Two Application Package Replacements for antiX-17.5

[Member Len E.]

1. pdfsam

The standard Debian Stretch version has become far out of date and no longer functions.
Searching the web for a pdfsam 3.3.7 download shows a .deb file for pdfsam-basic on
SourceForge. The package installs with gdebi without problems and the simple merge
function works well. (My testing hasn’t gone beyond the merge function, in keeping with
the simplistic way I use the package).

2. okular

In my experience, the standard Debian Stretch version has never worked on antiX-17.
I find the copy-to-clipboard functions of okular very useful in some situations, so the
effort and overhead involved in the Flatpak implementation of okular is worthwhile.

The flatpak package for antiX-17 is available from the stretch-backports repository.
The attached file, Flatpakdebs.txt, lists the modules required in the order they can be
installed with gdebi.

After the package installation, access to the Flathub repository is required, as described
in the attached file, FlatpakSetup2.txt. (The original of this file can be located on the
Flathub web site which is identified after searching on the web with “okular flatpak package”).

(A flatpak manual showing the command syntax is downloadable from the web, and is
identical to the man flatpak output available after the package is installed. The command
descriptions in the manual were initially confusing until I realized that the dashes are NOT used
on the command line; eg. flatpak-install is entered as flatpak install okular, no dash.)

After the Flathub repository access is done, from the command line, flatpak install okular
triggers a lengthy install process for flatpak components, kde library components, and
okular itself requiring almost 1 GB in disk space.

The actual run command for okular is peculiar: flatpak run org.kde.okular

The version of Okular that is invoked is 1.8.1. Version 1.8 was released on August 15, 2019,
so that the flatpak version is reasonably current.

Len E.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Len E.. Reason: missing attachment

Attachments:

1. FlatpakSetup2.txt
2. Flatpakdebs.txt

[Member Len E.]

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I spoke too soon about okular.

When okular is invoked with the command flatpak run org.kde.okular,
the application starts up o.k., but after a file –> open command,
it freezes up totally.

I have no idea at this time what the problem is.

Len E.

[Member ModdIt]

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Quick metager search:
Common issue on debian, debian based, Arch Buntu is missing xdg-desktop-portal” and/or xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
Do you have those installed already.
So much for running anywhere without deps.

[Member Len E.]

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Hi Moddit:

I did install xdg-desktop-portal-gtk in addition to the 6 packages used,
as listed in Flatpakdebs.txt, but it didn’t help.

I have a substantial lead on the okular problems after installing
MX18.3 for test purposes, as a somewhat similar distro to antiX-17.5.

Okular installed fine from synaptic, and worked o.k.
Flatpak is pre-installed in MX18.3, so one can immediately
install access to the Flathub repository, install okular,
and run okular, all of which worked.

MX has a considerable history in modifying systemd-oriented debian
packages for its partially-systemd environment. Sure enough, Flatpak
itself, and some dependencies are “MX17+1” versions. Also, some of
okular’s dependencies are “MX17+1” packages. As such, those packages
should be a better fit for a totally-systemd-free environment like antiX-17.5.

To be continued ….
Len E.

[Member Len E.]

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My theory about MX17+1 packages offering an improvement
was wrong.
On MX18.3. I ran sudo apt-cache depends flatpak, and
sudo apt-cache depends okular, to show the dependencies for the
respective packages. I then used synaptic to check the
version numbers of all modules listed, and for those MX17+1-version
modules, I obtained copies with sudo apt-get download module-name.

On antix-17.5, I used the MX17+1 modules as part of the installation
of okular with synaptic, and as the major part of reinstalling flatpak.

Nothing was fixed in running the standard okular, or with
flatpak run org.kde.okular.

*****************************************************************
I’m out of ideas at this point.
Len E.

[Member Len E.]

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As my original text was rejected as spam, I’ve attached 2 files:
OkularBuildDiscussion.txt
OkularBuildPkgs.txt

Len E.

Attachments:

1. OkularBuildDiscussion.txt
2. OkularBuildPkgs.txt

[Member ModdIt]

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Try to help the user and get

*** Forbidden. Message seems to be spam. ***

The artificial idiot KI strikes again.

I am getting very fed up of this regularly occurring crappy situation, the lost time and frustration is unnerving.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by ModdIt.

[Anonymous]

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excerpt from

OkularBuildDiscussion.txt

There is a peculiarity apparent in the Stretch-derivative implementation
of Okular, which is based on 16.08.2 and 16.08.3, revealed in the attached
file, OkularBuildPkgs.txt. The 2 kde-runtime modules are version 16.08.3, but
okular is version 16.08.2. It seems then that okular may not take advantage
of the latest kde-runtime features and corrections.

Of the 4 distros tested, okular works fine anyway on 3 of them,
Debian Stretch, MX18.3, and Devuan 2.1 ascii.
Okular doesn’t run on AntiX-17.5.

The 16.08.3-2 version of kde-runtime (and kde-runtime-data) provided only a few only minor//unremarkable changes, none of which should be expected to “fix” your reported issue.
ref: metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs//main/k/kde-runtime/kde-runtime_16.08.3-2_changelog

To solve this puzzle, I expect you would need to take note of the exact version of each of the (many! and chained) dependant packages found on one of your other working ( MX18.3? ) installs… and compare the version of each against same found in your antiX 17.5 install (or, you may discover that one of the chained dependencies is somehow missing from your antiX 17.5 install).

^–v
Another possible approach would be to use this utility to “capture, and repackage” the files found on your working (MX 18.3?) install:
packages.debian.org/bullseye/dpkg-repack

A generic (non-debian) make .. make install approach will probably not lead to success.
You would need to “git clone” the exact//specific correct tagged fileset from the source repository, then “git clone” the debian-specific files hosted on salsa.debian.org and merge those files into the fileset of the upstream source tree… and then create the debfile by using a debian utility such as dpkg-buildpackage (xref: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/build.en.html)

[Anonymous]

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@moddit , re: “lost time and frustration”

If using an older version firefox (or SeaMonkey?), the Textarea Cache (addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/textarea-cache) will prevent lost drafts.

For newer firefox versions requiring WebExtension addons, one the following (I have not tested) may be similarly useful:

addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/form-history-control/
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/drafter
^— If you test these, please report back stating whether they work as expected (and the browser version tested)

[Member blur13]

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I find the copy-to-clipboard functions of okular very useful in some situations, so the
effort and overhead involved in the Flatpak implementation of okular is worthwhile.

Mupdf has that as well, should be in the debian stretch repos.

[Anonymous]

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I find the copy-to-clipboard functions of okular very useful

Within ANY program which permits mousedrag text selection…
1) drag to select some portion of text
2) open (or switch to an already running instance) ANY text editor program**
3) while hovering the text editor, press middle mouse button.
This achieves copy/paste via the (not specific to antiX) Linux primary selection.

**or the command line of a terminal emulator program, or any editable input field within a gui program…

[Member Len E.]

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Okular does work fine on antiX-17.5 PROVIDED the Package Installer
is used to implement a more complex desktop environment such as
LXDE or XFCE.

The recent past experiences illustrated that Okular
worked fine under Debian Stretch (I use LXDE with it),
MX18.3 (which uses XFCE) and Devuan 2.1 ascii (also XFCE).

I installed LXDE and XFCE (full implementation) on
separate copies of vanilla antix-17.5, and okular
worked fine in each case.

I don’t know how to find, but hope to find, the missing piece(s)
those environments provide which can be installed such
that okular works fine under icewm/fluxbox/jwm.

Len E.

[Member Guest007]

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You might wanna try qpdfview. As far I can tell, it has similar looks and functionality to Okular, but more lightweight. Copy to clipboard is Control-C, then mouse to select text. You can also customize your keyboard shortcuts if you like.

[Member Guest007]

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There is also a Linux version of Foxit Reader. It’s a bit old but works fine. I have it in MX 19 but not yet on antiX 21.

[Member Len E.]

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The problem being investigated is now [Solved].

As my original text was rejected as spam, I’ve attached the file,
OkularSolution.txt.

Len E.

Added by anticapitalista:

To the several voices who provided input on this subject:

I’ve finally stumbled onto the solution to the problem.

On a fresh copy of antiX-17.5_386-base,  rather than use Package Installer to
actually add a LXDE or XFCE environment,  I used synaptic to initiate, but not
follow through, on an lxde install, and an xfce4 install respectively.
In examining the packages that would be installed in either case,  the only
common packages were libwnck22, libwnck-common, and libxres1.  LXDE
would add libkeybinder0, whereas XFCE would add libkeybinder-3.0-0.  I
installed all 5 packages.  Okular still would not start from the menu, but when 
invoked from the command line while in /usr/bin,  ./okular, it’s file handling 
was improved, but there were still several error messages appearing on the 
terminal.

The error messages seemed to be concerned with dbus access, and varied
somewhat between tests, but the phrase “secure D-bus connection created
before Q Core Application :   Application may misbehave” was usually
there.

On my copy of debian-9.13.0-LXDE (stretch),  I checked the dbus-related
packages installed, and checked if they were also present on antix-17.5.
Package fcitx-module-dbus was missing, so I installed it, but the messages
persisted.

There were web artictles suggesting  that because the okular error messages were 
merely warnings which impeded normal functions, it made sense to simply
modify the okular exec command  in the okular.desktop file to read:

Exec=okular %U %i -caption %c &>/dev/null

with the addition on the end to direct all terminal output to the null device.

With this change in place, okular started from the menu selection and  worked  o.k.
***************************************************************************
I want to thank you all for the comments you provided on this subject.   They were very
helpful for deciding what to do, or what not to do, as I careened through the process.

***********************************************************************
One might readily construe that the interest displayed herein for okular, to the exclusion of
viable alternatives such as mupdf or qpdfview,  is obsessive.   My fixation is really with the
k3b package, which I’ve found to be the very best CD/DVD burner package, especially with
its read-verification feature.

In a non-KDE environment, any addition of a single KDE-based application invariably
causes the installation of around 100 dependencies, given the extent of the KDE libraries.
But if one is prepared to “bite the bullet” with k3b,  a subsequent install of okular only
adds 7 packages.   Similarly, I often use ktorrent rather than deluge or transmission as
the bit-torrent client.

Thank you all again !!
Len E.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by anticapitalista. Reason: added text

Attachments:

1. OkularSolution.txt

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