Plugin support in Sigil Portable

[Pablo]

I've been using Sigil Portable for some time. I don't know if this is an official release or not, but it works... I donwloaded it from Portableapps.com.

What I don't know if it is possible to run plugins with this portable version. I know I have to supply python installation directories for versions 2.7 and 3.4, but what I would like to know is how to get those directories into my pendrive... Should I install some portable version of python?

[eschwartz]

Sigil Portable is not an official release. It just provides a mechanization around saving your profile and executables in the PortableApps install root.
Many apps do this. Most aren't official releases, although LibreOffice Portable is provided by The Document Foundation rather than PortableApps.com

You will need to have python available on your computer.
PortableApps.com does not provide a Python Portable runtime, last I checked (2 minutes ago, because it's been a while ).
I believe there have been difficulties getting it to be reliable.


Note: Python3 will be bundled in Sigil sometime soon, so you won't need to provide anything.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Sigil Portable is not an official release. It just provides a mechanization around saving your profile and executables in the PortableApps install root.
Many apps do this. Most aren't official releases, although LibreOffice Portable is provided by The Document Foundation rather than PortableApps.com

You will need to have python available on your computer.
PortableApps.com does not provide a Python Portable runtime, last I checked (2 minutes ago, because it's been a while ).
I believe there have been difficulties getting it to be reliable.


Note: Python3 will be bundled in Sigil sometime soon, so you won't need to provide anything.

Thanks for your answer!

So, is there any danger that you know of in using this version?

[eschwartz]

No danger, the PortableApps.com people have done a very nice job here and elsewhere.


Most software isn't really written to be portable. The usual workaround is to copy the APPDATA info to and from the flashdrive, and run drive letter replacements on the configuration files.
(Some applications, like calibre, allow you to specify where the APPDATA should go via an environment variable. That helps avoid errors in cleaning up behind itself, and maybe race conditions when exiting in an abnormal fashion.)


But you probably don't care about how PortableApps are portableized just be happy it works.
Any apps on the official distribution list are guaranteed to work. They just aren't guaranteed by the application developer -- rather by the PortableApps crew. (Again, with the exception of LibreOffice.)
Open-source applications FTW.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

No danger, the PortableApps.com people have done a very nice job here and elsewhere.


Most software isn't really written to be portable. The usual workaround is to copy the APPDATA info to and from the flashdrive, and run drive letter replacements on the configuration files.
(Some applications, like calibre, allow you to specify where the APPDATA should go via an environment variable. That helps avoid errors in cleaning up behind itself, and maybe race conditions when exiting in an abnormal fashion.)


But you probably don't care about how PortableApps are portableized just be happy it works.
Any apps on the official distribution list are guaranteed to work. They just aren't guaranteed by the application developer -- rather by the PortableApps crew. (Again, with the exception of LibreOffice.)
Open-source applications FTW.

In fact I do care ,or rather am interested in, how they do it and yours was a very good answer!

I've been having a look at Winpython, maybe I will try to make Sigil work with it so that I can take advantage of the plugins.

[eschwartz]

You will probably want to take a look at their development resources then. Especially see the manual for creating launcher.ini (the template used for the portableizer program).

Maybe you can portableize python, make an official distribution and teach Sigil Portable how to find it.

P.S. Always happy to provide the gory details together with the simple answer. And to see that someone appreciates them.

[Pablo]

WinPyton is a free, open-source portable distribution of the Python programming language for Windows Vista/7/8 and scientific and educational usage.

I installed WinPython in my pendrive and configured the paths to "python.exe" in Sigil Portable v0.8.7. I then added the "PunctuationSmarten" and "CleanOPF" plugins. Both worked ok.

I was not able to install the "ePub2_Notes" plugin, though. Sigil rejects it with a "Plugin not a Sigil Plugin" message.

A minor annoyance is that when the drive letter of my pendrive changes, I have to reconfigure the path to the intepreters.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Pablo

I was not able to install the "ePub2_Notes" plugin, though. Sigil rejects it with a "Plugin not a Sigil Plugin" message.

That's because it's a Python 3.4 plugin. Since it doesn't use Python3-specific code it should also work with Python 2.7.

Try installing the unofficial attached version. It appears to be working, but I haven't thoroughly tested it.

FYI. I've only added this line to plugin.py:

from __future__ import unicode_literals, division, absolute_import, print_function

and this line to plugin.xml:

<engine>python2.7</engine>

I've also changed the folder name to ePub2Notes.

(I asked the original author to release an official updated version.)

[Pablo]

Try installing the unofficial attached version. It appears to be working, but I haven't thoroughly tested it.

Great! It works perfectly!

Originally Posted by Doitsu

That's because it's a Python 3.4 plugin. Since it doesn't use Python3-specific code it should also work with Python 2.7.

I have both WinPython 2.7 and 3.4 installed and the path to both interpreters correctly configured... So the unmodified plugin should work...

What checks does Sigil perform when installing a plugin?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Pablo

What checks does Sigil perform when installing a plugin?

AFAIK, it checks for the presence of valid interpreter paths; it also apparently checks folder names and might reject otherwise perfectly coded plugins if the folder name contains characters it doesn't like.

The original plugin name contained an underscore, which is apparently not allowed.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

AFAIK, it checks for the presence of valid interpreter paths; it also apparently checks folder names and might reject otherwise perfectly coded plugins if the folder name contains characters it doesn't like.

The original plugin name contained an underscore, which is apparently not allowed.

Ok, thanks!

[DiapDealer]

You can't just change the folder name of a plugin (well you can if you know the rules ). Nor the zipfile name (with the exception of adding a version number). The filename (minus the version suffix) must match the folder name ... which in turn must match the plugin name in the plugin.xml file ... exactly.

The underscore character is reserved for marking where the version suffix of the plugin's zipfile name begins (_vXXX). Everything before that is the plugin name and can't contain an underscore. It throws off the logic of finding the version info.

So yes ... a plugin name can't contain an underscore, but a plugin's zipfile name can (and should). Clear as mud, right?

Also, those looking for a "portable version" of python 3 for Windows should look no further than python.org's newly released Python 3.5. a single line (appdata=local) in a pyvenv.cfg file located in the same directory as the python interpreter renders it an isolated and movable python installation. I haven't checked if they fixed the hardcoded path issue with pip, but I'm betting they have (and there was workaround in place for it anyway). They have an "embeddable" version available for download that already has the pyvenv.cfg file configured (unzip it where you want it and go), but it doesn't include tkinter (yet), so it may not be suitable for all needs. But it's easy enough to "portablize" the full installation by manually creating the pyvenv.cfg file.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You can't just change the folder name of a plugin (well you can if you know the rules ). Nor the zipfile name (with the exception of adding a version number). The filename (minus the version suffix) must match the folder name ... which in turn must match the plugin name in the plugin.xml file ... exactly.

eLibrarian has renamed his plugin along those guidelines and I was able to install and test it in Sigil Portable. The plugin specifies python 3.4, so I suppose this means that my WinPython 3.4 installation is working.