[ImageJ-devel] [fiji-devel] Fiji updater operates on what directories and what file types?

[Johannes Schindelin]

Hi Joseph Collin,

On Tue, 31 Dec 2013, Poczatek, Joseph Collin wrote:

> > Almost correct. The file extensions accepted are dependent on the
> > top-level directory. In plugins/ for example, .class, .jar, .ijm and
> > script extensions are allowed, but not .lut. In luts/, only .lut are
> > allowed. In lib/ (which you did not mention), there is no limitation
> > on file extensions.
> >
> > This restrictions are not for dictatorship reasons, BTW, but to
> > prevent surprises from incorrect usage of the updater.
>
> Ok, that makes sense. I didn't mention lib/ because it isn't in a fresh
> Fiji install. Is it deprecated, or is it sticking around?

It is not used by default because we do not ship any platform-dependent
libraries by default. But it is added to the java.library.path (to be
precise, a platform-dependent subdirectory is added) so that it is
possible to ship platform-dependent libraries from update sites.

> >> Am I correct? What I was attempting was to push a 1-2 bash script
> >> that was just "ImageJ-linux64 --all-my-special-args..." and having no
> >> extension or .sh didn't take.
> >
> > Bash scripts cannot be executed by ImageJ, hence it does not make too
> > much sense for the updater to ship them. Having said that, you could
> > upload them into, say, lib/.
> 
> Couldn't you say the same thing about Fiji shipping with a .desktop
> file?

It does not ship with a .desktop file. It generates it upon startup in
Linux. (To be precise, the ImageJ launcher does.)

> It's an analogous situation I think. We just want to make it easy to
> launch Fiji in a certain way.

You are welcome to do that, bash scripts are not the way, however. A
better way would be to patch the ImageJ launcher to make it possible to
ship *limited* configuration via update sites that affects the way Fiji is
started.

So far, I am quite doubtful, however, that such a support is needed. I
might be wrong, but then, I have not been graced with the information
about the intended use case requiring those bash scripts.

Ciao,
Johannes