app for platform linux armv7l using electron v7.1.10
Packaging app for platform linux ia32 using electron v7.1.10
Wrote new apps to:
/Users/davewiner/nodeEditor/scripting.com-code-electricdrummer/Electric Drummer-linux-ia32
/Users/davewiner/nodeEditor/scripting.com-code-electricdrummer/Electric Drummer-linux-x64
/Users/davewiner/nodeEditor/scripting.com-code-electricdrummer/Electric Drummer-linux-armv7l
/Users/davewiner/nodeEditor/scripting.com-code-electricdrummer/Electric Drummer-linux-arm64

[scripting]

@emk -- which version would you like to try?

In the meantime I'm going to try to get Ubuntu running under VM Ware again.

This is kind of exciting! :-)

[scotthansonde]

If you want another Linux tester, I can help. I've got a spare notebook running ubuntu somewhere... 😄

[scripting]

@scotthansonde -- that'd be great. which version should i provide for you?

[scotthansonde]

@scripting x64, thanks!

[kevinctofel]

I don't have a Linux with a GUI to test it on, so he'll have to do the testing.

Just a quick mention for anyone that has a Chromebook (I know Dave recently got one): Chromebooks can run a persistent Debian client instance with CLI. And any GUI apps you install to that instance will run on your Chromebook in their own window. You’ll find the option to enable this in your Settings, under Advanced, Developer. I’ve been covering this feature (and using it heavily!) for about 3 years.

[scripting]

@scotthansonde -- I've been trying to upload it for an hour and it's not working. I think my ISP is having problems. I'll post a link here when it's available. Oy. ;-)

[scripting]

@scotthansonde & @emk -- here's the Linux download.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/scripting.com/publicfolder/downloads/electricDrummer-linux-x64.zip

[emk]

Thank you! This is great.

I downloaded it, set it as executable, and tried to run it.

❯ ~/bin/Electric\ Drummer
~/bin/Electric Drummer: error while loading shared libraries: libffmpeg.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

This looks like electron/electron#25440.

This looks like it's the only library error of this type, too:

❯ ldd ~/bin/Electric\ Drummer | grep "not found"
	libffmpeg.so => not found

So we're probably really close, because this is a known Electron packaging issue on Linux. I could maybe help dig into this later.

[scotthansonde]

I tried making a Hello World Electron app on my Mac for Linux. After some false starts, I remembered that for Linux that you can't just copy over the executable file, but also the shared libraries and other resources that are needed.

The electron-packager README mentions some Linux package creators at the bottom. I tried electron-installer-debian, since Ubuntu uses .deb packages. After a couple of tries I was able to create a deb package for my Hello World, which I copied over to my Linux instance, installed with with sudo apt install ./electron-quick-start_1.0.0_amd64.deb, and was able to run. But even for Hello World the .deb package included 111 files!

[scotthansonde]

I've put my project at https://github.com/scotthansonde/sample-electron-app

[scripting]

@scotthansonde -- thank you for picking up the ball on this.

I want to work on a different project today, but after that I'll swing back around to this.

Here's a question, if I uploaded to a private github repo the contents of my electron folder, would you attempt to build Electric Drummer for Linux? That might be a sensible way to proceed since you're already dug in on this.

[scotthansonde]

@scripting Yes, I'm willing to try that.

[scripting]

@scotthansonde -- i've created the repo and added you as a collaborator.