CoolPackager / News: Recent posts

CoolPackager is a program that creates shell scripts that contain a developers program. When the script is run, it self-extracts, then installs the developers program.

The code was written when I was learning C, so it's a little beginnerish. I have no interest for the program anymore, and it has a far greater potential then it has reached. If you're interested in taking over, contact me at sharp@ccil.org.

I've run into some trouble uploading CPKG-0_7_0.sh and its signature, so hold on. Most of you use the .tar.gz anyway so it's not a major problem. This should be fixed by Sunday at the latest.

It's here. It's got some pretty cool stuff as well as some bugfixes. Check it out.

For CoolPackager 0.4.1, I have a new feature: you can use things like --help on the end of a package. There are three you can use (in 0.4.1, more is planned):

--help, -h displays help
--info, -i displays info
--extract, -x extracts package into package.tar.gz

Try it on the new realease!

0.4 now makes sh scripts instead of self compiling C programs. So there's no more bad C code that won't work with new compilers.

In a failed attempt to install Debian I lost all the stuff on my hard disk. This includes my private key. (Oh no!!!) I have a new key, which you can get at http://pgp.mit.edu (key ID: 0x084D2F11 Fingerprint: D45C EBAF DB72 D88A A853 1A18 37C3 F3C7 084D 2F11.) I have also decided that I will not maintain ASCII signatures. The sigs for 0.3.0 have been deleted, and the sigs for 0.3.1 have been updated.
btw...Anyone got any good updated Debian CDs?

The old one was kinda hard to see on low contrast screens, and this one looks kinda cool.

Yea! Now the name of your output file doesn't have to end in .c. It can end in anything. Also, you can change the name of your output file after you write the file. Yea!

If you're super careful about the things you put on your system, I have a signature now for checking the self-installer against my public-key. You can go get my key at http://pgp.mit.edu . My Key ID is 0xAB01FA7D. My fingerprint is: 8392 00D8 74B2 AB14 FB6D E01D 7325 269D AB01 FA7D. Be sure to check this before you run CPKG-0_3_0.c as root.

This version has a pretty cool new feature. It can generate a script for you that will download the package and run it for you. Imagine telling your users this is all you need to install your program:
lynx -source http://www.yourwebsite.com/scriptname | sh
Go grab it here:
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=24830&release_id=31012

Go there and see it:
http://freshmeat.net/projects/cpkg

A simple but very major update:
When output files used to be from 4 to 6 times the .tar.gz file size, they are now only hardly more than the .tar.gz file. You can notice the difference on the download page for this package, which you can get to here:
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=24830&release_id=30845

The CoolPackager mailing list is now up. Go subscribe at:
http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/cpkg-main

CoolPackager is now set up for SourceForge!