Packaging and Distributing Flutter Desktop Apps: The Missing Guide for Open Source & Indie Developers - Packaging choco packages

Ayan — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:54:06 +0000

Creating a Chocolatey package from an EXE file allows you to distribute and automate your software installation on Windows systems. This guide will walk you through the process step-by-step.

We'll learn with an example of foss42/apidash .exe package which can be found here.

Prerequisites

Chocolatey Installed: Ensure Chocolatey is installed on your system. refer Chocolatey Software | Installing Chocolatey
EXE File: Have the installer executable (EXE file) of your application ready.

Step 1: Setup Skeleton

First step towards making a choco package is initializing a base.

The command choco new -h can teach you more about the new command, its usage, options, switches, and exit codes.

Run the following command to setup the base

choco new --name="apidash" --version="0.3.0" maintainername="foss42" maintainerrepo="https://github.com/foss42/apidash" --built-in-template

Explanation:

choco new: Creates the structure and necessary files for a new Chocolatey package.
--name="apidash": Specifies the name of the package, in this case, "apidash."
--version="0.3.0": Sets the initial version of the package to 0.3.0.
maintainername="foss42": Adds the name of the package maintainer, which is "foss42" in this example.
maintainerrepo="https://github.com/foss42/apidash": Specifies the repository URL associated with the package, typically the source code or documentation link for "apidash."
--built-in-template: Uses Chocolatey's built-in package template to scaffold the package structure, including essential files like nuspec and script files.

This creates the following folder structure

apidash
├── ReadMe.md
├── _TODO.txt
├── apidash.nuspec
└── tools
    ├── chocolateybeforemodify.ps1
    ├── chocolateyinstall.ps1
    ├── chocolateyuninstall.ps1
    ├── LICENSE.txt
    └── VERIFICATION.txt

The files ReadMe.md and _TODO.md can be deleted before pushing.

The files of our main interest are chocolateyinstall.ps1 and apidash.nuspec.

Step 2: Editing `chocolateyinstall.ps1`

Take a look at chocolateyinstall.ps1 file. There are many comments stating the use case of each line itself.

Update the following fields:

url/url64: To the URL of the .exe file hosted. In our case, it is https://github.com/foss42/apidash/releases/latest/download/apidash-windows-x86_64.exe.
filetype: Could be either exe, msi, or msu. In our case, it is an exe file.
checksum/checksum64: set to the checksum of the .exe file for choco to match the hashes.
silentArgs: '/S' for .exe file.
validExitCodes: @(0)

Remove all the comments using the following command.

$f='apidash\tools\chocolateyinstall.ps1'
gc $f | ? {$_ -notmatch "^\s*#"} | % {$_ -replace '(^.*?)\s*? [^``]#.*','$1'} | Out-File $f+".~" -en utf8; mv -fo $f+".~" $f

Now our chocolateyinstall.ps1 file is ready.

Step 3: Editing `apidash.nuspec`

Change the following tags accordingly.

authors: Name of author of software.
projectUrl: Url of the project. (maybe the one hosted on GitHub/Gitlab)
iconUrl: Url of the icon. (you could use githack.com if icon is in your repo itself)
summary: a summary of the package.
description: description of the package.
tags: tags specific to your package.

Step 4: Build the package

All our files are ready, we just need to pack out files in a choco package with the extension .nupkg.

Run the following command from the root of your directory:

choco pack

This command generates the apidash.0.3.0.nupkg file.

Step 5: Test the Package Locally

Install the package locally using Chocolatey:

choco install apidash -s .

Ensure the application installs correctly.

Step 6: Pre-Publishing - Update `LICENSE.txt` & `VERIFICATION.txt`

Update LICENSE.txt with the actual **LICENSE **and VERIFICATION.txt accordingly.

Step 7: Publish the Package (Optional)

To share the package, you can push it to a Chocolatey repository. For the official Chocolatey Community Repository, follow these steps:

Create an account on the Chocolatey Community.
Get an API key by navigating to your profile.
Use the following command to push your package:

choco push MyPackage.1.0.0.nupkg --source="https://push.chocolatey.org/" --api-key="YOUR_API_KEY"

Conclusion

Creating a Chocolatey package from an EXE file simplifies software deployment on Windows systems. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can easily build, test, and publish your custom Chocolatey package.

Arithemetic Operators in C++

Ayan — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 17:20:14 +0000

Arithmetic operators are used for performing basic mathematical operations on variables or values. C++ provides a set of standard arithmetic operators that you can use to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and more. Let's go through each arithmetic operator one by one:

1. Addition (+):

The addition operator (+) is used to add two operands together.

int a = 10;
int b = 20;
int result = a + b; // result will be 30

2. Subtraction (-):

The subtraction operator (-) is used to subtract the right-hand operand from the left-hand operand.

int a = 50;
int b = 30;
int result = a - b; // result will be 20

3. Multiplication (*):

The multiplication operator (*) is used to multiply two operands.

int a = 5;
int b = 6;
int result = a * b; // result will be 30

4. Division (/):

The division operator (/) is used to divide the left-hand operand by the right-hand operand.

int a = 50;
int b = 5;
int result = a / b; // result will be 10

5. Modulus (%):

The modulus operator (%) is used to find the remainder when the left-hand operand is divided by the right-hand operand.

int a = 20;
int b = 6;
int result = a % b; // result will be 2 (remainder of 20 / 6)

6. Increment (++) and Decrement (--):

The increment operator (++) is used to increase the value of a variable by one, and the decrement operator (--) is used to decrease the value of a variable by one.

int a = 5;
a++; // a will be 6
a--; // a will be 5 again

7. Compound Assignment Operators (+=, -=, *=, /=, %=):

C++ also provides compound assignment operators, which combine an arithmetic operation with assignment.

int a = 10;
a += 5; // equivalent to a = a + 5; (a will be 15)
a -= 3; // equivalent to a = a - 3; (a will be 12)
a *= 2; // equivalent to a = a * 2; (a will be 24)
a /= 4; // equivalent to a = a / 4; (a will be 6)
a %= 5; // equivalent to a = a % 5; (a will be 1)

Keep in mind that arithmetic operators have certain rules and precedence in C++. Parentheses can be used to control the order of evaluation.

Remember to use appropriate data types when using arithmetic operators to avoid potential overflow or precision issues, especially with floating-point numbers.

That's a summary of arithmetic operators in C++. They are essential for performing basic mathematical calculations in your C++ programs. Happy coding!

DEV Community: Ayan