Plash package tools

Status: implemented

Package tools are part of PackageSystem.

Example usage

First, create a sources.list file to specify package repositories to use. You can copy /etc/apt/sources.list or create a new one. For example:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty main

Update the package lists with the following command:

$ plash-pkg-update-avail

(This reads sources.list from the current directory.)

Installing an application requires a pkg file which specifies the name the application will appear under (its pet name), what file types it can edit, and how to get and run it. An example, firefox.pkg, is provided in /usr/share/doc/plash/examples. It contains:

Depends: firefox
Pet-name: Firefox Web browser (sandboxed)
Pet-id: firefox
Icon: firefox.png
Exec: firefox

To install:

$ plash-pkg-install ./firefox -c /usr/share/doc/plash/examples/firefox.pkg

This will create a .desktop file in ~/.cache/plash-pkg/desktop-files which you can use to launch the application. Alternatively, you can launch the application with the command:

$ plash-pkg-launch --app-dir ./firefox