Support for Linux?

[beaussan]

Hi, this project looks amazing!

I was wondering if supports Linux or plan to. I didn't find any good Linux equivalent to what you are building and I would love to remplace my own hacky rofi scripts with this!

This project looks soo promising!

[johnlindquist]

Yes, it's in the plans. I don't foresee it happening until later this year though:

1. I need to stabilize a final mac release
2. I would play a support role for someone who wants to do the port of the app. The main issues I foresee would be around the app prompt focus/position/etc, the auto-updater, and maybe shortcuts. It's possible it would mostly work if I just did a build today.
3. The community would have to handle the kits for all the os-specifc libs. Window management, audio, etc. They're in AppleScript now, but I'm sure Linux would have equivalent tools we could hook into.
4. I can handle the build/distribution/etc

[beaussan]

Hey! Congrats on the release!

I wanted to know if the Linux version is still planed, I know the cumminity size is smaller than mac, but I would love to use it!

Thanks =)

[johnlindquist]

Yes, I'll need to set up a Linux machine next year. I know there's a couple of install/startup steps that need to be customized per platform, but everything else "should" be good to go.

[johnlindquist]

As a general update here, I've started publishing Linux builds:

https://github.com/johnlindquist/kitapp/releases/latest

These are untested (I don't have a Linux machine yet), so I'd need community support if we run into any errors.

Note: I have a big refactor in the vite branch that I'll be moving over the kit repo as a monorepo that will support more Linux distros and make it waaaay, waaaaaaay easier to contribute to dev when we run into issues.

[canvural]

I'll try to test it this week. Thank you!

[takanome-dev]

Hey @johnlindquist thanks for building such an amazing app. Keep up the good work.

I'm having a hard time to install the app. For example, I didn't know where to run npm run build-kit by following the docs because the docs don't mention where that script should be run (cd kit/kitapp and run the script). I figured it out after looking into the package.json.

Then, I cd into kit, ran the script and get this error:

Error: Command failed with exit code 2: npx tsc --project ./tsconfig-cjs.json --outDir "/home/takanome_dev/.kit/cjs"
node_modules/@octokit/core/node_modules/@octokit/openapi-types/types.d.ts(20302,7): error TS1005: '}' expected.
    at makeError (file:///home/takanome_dev/Downloads/Programs/kit/node_modules/@johnlindquist/globals/dist/index.js:28:111641)
    at file:///home/takanome_dev/Downloads/Programs/kit/node_modules/@johnlindquist/globals/dist/index.js:28:123014
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:96:5)
    at async Promise.all (index 3)
    at async file:///home/takanome_dev/Downloads/Programs/kit/build/build-kit.js:77:1 {
  shortMessage: 'Command failed with exit code 2: npx tsc --project ./tsconfig-cjs.json --outDir "/home/takanome_dev/.kit/cjs"',
  command: 'npx tsc --project ./tsconfig-cjs.json --outDir "/home/takanome_dev/.kit/cjs"',
  escapedCommand: 'npx tsc --project "./tsconfig-cjs.json" --outDir "\\"/home/takanome_dev/.kit/cjs\\""',
  exitCode: 2,
  signal: undefined,
  signalDescription: undefined,
  stdout: "node_modules/@octokit/core/node_modules/@octokit/openapi-types/types.d.ts(20302,7): error TS1005: '}' expected.",
  stderr: '',
  failed: true,
  timedOut: false,
  isCanceled: false,
  killed: false

I also downloaded Kit-SDK-Linux-1.40.62-x64.tar.gz and ran npm run build-kit and get this error:

Error: Command failed with exit code 1: npx tsc --project ./tsconfig-cjs.json --outDir "/home/takanome_dev/.kit/cjs"
error TS5058: The specified path does not exist: './tsconfig-cjs.json'.
    at makeError (file:///home/takanome_dev/Downloads/Programs/Kit-SDK-Linux-1.40.62-x64/node_modules/@johnlindquist/globals/dist/index.js:28:111641)
    at file:///home/takanome_dev/Downloads/Programs/Kit-SDK-Linux-1.40.62-x64/node_modules/@johnlindquist/globals/dist/index.js:28:123014
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:96:5)
    at async Promise.all (index 3)
    at async file:///home/takanome_dev/Downloads/Programs/Kit-SDK-Linux-1.40.62-x64/build/build-kit.js:77:1 {
  shortMessage: 'Command failed with exit code 1: npx tsc --project ./tsconfig-cjs.json --outDir "/home/takanome_dev/.kit/cjs"',
  command: 'npx tsc --project ./tsconfig-cjs.json --outDir "/home/takanome_dev/.kit/cjs"',
  escapedCommand: 'npx tsc --project "./tsconfig-cjs.json" --outDir "\\"/home/takanome_dev/.kit/cjs\\""',
  exitCode: 1,
  signal: undefined,
  signalDescription: undefined,
  stdout: "error TS5058: The specified path does not exist: './tsconfig-cjs.json'.",
  stderr: '',
  failed: true,
  timedOut: false,
  isCanceled: false,
  killed: false

[johnlindquist]

@takanome-dev

The App Setup Process in Detail

You can see the code for the following steps here. The app attempts to do them automatically, but it obviously currently failing for Linux users: https://github.com/johnlindquist/kitapp/blob/main/src/main.dev.ts#L845

The 3 Required Directories

1. ~/.kit

This is the Kit SDK. You should be able to download the SDK and extract it here. (This is also what npm run build tries to build)

https://github.com/johnlindquist/kitapp/releases/latest

Note - The SDK is just a built version of this repo with all the deps bundled to save on initial setup.

You should extract it so the package.json resides here: ~/.kit/package.json

2. ~/.kenv

This is the Kit Environent where scripts are stored. It's simply a way to organize scripts, logs, tmp, etc. You can clone it from:
https://github.com/johnlindquist/kenv

You should clone it so the package.json resides here: ~/.kenv/package.json

3. ~/.knode

This is a version of node (v16.17.1) that matches the current version of the app.

https://nodejs.org/download/release/v16.17.1/

node should be accessible as ~/.knode/bin/node

Final Configuration Setups

Intall esbuild for TypeScript support

Use the .knode version of node to install esbuild into the ~/.kit dir:

cd ~/.kit && PATH=~/.knode/bin:$PATH npm i esbuild@0.16.15 --save-exact

Run the setup scripts

cd ~/.kit && ~/.knode/bin/node ~/.kit/run/terminal.js ~/.kit/setup/setup.js

Thoughts on the Setup Process

• esbuild is a different binary per-platform. It's been a challenge to get the CI process bundling the correct version and fighting against code-signing of unsign binaries. I an not an expert in this area.
• Keeping the ~/.kit and ~/.knode SDK outside of the app makes it possible to run scripts from the terminal and allows users to play with the SDK code before submitting PRs. It would be much easier to package it in the app, but we'd lose features.
• In v2, I'm considering the implications of moving ~/.kit and ~/.knode to the app directory. But haven't come to any conclusions
• There's a huge refactor in process that will clean up all the mess of setting up the dev environment. I hesitate to support the current way too much since it's a mess and it's going away soon.

Did That Work?

Please let me know if any of those steps fail. I'm pretty flooded with support requests right now after the hackernews frontpage feature, but I'd still love to help Linux users get this working.

[johnlindquist]

@mstine I think you would just launch the AppImage from your terminal and pass in the --disable-gpu flag when launching. Sorry, this isn't my area of expertise.

Something like this maybe?

./Kit.AppImage --disable-gpu

I'll look into adding a "disableGpu" option from the menubar

[mstine]

That indeed does the trick. I didn't realize the AppImage was still in play post-setup.

By the way, the menubar doesn't do anything but sit there and look pretty in my Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS environment. But I didn't even look for it until you mentioned it in your last reply.

I think I'll add a startup item to execute $HOME/bin/Kit.AppImage --disable-gpu just to keep things simple.

[johnlindquist]

@mstine So clicking/right-clicking on the menubar does nothing?

[mstine]

Correct.

[johnlindquist]

@mstine Hrmmmm, time to check the Electron issues for Linux tray support 🤔

[takanome-dev]

The Kit-Linux-1.40.62-arm64.AppImage don't work for some reason with an exec format error but Kit-Linux-1.40.62-x86_64.AppImage does work 🚀

The issue I'm facing, though, is that it works the first time you install and run it but, if you start it later, you will see the icon on the gnome bar but the app won't show up 🤔

[takanome-dev]

You can see that it's running but the UI is not here (is not showed up) which is weird.

[johnlindquist]

@takanome-dev If you right-click the menubar icon -> Debug -> Open Dev Tools

Does anything show up?

Does pressing the main keyboard shortcut ctrl+; make anything happen in the logs?

[takanome-dev]

Nothing happens when I press the shortcut or I click the kit icon in the menubar. But I found errors in the logs:

22:18:25.906 › 🎨 Creating tray... { checkDb: true }
22:18:25.908 › 🎨 Tray icon: busy
22:18:25.954 › Tray created
22:18:25.963 › 🧐 Checking /home/takanome_dev/.kit {
  cwd: '/home/takanome_dev/.kit',
  encoding: 'utf-8',
  env: {
    KIT: '/home/takanome_dev/.kit',
    KENV: '/home/takanome_dev/.kenv',
    PATH: '/home/takanome_dev/.knode/bin:/home/takanome_dev/.kit/bin:/home/takanome_dev/.kit/override/code:/home/takanome_dev/.kenv/bin:/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6:/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6/usr/sbin:/home/takanome_dev/.local/share/pnpm:/home/takanome_dev/.nvm/versions/node/v18.8.0/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6:/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6/usr/sbin:/home/takanome_dev/.local/share/pnpm:/home/takanome_dev/.nvm/versions/node/v18.8.0/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:/snap/bin:/home/takanome_dev/.kit/bin'
  },
  stdio: 'pipe'
}
libva error: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null)
Error: Bad atom
    at ReadFixedRequest.callback (/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6/resources/app.asar/node_modules/x11/lib/xcore.js:465:29)
    at ReadFixedRequest.execute (/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6/resources/app.asar/node_modules/x11/lib/unpackstream.js:41:10)
    at UnpackStream.resume (/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6/resources/app.asar/node_modules/x11/lib/unpackstream.js:165:30)
    at UnpackStream.write (/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6/resources/app.asar/node_modules/x11/lib/unpackstream.js:102:10)
    at Socket.<anonymous> (/tmp/.mount_Kit-Libizfr6/resources/app.asar/node_modules/x11/lib/xcore.js:88:21)
    at Socket.emit (node:events:513:28)
    at addChunk (node:internal/streams/readable:315:12)
    at readableAddChunk (node:internal/streams/readable:289:9)
    at Socket.Readable.push (node:internal/streams/readable:228:10)
    at Pipe.onStreamRead (node:internal/stream_base_commons:190:23) {
  error: 5,
  seq: 15,
  badParam: 0,
  minorOpcode: 0,
  majorOpcode: 17
}

[johnlindquist]

@takanome-dev I just tried googling some errors. Does this help?

flathub/org.gimp.GIMP#23 (comment)

[takanome-dev]

I didn't quite understand the solution describe in there, I'm not sure if my issue is related to that. But it finally works 🥳
Here is what I did:

• Reboot the machine
• Delete ~./kit
• Follow the instructions mentioned above Support for Linux? #121 (comment)
• Download Kit-Linux-1.40.62-x86_64.AppImage and run it 🎉

Note

Sometimes when using the shortcut to open the prompt, it won't show up and you will get the following message in the logs:

Security: failed to start Application launched by gsd-media-keys.
Sender: systemd
Time: [time]
Message: Failed to start Application launched by gsd-media-keys.
Audit Session: 4 (not sure if it will be always the same number)
Priority: 3  (not sure if it will be always the same number)
Subject: A start job for unit UNIT has failed
Defined By: systemd

A start job for unit UNIT has finished with a failure.
The job identifier is [some number] and the job result is failed.

Not sure if it's only on me, but killing the process and restarting it will fix it ✌️

Thanks @johnlindquist

[geo242]

When I use the AppImage, am I supposed to manually install node into ~/.knode beforehand? Looking at the logs, it appears that it's expecting node to be installed there.

I am getting this error ....

Error: Install not verified...
    at /tmp/.mount_Kit-LixhokU5/resources/app.asar/main.prod.js:2:501114
    at l (/tmp/.mount_Kit-LixhokU5/resources/app.asar/main.prod.js:2:478683)
    at Generator.<anonymous> (/tmp/.mount_Kit-LixhokU5/resources/app.asar/main.prod.js:2:480021)
    at Generator.next (/tmp/.mount_Kit-LixhokU5/resources/app.asar/main.prod.js:2:479046)
    at vd (/tmp/.mount_Kit-LixhokU5/resources/app.asar/main.prod.js:2:484675)
    at a (/tmp/.mount_Kit-LixhokU5/resources/app.asar/main.prod.js:2:484879)```

[johnlindquist]

@geo242 Yes, the app should be doing that for you. But the manual steps above should take care of it if not.

[geo242]

Got it, thanks! I unzipped the node tar.gz file into ~/.knode and now it seems to be working correctly.

[johnlindquist]

@geo242 Can you check your logs for Download node.js from xxx and see where it tried to download node from during setup?

~/.config/Kit.app/logs/main.log
~/.kit/logs/kit.log

[geo242]

For sure. I found the error...

> Version:  v16.17.1 (resolved from )
> Prefix:   node
> Platform: darwin
> Arch:     x64

> Tarball URL: https://nodejs.org/dist/v16.17.1/node-v16.17.1-darwin-x64.tar.gz
> Installing Node.js, please wait…

{
  stderr: 'tar: node: Cannot open: No such file or directory\n' +
    'tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now\n' +
    'x Command failed (exit code 23): curl --silent --fail https://nodejs.org/dist/v16.17.1/node-v16.17.1-darwin-x64.tar.gz\n'
}
14:20:22.516 › Stored version: 0.0.0 -> Current version: 1.40.62

[johnlindquist]

Update: Heya Linux Friends 👋

I would love help testing the npx tool I put together here: #1052

Once I get enough people to verify that it works, I'll merge it into the main app setup process.

Cheers! - John

[mstine]

Not only does it work, but it also seems to work much better than the manual process. I got a bunch of fun examples pre-installed when I started up. These were not present when I installed the .k* directories manually. Love it!

[geo242]

I got the following error when I ran using node 14 and npm 6 (I use nvm and didn't realize that was my current environment)

process.env.NODE_VERSION ||= "16.17.1"
                         ^^^

SyntaxError: Unexpected token '||='
    at Loader.moduleStrategy (internal/modules/esm/translators.js:145:18)
    at async link (internal/modules/esm/module_job.js:67:21)

Once I switched to node 16 and npm 8, it succeeded. Might be a good idea to check the version at startup if possible.

[takanome-dev]

It works perfectly fine 👏 Pretty straightforward installation and really love all the new options added 🎉