Install package dependencies when installing BizHawk on Linux

[fenhl]

The Linux version of BizHawk requires the mono-complete APT package. We should install it as part of the multiworld installer. The question is: what's the best way to do this from a GUI? Does Ubuntu's software-center have a CLI for specifying packages to install? Is there a graphical version of sudo that can be used?

[Louis-Simon22]

I'm guessing it's on this line?

ootr-multiworld/crate/multiworld-installer/src/main.rs

Line 444 in 3d39024

//TODO check if apt-get exists and install prerequisite packages if it does? (mono-complete & libcanberra-gtk-module)

If you don't mind only supporting the Gnome desktop, this behavior can be achieved using two bash scripts that would be run by a std::process::Command.

use std::process::Command;

fn main() {
    let output = Command::new("bash")
        .arg("./install.sh")
        .output()
        .expect("failed to execute bash installation script");
    print!("stdout: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout));
    print!("stderr: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr));
}

install.sh

#!/bin/bash
set -e # Exit the script if a command fails

# Returns the path to the script's directory, no matter from where it was run
SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" &> /dev/null && pwd)
# Sets the script to execute when asking for sudo
export SUDO_ASKPASS="$SCRIPT_DIR/password_prompt.sh"

# The -A makes sudo use the script in SUDO_ASKPASS to prompt the user for the password
sudo -A apt update -y

password_prompt.sh

#!/bin/bash
set -e # Exit the script if a command fails

# We can customize the title and message
zenity --password --title="Installing dependencies"

If you want I can implement this in the installation script.
Sorry for taking this long I didn't get a notif for this issue. If you ever get another linux specific question like this feel free to @ me.

[fenhl]

This looks promising, thank you! I'm going to go ahead and implement this. Some quick notes from testing:

• sudo's -A flag is short for --askpass. I'm going to use the long name to make the code a bit more readable.
• password_prompt.sh really does need to be a separate file, since the SUDO_ASKPASS envar does not allow arguments (it interprets spaces as part of the program name).

[Louis-Simon22]

I think you should also check for the existence of zenity and print instructions if it doesn't. It exists on gnome versions of ubuntu, but could be missing in other distros and flavors. For example with something like this maybe:

if command -v zenity &> /dev/null
then
    echo "Zenity exists"
else
    echo "Zenity does not exist"
fi

[fenhl]

Automatic installation of mono-complete when both apt and zenity exist is now implemented. Still need to add the manual instructions in case one or both commands don't exist.