A new version of the "AM" Application Manager, a database and solution for all AppImages and portable apps for GNU/Linux, has been released.
It has been modified with a single template for AppImages and one for other apps. The "install.am" module has been modified to remove patches and update those for individual apps that require a specific dependency. The "template.am" module has been modified so that users can select whether to use repology.org for version comparison. 78 AppImages were renamed to remove the "-appimage" suffix and align with other applications. Obsolete templates have been removed, as have many apps, as upstream developers have dropped support for portable apps in favor of other platforms. The "--launcher" option will allow you to exclude certain programs. Future editions will make greater use of AppImaGen to convert most software packages from deb to AppImage.
Release "AM" 7 · ivan-hc/AM
Cleaning and conversion of all installation scripts
In this last week we have tested and converted all the installation scripts, using the new @Samueru-sama templates, and as I had already anticipated in the previous version, the path and name of the .desktop files have changed, like this and for all installation scripts, from today, 8 July, 2024:
/usr/local/share/applications/$PROGRAM-AM.desktopAppMan users will only notice that on new installations the launcher change from "AM-$PROGRAM.desktop" to "$PROGRAM-AM.desktop".
But this is not the only news:
All installation scripts have been selected, tested, corrected and improved exponentially!
As of now 99% of all installable applications are upgradeable. Apps with a linear download URL will rely on repology.org to determine the latest version (newer, or unique), however intercepted URLs will primarily rely on the primary source, if available.
All installation scripts now use a single template, one for AppImages and one for other apps.
As a result of the update of the installation scripts, the " install.am" module has also been adapted, removing a large number of patches and updating those on checking individual apps that require a specific dependency (tar, zip, deb or zsync).
The " template.am" module has also been improved, allowing users to choose whether to use repology.org as the basis for version comparison, to make all new installation scripts updatable.
Furthermore, 78 of the AppImages that were already present in the name were renamed by removing "-appimage" from the name and aligning them with the other applications.
Clean up
The obsolete templates have all been removed, you can view the ones currently in use here.
Unfortunately, many apps have been removed, mainly because many upstream developers have decided to remove support for portable apps (AppImage included) in favor of other platforms, either by hiding their apps behind a paywall, or basically because a project is dead.
Other apps were removed because they were no longer updated but a constantly updated counterpart was already available.
For all excluded apps you will be able to use them using the "
--launcher" option, as always (see here). From now on the uploading requirements will be more stringent in this sense, so as not to flood the database with various duplicates.Future
Future releases will see more use of my other project, AppImaGen, to convert the majority of software packages from deb to AppImage, in order to enjoy the benefits of "AM" and the Aisap sandbox (see here).
Conclusion
Having found so many packages to remove, reading their history and motivation, I remembered the mission I have as the creator of this project:
"AM" was created to enhance the AppImage packages, which are anything but second-class packages to be dragged around.
If among the disadvantages that led to its constant abandonment were the poor visibility, the unavailability and the lack of automatic updates, this project does everything to erase these prejudices, and tries in every way to bring attention of other developers to adopt this packaging format.
Let's make AppImage popular again, we will recover all lost apps!
Full Changelog: 6.16...7
