LightTable.exe file for 0.8.0-alpha doesn't show LT icon on Windows (7), and related issues

[kenny-evitt]

The file shows the Electron icon instead.

I also noticed on my Windows 7 netbook that the window title, when it first opens after running the executable, shows "Electron". My primary Windows 7 computer is much faster so I didn't notice this until I looked for it just now.

I also noticed that the executable metadata includes GitHub as the publisher (?) when granting permission for network access via Windows Firewall.

[cldwalker]

@kenny-evitt I took the beginner label off this since the label is linked from CONTRIBUTING and should have links in the code and possible solutions to make the contributing approachable for a beginner

[cldwalker]

@kenny-evitt Apologies if this wasn't obvious. Updated description of beginner label

[kenny-evitt]

@cldwalker No worries; thanks for clarifying.

[TimothyDJewell]

Hey guys, I noticed this is still open when I installed 0.8.1 on my Windows 10 machine. Unfortunately, this bug makes an otherwise shiny IDE seem a little...confused.

I was looking into solutions, and I found a note in electron-packager about special handling necessary for building Windows exes. My understanding is that we would need to manually edit the exe to make it display the correct information. I'm not familiar with electron or this project, so I'm not sure whether this is a normal or acceptable thing for this project to handle.

[kenny-evitt]

@TimothyDJewell We build the Windows release on a Windows computer so the special handling mentioned in the link you referenced isn't an issue for us. We also have a Windows-based CI build (currently just for a development branch) too.

[TimothyDJewell]

@kenny-evitt I think their comment about needing to edit the exe and how they do that applies to all platforms as context to why they need special handling for non-Windows platforms. I don't think the root of this issue is in the current build process, per se, so much as that Windows requires an extra build step of editing the exe so that the icon and metadata are accurate. I don't know if Windows has another way for this to work.

To ask a more direct question: Would the project maintainers be receptive to additional Windows build dependencies to resolve this issue? (Based on what I'very seen, it seems to point to rcedit or the node interface for it.) If so, is there a preferred way for this to be done?
If I'm totally misunderstanding the issue here, don't hesitate to correct.

[kenny-evitt]

@TimothyDJewell Sure, we're open to additional dependencies. Especially given that this isn't a 'build' issue as much as it's a 'release' issue. We're already doing some minor manual tasks when we do a release so some additional (but minor) work to fix this wouldn't be a problem.

For anyone interested in working on this, here's the relevant info in Electron's docs:

• Application Distribution – Rebranding with Downloaded Binaries

[TimothyDJewell]

@kenny-evitt I've put up a PR for this, though I did keep it in the build process, rather than the release. I intentionally kept the build process without this rcedit.exe installed still working, albeit with console warnings about failures to rebrand. For me, it would bother me to be testing an app and see the wrong branding.