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LINUX: tutorial for creating the installer on almost any distribution (updated 11/2023)

The aim of this article is to show step-by-step how to generate the installer from any Linux distribution that supports Qt5 and python3.8.

The steps are:

  1. Install python 3.8
  2. Install makeself
  3. Download Lucas Chess sources
  4. Install the necessary python libraries
  5. Test if all is ok
  6. Create the template 
  7. Generate binaries
  8. Generate the installer

    This example is running on a new virtual machine with Ubuntu 20.04.


    Step 1: Install python 3.8

    Using miniconda is a simple way to install python 3.8.

    1.1. Download

    Link: https://docs.conda.io/projects/miniconda/en/latest/miniconda-other-installer-links.html





    1.2. Installation

    Only for the user

    sh ./Miniconda3-py38_23.9.0-0-Linux-x86_64.sh

    Destination folder= ~/miniconda3

    1.3. Default python3

    To facilitate the process (in my case), the python3 of miniconda is set as default python3 of my user:
    vi ~/.profile
    adding at end:
    export PATH="$HOME/miniconda3/bin:$PATH"

    Step 2: Install makeself

    This tool is used to create an installation in a compressed shell file with the possibility of launching a script when decompressing.
    Download: https://github.com/megastep/makeself/releases
    In this moment I use:
     https://github.com/megastep/makeself/releases/download/release-2.5.0/makeself-2.5.0.run
    In the Download folder:
    sh makeself-2.5.0.run

    and the folder created I move to $HOME with the name makeself
    mv makeself-2.5.0 $HOME/makeself

    Step 3: Download Lucas Chess sources
    Extracting the download into the Public folder:



    Step 4: Install the necessary python libraries

    There is a file with all the libraries needed:
    cd $HOME/Public/lucaschessR2-main
    pip3 install -r requirements.txt

    # pyinstaller is also needed
    pip3 install pyinstaller==5.13.2

    Step 5: Test if all is ok 

    The first time, before launching the program, you have to give execution permissions to all the engines.
    cd $HOME/Public/lucaschessR2-main
    cd bin/OS/linux
    sh ./RunEngines
    cd ../..

    Then launch the program:
    python3 LucasR.py

    In my case there is a problem with the QT libraries.

    In order to solve it:

    sudo apt-get install qt5-default

    or in Ubuntu 22
    sudo apt-get install libxcb-xinerama0


    And launch it again:
    python3 LucasR.py

    Then this asks for the language and the name of the user below.

    Step 6: Create the template

    6.1 Create main

    cd  ~/Public/lucaschessR2-main/genlinux
    pyinstaller Launcher.py

    Assuming that a bin folder does not exist in Files (if more than one attempt has been made, it may exist, in that case, delete it beforehand).

    mv dist/Launcher Files/bin
    mv Files/bin/Launcher Files/bin/LucasR

    6.2 Create setup_linux

    pyinstaller setup_linux.py
    mv dist/setup_linux/setup_linux Files/bin

    6.3 Cleaning

    rm -rf dist build *.spec

    6.4 Reducing the size of the template

    All files with the word Web or Quick or 3D could be removed.
    cd  ~/Public/lucaschessR2-main/genlinux/Files/bin

    find . -name "*Web*" -exec rm -rf "{}" \;
    find . -name "*Quick*" -exec rm -rf "{}" \;
    find . -name "3D*" -exec rm -rf "{}" \;
    rm -rf ./Qt/translations

    Step 7: Generate binaries

    cd  ~/Public/lucaschessR2-main/genlinux
    python3 GenInstaller.py

    The folder LucasChessR is created.

    Step 8: Generate the installer

    cd  ~/Public/lucaschessR2-main/genlinux
    rm -rf LucasChessR/UserData
    $HOME/makeself/makeself.sh LucasChessR LucasChessR.sh "Installing Lucas Chess R" ./setup_linux.sh .

    The installer is created: LucasChessR.sh
    To test:
    sh ./LucasChessR.sh

    Comments

    1. SckipJuly 21, 2021 at 5:55 PM

      hello version 1.26 R win portable:
      by wanting to create a polyglot book, after confirmation the program crashe and closes, with no polyglot file in my book folder .

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Lucas MongeJuly 21, 2021 at 9:56 PM

        How many positions does it have?
        There is a file, in folder bin/bug.log is a text file, perhaps it has more information.

        Delete
      2. SckipJuly 22, 2021 at 3:13 PM

        my pgn have 26 games with 10 to 30 moves
        bug log :

        Version R 1.26
        Exception in thread Thread-6:
        Traceback (most recent call last):
        File "D:\obj\windows-release\37win32_Release\msi_python\zip_win32\threading.py", line 926, in _bootstrap_inner
        File "D:\obj\windows-release\37win32_Release\msi_python\zip_win32\threading.py", line 870, in run
        File "LucasChessR\bin\Code\SQL\UtilSQL.py", line 404, in _run_thread
        sqlite3.OperationalError: no such column: WHITERESULT

        Delete
      3. Lucas MongeJuly 22, 2021 at 6:08 PM

        This information is not enough for me to replicate the problem, I assume there are more circumstances because all the tests I have done have been correct.

        Delete
      4. SckipJuly 23, 2021 at 3:42 PM

        seeing your answer that on your side there is no bug, I started to change and search the settings during creation. while for two days the process closed my Lucaschess, I just changed the destination folder and no more problem. sorry for the false alarm, and always a big thumbs up for the respondent and the quality of the GUI

        Delete
      5. UnknownAugust 25, 2021 at 10:34 PM

        hello version 1.27R

        raceback (most recent call last):
        File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/LucasR.py", line 17, in
        import Code.Base.Init
        File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/Code/Base/Init.py", line 5, in
        from Code import Procesador
        File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/Code/Procesador.py", line 9, in
        from Code.Routes import Routes, WindowRoutes, ManagerRoutes
        File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/Code/Routes/Routes.py", line 6, in
        from Code.Base import Game
        File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/Code/Base/Game.py", line 1, in
        import FasterCode
        ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'FasterCode'


        Delete
      6. Lucas MongeAugust 26, 2021 at 4:53 PM

        One step is missing and it is the one that creates FasterCode.
        In the bin/_fastercode folder, run ./linux64.sh
        I will include this step in a few days.

        Delete
    2. UnknownAugust 24, 2021 at 10:59 PM

      Hello I have a problem with the installation when I start the python script I get this:

      Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/LucasR.py", line 17, in
      import Code.Base.Init
      File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/Code/Base/Init.py", line 5, in
      from Code import Procesador
      File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/Code/Procesador.py", line 9, in
      from Code.Routes import Routes, WindowRoutes, ManagerRoutes
      File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/Code/Routes/Routes.py", line 6, in
      from Code.Base import Game
      File "/home/mrboson/Public/lucaschessR-master/bin/Code/Base/Game.py", line 1, in
      import FasterCode
      ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'FasterCode'

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Lucas MongeOctober 3, 2021 at 10:19 AM

        This problem occurs if you do not use python 3.8. In this case it is necessary to go into the _fastercode folder and run linux.sh.

        Delete
    3. Tyler ChuaNovember 15, 2021 at 4:08 AM

      Hello! There is a small problem with PySide2. I can't seem to install it with pip install pyside2.

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Lucas MongeNovember 15, 2021 at 5:34 PM

        have you done this already?

        sudo apt-get install qt5-default

        Delete
    4. UnknownDecember 6, 2021 at 12:24 AM

      3039 > pip install -r requirements.txt
      ERROR: Double requirement given: psutil>=5.8.0 (from -r requirements.txt (line 9)) (already in psutil>=5.7.0 (from -r requirements.txt (line 5)), name='psutil')

      ReplyDelete
    5. IT ManagerAugust 11, 2022 at 7:58 PM

      Does this mean we are a little closer to seeing a Mac build for Lucas?

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Lucas MongeAugust 12, 2022 at 10:06 AM

        Maybe, but I'm not aware of anyone working on a Mac distribution. There is an important initial work and that is to find and compile the engines, I don't know if the Linux ones, for which the sources are available, could be used. The next step would be to make the changes to the program, to run it, which would probably be easy, then create a distribution and maintain it over time, which is the hardest part.

        Delete

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