Q&A Porting to Fremantle

(Add upstart info)
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* Icon size: HILDON_ICON_SIZE_THUMB.
* Icon size: HILDON_ICON_SIZE_THUMB.
* In Gimp or Photoshop: 64x64 pixels
* In Gimp or Photoshop: 64x64 pixels
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==Text and icons in dialogs==
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'''Problem'''
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The text in dialog boxes is not formatted correctly, when a icon is in place.
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'''Action'''
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In general icons should not be used in dialogs in Fremantle. Remove the icon and the text will be formatted correctly.
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==Initialisation scripts==
==Initialisation scripts==

Revision as of 07:38, 21 September 2009


This page is intended to consolidate the common errors that occur while trying to port Diablo applications to Fremantle. Feel free to improve this page and/or add additional information.

Contents

maemo-select-menu-location: command not found

Typical error message

scratchbox/tools/bin/sh: line 1: /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure: No such file or directory
Setting up leafpad (0.8.16le-0maemo2) ...
gtk-update-icon-cache: Cache file created successfully.
/var/lib/dpkg/info/leafpad.postinst: line 7: maemo-select-menu-location: command not found
dpkg: error processing leafpad (--configure): subprocess post-installation script returned error exit  status 127

Reason

maemo-select-menu-location is obsolete. In Fremantle, there is no submenu like, "Utility", "Extra", "Settings" etc. All installed 3rd party software will be visible under "Applications" by default.

Action Remove the instance from the post installation script. It is not needed.


Missing dependency: maemo-installer-utils

Reason

The package hildon-application-manager no longer "provides" maemo-installer-utils. The commands maemo-confirm-text, maemo-application-running, maemo-list-user-packages are still available.

Action

Replace the dependency with hildon-application-manager.


Missing dependency: libhildonhelp0

Reason

libhildonhelp is dropped.

Action

Remove the dependency and calls to the help APIs.


Limitation of Home Area applets

Unlike Diablo in Fremantle these applets don't support text input, pannable areas, resizing nor scrolling.

Reason

Framework limitations.

Action

Replace text input fields with dialogs. Use buttons for scrolling. Add resizing options in the settings dialog or adapt the UI of the applet regarding to that. For further information on how to develop those applets, please check the documentation.


What icon size should be used?

With Fremantle the size specifications of the icons are different from Diablo:

Application Manager

  • Icon size: HILDON_ICON_SIZE_FINGER.
  • In Gimp or Photoshop: 48x48 pixels

Task Launcher

  • Icon size: HILDON_ICON_SIZE_THUMB.
  • In Gimp or Photoshop: 64x64 pixels


Text and icons in dialogs

Problem

The text in dialog boxes is not formatted correctly, when a icon is in place.

Action

In general icons should not be used in dialogs in Fremantle. Remove the icon and the text will be formatted correctly.


Initialisation scripts

Problem

Initialisation scripts don't work any more.

Reason

Fremantle has switched to using upstart for system initialisation.

Action

Create upstart job definitions instead of init scripts. Information on writing these can be found on http://upstart.ubuntu.com/getting-started.html. However, be aware that the directory used on Maemo 5 is /etc/event.d.

The job script should be placed in /etc/event,d/package. And the package postinst, prerm and postrm should use the start --quiet and stop --quiet commands to start and stop the service. Unfortunately there is no debhelper tool to assist with this.

What can I do if my question is not mentioned here?

  1. Look if it is discussed already in one of the mailing lists or in talk.maemo.org
  2. If not post your question in the developer mailing list or in talk
  3. If you find the answer and you think it could be interesting for others as well post it here, so that we just have to point on this page in the future if the question pops up again.