Easy creation of SFS from DEB packages with deb2sfs

EasyOS has 'dir2sfs', that will convert a folder to a SFS file. I posted about it in 2018:

https://bkhome.org/news/201811/dir2sfs-take-2.html

An extra note about 'dir2sfs', it can create an SFS that will run the app as a non-root "client":

https://bkhome.org/news/202109/chromium-sfs-runs-as-user-chromium-in-easyos-30.html

I want to make it easier to create SFSs, and have now created 'deb2sfs'. This will convert one or more .deb packages to an SFS. It does end up running 'dir2sfs', but does a whole lot of pre-processing.

To show how this new 'deb2sfs' works, I downloaded the latest Chrome from here:

https://www.google.com.au/chrome/

...it has the choice of downloading a .deb file. I downloaded it to a folder named "debs", then opened a terminal:

...the invocation line requires the name of the SFS file to be created, in the format "name_version[-revision][_arch]", followed by the folder with one or more DEBs.

What makes this easy is that I have created some defaults, in /usr/local/easy_containers/templates/chrome -- this is optional, but it does eliminate having to make some decisions.

So, when the script asks any questions, just accept the default, and 'chrome_105.0.5195.102_amd64.sfs' will be created, as well as files 'chrome_105.0.5195.102_amd64.specs' and 'chrome.png'.

If you were to do this yourself, you could then copy those three files to /mnt/wkg/sfs/easyos/oe/dunfell and then click on "sfs" icon on the desktop, to install it, either to run on the main desktop or in a container.

A note about the name "chrome". Don't choose a long name, such as "google-chrome", as when installed in a container that will be the label on the desktop icon. It is best if the name is the same as the executable.

I have uploaded 'chrome_105.0.5195.102_amd64.sfs', you can click on the "sfs" icon to download it.

One thing I need to implement is updating. If you already have an older Chrome SFS installed, there should be an offer to update. That's on the to-do list.

Next up, plan to find some more packages available as DEB packages, and convert to SFS.  

Tags: easy