Talk:Portable application

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[edit] how to program portable apps?

Does anybody have information about how to program portable apps? What are the guidelines, what programming environments on different platforms are suitable, etc.? 60.248.21.146 03:08, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

There are no guidelines - just get free or open-source software (e.g., you can edit). Make it store its settings and stuff in its own directory, not in the registry or Application Data (Windows) or /home directory (Linux).

Preferably, you can make a launcher (like in NSIS as with FirefoxPortable and the other portableapps.com apps) to wrap everything, than you don't have to edit the program itself at all. 24.88.40.149 20:50, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] size

Hey guys, do you think putting the applications size by the name in the list would be a good idea? after all, this is supposed to be portable apps for a USB key. It would make it more relevent to users with a 128mb USB key.

I'm always in favor of size info. 69.87.193.141 22:40, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] XP files not backward compatible to 98

FAT is commonly used to transport portable files. But VFAT LFN support in Windows NT and later versions has a new "feature" that breaks backwards compatibility with all previous OS, such as 98. Sometimes there is a long filename and a 8.3 shortname. Sometimes there is just an ordinary shortname. But sometimes there is a modified shortname, with two hidden bits that encode whether the filename is lowercase. The older versions of Windows do not understand these hidden bits. They treat the filename as all uppercase, so some filenames may change when reading the files on Windows 98. Often this filename change, from "example" to "EXAMPLE", does not matter, because Windows is mostly case-insensitive. But sometimes it causes software to malfunction, in strange ways. This happens with Portable ClamWin and Portable Nvu. The only ways around the problem are to transfer the files in an archive, to move them over a network, or to use Linux to read and re-write the files with the shortname mount option turned off. 69.87.193.141 22:40, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 'Property, or feature?' section

This could do with a new title. A question as a title makes it sound like a discussion question rather than an encyclopaedia entry. Just can't think of one myself Aldaden 03:55, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps "Inherent property vs Design feature", "Propery vs feature" or something along these lines? EpiVictor 21:51, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Portability versus Microsoft registry

For many years, getting Microsoft's "Certified for Microsoft Windows" logo required that an application store all its configuration data in registry entries, rather than in separate configuration files. Failing to abide meant no logo. This made it impossible to get a small-footprint app certified, since even giving the user the OPTION of bypassing the registry lost one's certification. Microsoft may have finally relaxed that unpopular and annoying requirement; can anybody confirm this? A recent edit doubted that this policy even seemed plausible; but it was long a bone of contention among independent software developers, who didn't like being forced to rely on the registry, especially in its buggy early days. Getting Microsoft's seal of approval was a necessity, so we had to bite the bullet. I don't see any mention of this requirement in the current "Certified for Microsoft Windows Vista" documents; but I'm not currently trying to code to that standard, and I may not be delving deeply enough in the rule book. Trevor Hanson 06:27, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

BTW I apologize for not having noticed the {{fact}} that was added in June shortly after I edited the sentence in question. I should have found a source for this assertion at the time (though I believed that this was widely known among developers). Perhaps I've been blaming Microsoft for this bully policy even after they fixed it. (They never tell me anything. :) ) Trevor Hanson 06:42, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Comment about sentence in this article: "It is unclear whether a general solution is or will be available for making a third-party vendor's software portable."

Would the category 'Portable Workspaces' in the Wikipedia article about 'Virtualization' be considered a 'general solution'?

[edit] External links

Shouldn't this section just be removed? AFAICS, it's just spambait? Nuwewsco (talk) 18:38, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I've removed a lot of the links that have been posted recently. I thing Portable Apps, Portable Freeware and TinyApps are well known engough to be relevant (Certainly the first 2 are the ones I see recommended over and over again). klik and FreeSMUG.org I've never heard of but didn't want to remove the only represtation of Mac and Linux links - Perhaps someone else knows of better links? Aldaden (talk) 13:11, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
FWIW, I've seen portable apps spammed about a lot, but never actually recommended Nuwewsco (talk) 18:39, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
I personally go to Portable Freeware for portable Apps because they have a huge database since they tell you how to make some non-portable apps portable with a few tweaks, but Portable Apps seems to be the place to get portable software for most people. I don't think it's the owners spamming but just because they have a very active community around the site Aldaden (talk) 04:52, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Portable application, Green software & Greenware

Are they all the same? Or totally different? Is there any definition for these stuff can be found as source of reference? Stewart~惡龍 23:37, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

I've never seen a definition of "green" in this context except the one here -
  • 1.does not require installation
  • 2.does not write to the registry
  • 3.does not create or modify files outside of its own directory
If you want to take that as the definition then there are many Portable Applications that aren't Green because they meet the first condition but not 2 or 3. So while on the whole people often prefer it if a Portable app meets the 3 conditions above, there are Portable apps that it would be impossible to make green because of what they were built for - Obviously you can't have a portable Registry Editor that doesn't write to the registy. Aldaden (talk) 00:12, 14 April 2008 (UTC)