Scripting hooks

[AdamYellen]

For some applications it's not enough to link some files. Along the style of RPM spec files, it would be useful to run custom scripts pre- and post- install and link actions. Rotz could check the exit code of those scripts to abort further action.

For some apps I would use the pre-install to check if the app is already installed.

[volllly]

Hey, I'm not sure about that as I don't want Rotz to become a full package manager. It should mainly be used in conjunction with package managers where possible (Use an actual package manager to install the packages. E.g. installs: apt-get install git -y).

In the future I want to track which files are currently linked so that Rotz can remove orphaned files. Here we could also track which applications are already installed and skip installing them again (and maybe use a --force flag to reinstall them anyways).

Right now you can already achieve pre and post install hook functionality by using multi line scripts as the install cmd.

Example:

installs: |
  if(<install condition>) 
    <install command>
  }
  <post command>

It is also possible that it's fine if the install command is executed again. E.g. when the application is installed via scoop it fails the installation and Rotz continues to the next application.

For linking hooks could you give me an example where they would be needed? I get that an inbuilt solution would be nicer but this could also be achieved by using make, just or something similar.

[AdamYellen]

I agree that this idea comes close to encroaching on package manager territory. I didn't realize that multi-line commands were allowed so that might be enough. What's the syntax?

One example of a linking script hook would be to restart an app after linking.

[AdamYellen]

@volllly How would I do something like this?

windows:
  installs: |
    winget install Google.Chrome --silent --accept-source-agreements --accept-package-agreements | Out-Null
    if (Test-Path -Path "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Google Chrome.lnk") {
      Remove-Item "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Google Chrome.lnk"
    }

I get the following:

Error: install::command::run

  x Install command for apps did not run successfully
  |-> Cloud not spawn command
  `-> program not found

(maybe a typo there: Cloud/Could)

[volllly]

Hey, I think you need to set the shell_command config key to powershell -NoProfile -C {{ quote "" cmd }}. (rotz -h shows the default path of the config file.)

I wrongly set the default to powershell core (pwsh -NoProfile -C {{ quote "" cmd }}) which is not installed preinstalled on windows. I'll fix this in the next release.

[AdamYellen]

That was exactly it. I tried it on a brand new install so PowerShell Core hadn't been installed yet.

Thank you!

[volllly]

Great 😁 I've just published the fix in v0.6.1.

So you should be able to remove this from your config again.