Update the AppImage build scripts (#2392)

.github/workflows/build_linux.yml

@@ -10,15 +10,21 @@ jobs:
     needs: buildAssets
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     env:
-      PYTHON_VERSION: "3.11"
+      PYTHON_VERSION: "3.13"
-      LINUX_TAG: "manylinux_2_28_x86_64"
+      LINUX_TAG: "manylinux_2_28"
+      LINUX_ARCH: "x86_64"
     steps:
       - name: Python Setup
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
-          python-version: "3.11"
+          python-version: "3.13"
           architecture: x64
 
+      - name: Install Packages (apt)
+        run: |
+          sudo apt update
+          sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0
+
       - name: Install Packages (pip)
         run: pip install python-appimage setuptools
 
@@ -34,8 +40,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build AppImage
         id: build
         run: |
+          wget https://github.com/AppImage/appimagetool/releases/download/continuous/appimagetool-$LINUX_ARCH.AppImage
+          chmod +x appimagetool-$LINUX_ARCH.AppImage
+          export APPIMAGE_TOOL_EXEC="$(pwd)/appimagetool-$LINUX_ARCH.AppImage"
           echo "BUILD_VERSION=$(python pkgutils.py version)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          python pkgutils.py build-appimage --linux-tag $LINUX_TAG --python-version $PYTHON_VERSION
+          python pkgutils.py build-appimage $LINUX_TAG $LINUX_ARCH $PYTHON_VERSION
 
       - name: Upload Artifacts
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4

pkgutils.py

@@ -272,24 +272,12 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     cmdBuildUbuntu.set_defaults(func=utils.build_debian.launchpad)
 
     # Build AppImage
-    cmdBuildAppImage = parsers.add_parser(
+    # See https://github.com/pypa/manylinux
-        "build-appimage", help=(
+    # See https://python-appimage.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#available-python-appimages
-            "Build an AppImage. "
+    cmdBuildAppImage = parsers.add_parser("build-appimage", help="Build an AppImage.")
-            "Argument --linux-tag defaults manylinux_2_28_x86_64, and --python-version to 3.13."
+    cmdBuildAppImage.add_argument("linux", help="Manylinux version, e.g. manylinux_2_28.")
-        )
+    cmdBuildAppImage.add_argument("arch", help="Architecture, e.g. x86_64.")
-    )
+    cmdBuildAppImage.add_argument("python", help="Python version, e.g. 3.13.")
-    cmdBuildAppImage.add_argument(
-        "--linux-tag",
-        default="manylinux_2_28_x86_64",
-        help=(
-            "Linux compatibility tag (e.g. manylinux_2_28_x86_64) "
-            "see https://python-appimage.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#available-python-appimages "
-            "and https://github.com/pypa/manylinux for a list of valid tags."
-        ),
-    )
-    cmdBuildAppImage.add_argument(
-        "--python-version", default="3.13", help="Python version (e.g. 3.13)"
-    )
     cmdBuildAppImage.set_defaults(func=utils.build_appimage.appImage)
 
     # Build Windows Inno Setup Installer

pyproject.toml

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ name = "novelWriter"
 authors = [
     {name = "Veronica Berglyd Olsen", email = "code@vkbo.net"},
 ]
-description = "A markdown-like text editor for planning and writing novels"
+description = "A plain text editor for planning and writing novels"
 readme = {file = "setup/description_pypi.md", content-type = "text/markdown"}
 license = {text = "GNU General Public License v3"}
 classifiers = [

setup/appimage_launcher.sh

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ cat > $HOME/.local/share/applications/novelWriter.desktop <<EOF
 [Desktop Entry]
 Type=Application
 Name=novelWriter
-Comment=A markdown-like text editor for planning and writing novels
+Comment=A plain text editor for planning and writing novels
 Exec=${IMGPATH} %f
 Icon=${ICONPATH}
 Categories=Qt;Office;WordProcessor;

setup/data/novelwriter.desktop

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [Desktop Entry]
 Type=Application
 Name=novelWriter
-Comment=A markdown-like text editor for planning and writing novels
+Comment=A plain text editor for planning and writing novels
 Exec=novelwriter %f
 Icon=novelwriter
 Categories=Qt;Office;WordProcessor;

setup/debian/control

@@ -10,10 +10,4 @@ X-Python3-Version: >= 3.10
 Package: novelwriter
 Architecture: all
 Depends: ${misc:Depends}, ${python3:Depends}, python3 (>=3.10), python3-pyqt6 (>= 6.4), python3-pyqt6.qtsvg (>= 6.4), python3-enchant (>= 2.0)
-Description: A markdown-like text editor for planning and writing novels
+Description: A plain text editor for planning and writing novels
- novelWriter is a plain text editor designed for writing novels assembled from
- many smaller text documents. It uses a minimal formatting syntax inspired by
- Markdown, and adds a meta data syntax for comments, synopsis, and
- cross-referencing. It's designed to be a simple text editor that allows for
- easy organisation of text and notes, using human readable text files as
- storage for robustness.

setup/macos/Info.plist.template

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
     <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
     <string>novelWriter</string>
     <key>CFBundleGetInfoString</key>
-    <string>novelWriter: A markdown-like text editor for planning and writing novels.</string>
+    <string>novelWriter: A plain text editor for planning and writing novels.</string>
     <key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
     <string>novelwriter.icns</string>
     <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>

setup/macos/build.sh

@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ rm lib/python3.*/site-packages/PyQt6/QtWebEngine* || true
 rm -r lib/python3.*/site-packages/PyQt6/Qt6/translations/qtwebengine* || true
 rm -r lib/python3.*/site-packages/PyQt6/Qt6/plugins/webview/libqtwebview* || true
 
-# Remove unneeded QtQuick/Decaritive components
+# Remove unneeded QtQuick/Declarative components
 rm lib/python3.*/site-packages/PyQt6/QtQml* || true
 rm lib/python3.*/site-packages/PyQt6/QtQuick* || true
 rm lib/python3.*/site-packages/PyQt6/WebChannel* || true
@@ -200,16 +200,16 @@ mkdir -p $RLS_DIR
 # --- Create DMG -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
 
 # Generate .dmg
-echo "Packageing DMG ..."
+echo "Packaging DMG ..."
 brew install create-dmg
 
 create-dmg --volname "novelWriter $VERSION" --volicon $SRC_DIR/setup/macos/novelwriter.icns \
     --window-pos 200 120 --window-size 800 400 --icon-size 100 \
     --icon novelWriter.app 200 190 --hide-extension novelWriter.app \
-    --app-drop-link 600 185 $RLS_DIR/novelWriter-"${VERSION}"-$ARCH.dmg "$BUILD_DIR"/
+    --app-drop-link 600 185 $RLS_DIR/novelwriter-"${VERSION}"-$ARCH.dmg "$BUILD_DIR"/
 
 pushd $RLS_DIR || exit 1
-shasum -a 256 novelWriter-"${VERSION}"-$ARCH.dmg | tee novelWriter-"${VERSION}"-$ARCH.dmg.sha256
+shasum -a 256 novelwriter-"${VERSION}"-$ARCH.dmg | tee novelwriter-"${VERSION}"-$ARCH.dmg.sha256
 popd || exit 1
 
 rm -r $CONDA_PATH

utils/build_appimage.py

@@ -22,13 +22,16 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
 import datetime
+import os
 import shutil
-import subprocess
 import sys
 
+from pathlib import Path
+
 from utils.common import (
     ROOT_DIR, SETUP_DIR, appdataXml, copyPackageFiles, copySourceCode,
-    extractVersion, makeCheckSum, toUpload, writeFile
+    extractVersion, freshFolder, makeCheckSum, removeRedundantQt, systemCall,
+    toUpload, writeFile
 )
 
 
@@ -49,115 +52,87 @@ def appImage(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
 
     print("")
     print("Build AppImage")
-    print("==============")
+    print("="*120)
-    print("")
 
-    linuxTag = args.linux_tag
+    mLinux = args.linux
-    pythonVer = args.python_version
+    mArch = args.arch
+    pyVer = args.python
 
     # Version Info
-    # ============
-
     pkgVers, _, relDate = extractVersion()
     relDate = datetime.datetime.strptime(relDate, "%Y-%m-%d")
-    print("")
 
     # Set Up Folder
-    # =============
-
     bldDir = ROOT_DIR / "dist_appimage"
-    bldPkg = f"novelwriter_{pkgVers}"
+    bldPkg = f"novelwriter-{pkgVers}-{mArch}"
+    bldImg = f"{bldPkg}.AppImage"
     outDir = bldDir / bldPkg
     imgDir = bldDir / "appimage"
-
+    appDir = bldDir / f"novelWriter-{mArch}"
-    # Set Up Folders
-    # ==============
 
     bldDir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
-
+    freshFolder(outDir)
-    if outDir.exists():
+    freshFolder(imgDir)
-        print("Removing old build files ...")
+    freshFolder(appDir)
-        print("")
-        shutil.rmtree(outDir)
-
-    outDir.mkdir()
-
-    if imgDir.exists():
-        print("Removing old build metadata files ...")
-        print("")
-        shutil.rmtree(imgDir)
-
-    imgDir.mkdir()
 
     # Remove old AppImages
     if images := bldDir.glob("*.AppImage"):
         print("Removing old AppImages")
-        print("")
         for image in images:
             image.unlink()
 
     # Copy novelWriter Source
-    # =======================
-
     print("Copying novelWriter source ...")
-    print("")
-
     copySourceCode(outDir)
 
-    print("")
     print("Copying or generating additional files ...")
-    print("")
-
     copyPackageFiles(outDir)
 
     # Write Metadata
-    # ==============
-
     writeFile(imgDir / "novelwriter.appdata.xml", appdataXml())
-    print("Wrote:  novelwriter.appdata.xml")
+    writeFile(imgDir / "requirements.txt", str(outDir))
-
     writeFile(imgDir / "entrypoint.sh", (
-        '#! /bin/bash \n'
+        # f"export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:${{APPDIR}}/usr/lib/{mArch}-linux-gnu/\n"
         '{{ python-executable }} -sE ${APPDIR}/opt/python{{ python-version }}/bin/novelwriter "$@"'
     ))
-    print("Wrote:  entrypoint.sh")
-
-    writeFile(imgDir / "requirements.txt", str(outDir))
-    print("Wrote:  requirements.txt")
 
     shutil.copyfile(SETUP_DIR / "data" / "novelwriter.desktop", imgDir / "novelwriter.desktop")
     print("Copied: novelwriter.desktop")
 
-    shutil.copyfile(SETUP_DIR / "icons" / "novelwriter.svg", imgDir / "novelwriter.svg")
+    shutil.copyfile(SETUP_DIR / "icons" / "novelwriter.png", imgDir / "novelwriter.png")
-    print("Copied: novelwriter.svg")
-
-    shutil.copyfile(
-        SETUP_DIR / "data" / "hicolor" / "256x256" / "apps" / "novelwriter.png",
-        imgDir / "novelwriter.png"
-    )
     print("Copied: novelwriter.png")
 
-    # Build AppImage
+    # Build AppDir
-    # ==============
+    systemCall([
+        sys.executable, "-m", "python_appimage", "build", "app", "--no-packaging",
+        "-l", f"{mLinux}_{mArch}", "-p", pyVer, "appimage"
+    ], cwd=bldDir)
 
-    try:
+    # Copy Libraries
-        subprocess.call([
+    libPath = Path(f"/usr/lib/{mArch}-linux-gnu")
-            sys.executable, "-m", "python_appimage", "build", "app",
+    siteDir = appDir / "opt" / f"python{pyVer}" / "lib" / f"python{pyVer}" / "site-packages"
-            "-l", linuxTag, "-p", pythonVer, "appimage"
+    qt6Lib = siteDir / "PyQt6" / "Qt6" / "lib"
-        ], cwd=bldDir)
+    shutil.copyfile(libPath / "libxcb-cursor.so.0", qt6Lib / "libxcb-cursor.so.0")
-    except Exception as exc:
-        print("AppImage build: FAILED")
-        print("")
-        print(str(exc))
-        print("")
-        sys.exit(1)
 
-    bldFile = list(bldDir.glob("*.AppImage"))[0]
+    # Remove Redundant
-    outFile = bldDir / f"novelWriter-{pkgVers}.AppImage"
+    removeRedundantQt(siteDir)
-    bldFile.rename(outFile)
-    shaFile = makeCheckSum(outFile.name, cwd=bldDir)
 
-    toUpload(outFile)
+    # Build Image
+    appToolExec = os.environ.get("APPIMAGE_TOOL_EXEC", "appimagetool")
+    env = os.environ.copy()
+    env["ARCH"] = mArch
+    systemCall([
+        appToolExec, "--no-appstream", "--updateinformation",
+        f"gh-releases-zsync|vkbo|novelwriter|latest|novelwriter-*-{mArch}.AppImage.zsync",
+        str(appDir), bldImg
+    ], cwd=bldDir, env=env)
+
+    updFile = bldDir / f"{bldImg}.zsync"
+    bldFile = bldDir / bldImg
+    shaFile = makeCheckSum(bldFile.name, cwd=bldDir)
+
+    toUpload(bldFile)
+    toUpload(updFile)
     toUpload(shaFile)
 
     return

utils/build_windows.py

@@ -30,7 +30,10 @@ import zipfile
 
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from utils.common import ROOT_DIR, SETUP_DIR, copySourceCode, extractVersion, readFile, writeFile
+from utils.common import (
+    ROOT_DIR, SETUP_DIR, copySourceCode, extractVersion, readFile,
+    removeRedundantQt, writeFile
+)
 
 
 def prepareCode(outDir: Path) -> None:
@@ -103,85 +106,6 @@ def installRequirements(libDir: Path) -> None:
     return
 
 
-def removeRedundantQt(libDir: Path) -> None:
-    """Delete Qt files that are not needed"""
-
-    def unlinkIfFound(file: Path) -> None:
-        if file.is_file():
-            file.unlink()
-            print(f"Deleted: {file}")
-
-    def deleteFolder(folder: Path) -> None:
-        if folder.is_dir():
-            shutil.rmtree(folder)
-            print(f"Deleted: {folder}")
-
-    def unlinkIfPrefix(folder: Path, prefix: tuple[str, ...]) -> None:
-        if folder.is_dir():
-            for item in folder.iterdir():
-                if item.name.startswith(prefix):
-                    if item.is_file():
-                        unlinkIfFound(item)
-                    elif item.is_dir():
-                        deleteFolder(item)
-
-    print("Deleting Redundant Files")
-    print("========================")
-    print("")
-
-    pyQt6Dir = libDir / "PyQt6"
-    bindDir  = libDir / "PyQt6" / "bindings"
-    qt6Dir   = libDir / "PyQt6" / "Qt6"
-    binDir   = libDir / "PyQt6" / "Qt6" / "bin"
-    plugDir  = libDir / "PyQt6" / "Qt6" / "plugins"
-    qmDir    = libDir / "PyQt6" / "Qt6" / "translations"
-    dictDir  = libDir / "enchant" / "data" / "mingw64" / "share" / "enchant" / "hunspell"
-
-    for item in dictDir.iterdir():
-        if not item.name.startswith(("en_GB", "en_US")):
-            unlinkIfFound(item)
-
-    for item in qmDir.iterdir():
-        if not item.name.startswith("qtbase"):
-            unlinkIfFound(item)
-
-    bulkDel = ("QtQml", "Qt6Qml", "QtQuick", "Qt6Quick")
-    unlinkIfPrefix(pyQt6Dir, bulkDel)
-    unlinkIfPrefix(bindDir, bulkDel)
-    unlinkIfPrefix(binDir, bulkDel)
-
-    delQt6 = [
-        "Qt6Bluetooth", "Qt6DBus", "Qt6Designer", "Qt6Help", "Qt6Multimedia",
-        "Qt6MultimediaWidgets", "Qt6Network", "Qt6Nfc", "Qt6OpenGL", "Qt6Positioning",
-        "Qt6PositioningQuick", "Qt6Sensors", "Qt6SerialPort", "Qt6Sql", "Qt6Test",
-        "Qt6TextToSpeech", "Qt6WebChannel", "Qt6WebSockets", "Qt6Xml",
-    ]
-    for item in delQt6:
-        qtItem = item.replace("Qt6", "Qt")
-        unlinkIfFound(binDir / f"{item}.dll")
-        unlinkIfFound(pyQt6Dir / f"{qtItem}.pyd")
-        unlinkIfFound(pyQt6Dir / f"{qtItem}.pyi")
-        deleteFolder(bindDir / qtItem)
-
-    delList = [
-        binDir / "opengl32sw.dll",
-        qt6Dir / "qml",
-        plugDir / "renderers",
-        plugDir / "sensors",
-        plugDir / "sqldrivers",
-        plugDir / "texttospeech",
-        plugDir / "webview",
-    ]
-    for item in delList:
-        unlinkIfFound(item)
-        deleteFolder(item)
-
-    print("Done")
-    print("")
-
-    return
-
-
 def main(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
     """Set up a package with embedded Python and dependencies for
     Windows installation.

utils/common.py

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import shutil
 import subprocess
+import sys
 
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -77,16 +78,16 @@ def copySourceCode(dst: Path) -> None:
     for item in src.glob("**/*"):
         relSrc = item.relative_to(ROOT_DIR)
         if item.suffix in (".pyc", ".pyo"):
-            print(f"Ignore: {relSrc}")
+            print("Ignored:", relSrc)
             continue
         if item.parent.is_dir() and item.parent.name != "__pycache__":
             dstDir = dst / relSrc.parent
             if not dstDir.exists():
                 dstDir.mkdir(parents=True)
-                print(f"Folder: {dstDir}")
+                print("Created:", dstDir.relative_to(ROOT_DIR))
         if item.is_file():
             shutil.copyfile(item, dst / relSrc)
-            print(f"Copied: {dst / relSrc}")
+            print("Copied:", relSrc)
     return
 
 
@@ -95,26 +96,23 @@ def copyPackageFiles(dst: Path, setupPy: bool = False) -> None:
     copyFiles = ["LICENSE.md", "CREDITS.md", "pyproject.toml"]
     for copyFile in copyFiles:
         shutil.copyfile(copyFile, dst / copyFile)
-        print(f"Copied: {copyFile}")
+        print("Copied:", copyFile)
 
     writeFile(dst / "MANIFEST.in", (
         "include LICENSE.md\n"
         "include CREDITS.md\n"
         "recursive-include novelwriter/assets *\n"
     ))
-    print("Wrote:  MANIFEST.in")
 
     if setupPy:
         writeFile(dst / "setup.py", (
             "import setuptools\n"
             "setuptools.setup()\n"
         ))
-        print("Wrote:  setup.py")
 
     text = readFile(ROOT_DIR / "pyproject.toml")
     text = text.replace("setup/description_pypi.md", "data/description_short.txt")
     writeFile(dst / "pyproject.toml", text)
-    print("Wrote:  pyproject.toml")
 
     return
 
@@ -188,4 +186,93 @@ def readFile(file: Path) -> str:
 
 def writeFile(file: Path, text: str) -> int:
     """Write string to file."""
-    return file.write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
+    result = file.write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
+    print("Wrote:", file.relative_to(ROOT_DIR))
+    return result
+
+
+def freshFolder(path: Path) -> None:
+    """Make sure a folder exists and is empty."""
+    if path.exists():
+        print("Removing:", str(path))
+        shutil.rmtree(path)
+    path.mkdir()
+    return
+
+
+def systemCall(cmd: list, cwd: Path | str | None = None, env: dict | None = None) -> None:
+    """Make a system call using subprocess."""
+    if isinstance(cwd, Path):
+        cwd = str(cwd)
+    try:
+        subprocess.call([str(c) for c in cmd], cwd=cwd, env=env)
+    except Exception as exc:
+        print("ERROR:", str(exc))
+        sys.exit(1)
+    return
+
+
+def removeRedundantQt(qtBase: Path) -> None:
+    """Delete Qt files that are not needed"""
+
+    def unlinkIfFound(file: Path) -> None:
+        if file.is_file():
+            file.unlink()
+            print("Deleted:", file.relative_to(ROOT_DIR))
+
+    def deleteFolder(folder: Path) -> None:
+        if folder.is_dir():
+            shutil.rmtree(folder)
+            print("Deleted:", folder.relative_to(ROOT_DIR))
+
+    def unlinkIfPrefix(folder: Path, prefix: tuple[str, ...]) -> None:
+        if folder.is_dir():
+            for item in folder.iterdir():
+                if item.name.startswith(prefix):
+                    if item.is_file():
+                        unlinkIfFound(item)
+                    elif item.is_dir():
+                        deleteFolder(item)
+
+    print("Deleting redundant files ...")
+
+    pyQt6Dir = qtBase / "PyQt6"
+    bindDir  = qtBase / "PyQt6" / "bindings"
+    qt6Dir   = qtBase / "PyQt6" / "Qt6"
+    binDir   = qtBase / "PyQt6" / "Qt6" / "bin"
+    libDir   = qtBase / "PyQt6" / "Qt6" / "lib"
+    plugDir  = qtBase / "PyQt6" / "Qt6" / "plugins"
+    qmDir    = qtBase / "PyQt6" / "Qt6" / "translations"
+    dictDir  = qtBase / "enchant" / "data" / "mingw64" / "share" / "enchant" / "hunspell"
+
+    # Prune Dictionaries
+    if dictDir.exists():
+        for item in dictDir.iterdir():
+            if not item.name.startswith(("en_GB", "en_US")):
+                unlinkIfFound(item)
+
+    # Prune Translations
+    for item in qmDir.iterdir():
+        if not item.name.startswith("qtbase"):
+            unlinkIfFound(item)
+
+    # Delete Modules
+    modules = [
+        "Qt6Qml", "Qt6Quick", "Qt6Bluetooth", "Qt6Nfc",
+        "Qt6Sensors", "Qt6SerialPort", "Qt6Test",
+    ]
+    modules.extend([x.replace("Qt6", "Qt") for x in modules])
+    modules.extend([f"lib{x}" for x in modules])
+    modules = tuple(modules)
+
+    unlinkIfPrefix(pyQt6Dir, modules)
+    unlinkIfPrefix(bindDir, modules)
+    unlinkIfPrefix(binDir, modules)
+    unlinkIfPrefix(libDir, modules)
+
+    # Other Files
+    deleteFolder(qt6Dir / "qml")
+    deleteFolder(plugDir / "qmlls")
+    deleteFolder(plugDir / "qmllint")
+
+    return