PortableApps Xonotic launcher

Here is a link:

http://portableapps.com/apps/games/xonotic-portable

Just wanted to post it here since i have read in a couple of posts that people are looking for a way to move Xonotic data directory to another disk. I also had this wish and this is the easiest way for Windows users. So finally PortableApps made a launcher for Xonotic. It already features a lot of launchers for games and it is open source.

Hm. I wonder what mechanism they're leveraging exactly. Hopefully not -nohome, as running the rsync updater then means you lose all your data. Keep that in mind!

I already lost all my data except my cfg when i ran rupdater to update to 0.8 with normal installment. Anyways i havemade a backup of a normal installation while i test the portable one. So far i had no problems using it.
And it is not nohome variant. The launcher intercepts everything that the game is writing outside of it's folder and writes it in the folder it made in the game directory.

I already lost all my data except my cfg when i ran rupdater to update to 0.8 with normal installment. Anyways i havemade a backup of a normal installation while i test the portable one. So far i had no problems using it.
And it is not nohome variant. The launcher intercepts everything that the game is writing outside of it's folder and writes it in the folder it made in the game directory.

I hope that's not what it's actually doing, because that's not optimal. Because Xonotic already provides fully portable functionality, you only need to pass the "-userdir" parameter to the executable, followed by the path to the personal data directory.

Where can I find the source code for this launcher?

It is on source forge. The download link on the page i linked in the post leads to it's sourceforge page.

Yeah, I see that, but that's PortableApps itself. What about the launcher binary that's downloadable from this page?

Browse through it's sourceforge page? I am not a developer and i never ever search for software sources so i don't know exactly where to find it.

I found it for you though. It is included in this download. It is a link in the bottom of the page of each portable download on the site including Xonotic.

Here's a quote from an answer to a guy who asked of it for Openoffice:
"Most of the apps here are created by other developers - so there is the original source code, which is what that link at the bottom of the OpenOffice.Org Portable page is.

There is also the source code of the launcher, and any mods to make the app portable.
That source code is distributed with the portable application, in the Other/Source folder of the application folder."

Edit: forgot to include link
http://portableapps.com/apps/development...m_launcher

I did have a look at the PortableApps source tree, and there's no trace of Xonotic.

What I didn't notice is that the Xonotic "launcher" in your top post is actually a 900 megabyte self-extractible archive, which means they're redistributing the full game. I had assumed it was just some launcher binary.

I downloaded it and looked inside. There is a "XonoticPortable.exe" file, some dlls and bitmaps in a "$PLUGINSDIR" file, "App/Xonotic/" contains what seems to be Xonotic 0.8 (I checked binary hashes for xonotic.exe and they match).

There is indeed an "Other/Source/" directory, but there's nothing of interest in there. Just license text, a readme file, and a .ini file template. Which makes me wonder where the source to "XonoticPortable.exe" is to be found... I'll have to ask around.

There's also "App/AppInfo/Launcher/XonoticPortable.ini" which contains the following:

Code:

[DirectoriesMove]
Xonotic=%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\xonotic

This seems to indicate that they're not using the portability mechanisms we provide, so I have to wonder what kind of clunkiness they're using instead.

---

In short: I would advise against the use of the PortableApps Xonotic launcher, for the same reason that I often advise against the use of other re-packed versions of Xonotic. It doesn't add much value to the game at all, the reason being that the game as downloaded from our website is ready to use, and that we provide portability by means of a commandline parameter. The one thing that makes it different to me is that it makes support harder, because its behaviour is nonstandard. I wouldn't know where to make users look if they wanted to access their user directory, and chances are that the user directory reported by the game is different to the one where PortableApps redirects reads and writes.

Besides, it's not clear where to find the source for the launcher. I'll have to dig deeper, but I shouldn't have to.

Ah common. The user dir is the second of two folders in there, i copied maps and config in no time. It really isn't that hard. If the source code availability is a serious issue just contact the developer. I used it without any issues. Also i used many of other portable apps from their site and never had one problem. I think that launcher works independently and doesen't mess with Xonotic's code. But hey, check it out maybe i am wrong.

Sorry, I didn't mean for this all to feel insulting. I really like what PortableApps are doing. I used to use it and it got me excited about some free software. I think it's great. Them supporting Xonotic gives us a bit of publicity and that's fantastic.

On the other hand, repackaging by third parties is often a source of trouble when trying to help users with their problems. However, that's not a major issue in itself, it just adds a bit to the pile of frustration that support can sometimes represent. I sometimes find myself wishing people would get Xonotic from our website rather than installing whatever third party package because of that.

The lack of source code is annoying and I'll contact the developers about it. I don't think it's a major issue either.

The fact that they're not using our portability mechanisms that we provide is also unfortunate. I really hope what they're doing instead doesn't break stuff or slow the game down. It's also a minor issue.

The fact that I'm discussing three minor issues at once in this thread makes it seem like I'm making a big deal out of it, but I really don't think there's a big problem with this. I'm just being nitpicky. Sorry if I offended you.

No you didn't offend me. I think you are one of the best guys in this community. I just get a little annoyed when i sense a little bit too much of denial on some good stuff. At least that is a how i interpreted your replies. Stupid text messages! Sometimes you read them and they "sound" wrong. I obviously misread yor intentions and i am sorry.

I understand that you got annoyed, as I only focused on the negatives. My bad.

Anyway, since I'm lazy, I probably won't be contacting the devs about the source code in a while. :x