Consider using /bin/sh and changing mktemp call to make it work on FreeBSD, too

[probonopd]

Would it be possible to change #! /bin/bash to #! /bin/sh in all scripts that end up in the AppImages? This would improve compatibility, e.g., with FreeBSD, where /bin/bash does not exist (even if you install bash from Ports).

This line in apprun-hooks/linuxdeploy-plugin-gtk.sh breaks on FreeBSD and possibly on other systems:

CACHEDIR="$(mktemp --tmpdir --directory .AppRun.XXXXXXXX)"

If I change this for testing to

CACHEDIR=$(mktemp  -d  "/tmp/.AppRun.XXXXXXXX")

then the application runs.

The culprit is:

FreeBSD% mktemp --tmpdir --directory .AppRun.XXXXXXXX
mktemp: illegal option -- -
usage: mktemp [-d] [-q] [-t prefix] [-u] template ...
       mktemp [-d] [-q] [-u] -t prefix 

As per https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?mktemp, mktemp -d "/tmp/.AppRun.XXXXXXXX" works for me on FreeBSD but I have not tested it on Linux.

Reference:
geany/geany#1303

[azubieta]

bash is capable of running all sh scripts but the opposite is not possible AFAIK.

A workaround would be embedding bash, mksquashfs and env binaries.

[probonopd]

I am "only" talking about the scripts that become part of the produced AppImage (apprun-hooks). So that the produced AppImage doesn't need bash.

[azubieta]

If the apprun-hooks or other scripts bundled inside the AppImage use a bash feature that is not available in sh it will fail.

By the way, appimage-builder doesn't use apprun-hooks scripts, those are a linuxdeploy feature. appimage-builder uses an all mighty AppRun binary 😄

[probonopd]

Oops. Sorry for the noise. I totally screwed this. Sorry!

[azubieta]

No worries 😄