Pi-Apps

Raspberry Pi App Store for Open Source Projects

Linux is harder to master than Windows. It's geared toward power users, and you will encounter problems if you follow tutorials. Because of the lack of available software on the apt repositories, most Raspberry Pi owners never use their Pies to their full, desktop PC, potential.
Countless Raspberry Pies remain in disuse for this very reason. Something must be done!
Introducing Pi-Apps, basically a list of pre-made apps you can install with one click. (What a concept!)

ETA Prime (a very well known RPi YouTuber) says:

"It's an awesome Raspberry Pi app store and it works really well and there's lots of great stuff in here and it's super easy to install.
I want to give the devs of Pi-Apps a big shout-out."

To install Pi-Apps

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash

git clone https://github.com/Botspot/pi-apps
~/pi-apps/install

The install script ensures YAD is installed, creates two menu buttons, an autostarted updater, and a file (/usr/local/bin/pi-apps) that allows pi-apps to be run from terminal. Besides those, nothing is modified outside your home directory.

~/pi-apps/uninstall

To run Pi-Apps

Menu -> Accessories -> Pi Apps, or run pi-apps in a terminal. Run Pi-Apps from its directory with ~/pi-apps/gui.

Useful links

• 
• Send Botspot a donation
• View changelog
• Report an error
• Leepspvideo Pi-Apps walkthrough
• ETA Prime's Pi-Apps & Minecraft Java video

What do others say about Pi-Apps?

"Awesome. Thanks for doing this." - Novaspirit Tech (large RPi YouTuber)

Thanks so much to Botspot for creating this; it's a great program." - leepspvideo (large RPi YouTuber)

"I love pi-apps. It's great and installs tons of useful software that people don't know how to install. Great work Botspot!" - RPi Projects and More (RPi YouTuber)

"Pi-Apps is the reason I got a Pi4!" - behjemen from Discord

"Thanks for the great work making it all simple for everybody." - ShiftPlusOne (RPi moderator)

"Good luck with your projects, Botspot, you're really making waves!" - Sakaki (RPi legend)

"I love Pi-Apps and I chase all my friends around tryna get them to install it" - Beiop from Discord

Basic usage

• This is the main window:
  
  Use the main window to quickly browse the selection of apps and easily install them.
• If you double-click an app, or select and app and click Details, you will see the Details window.
  
• The updater window may pop up when you launch Pi-Apps, or when your Pi boots:
  
• Pi-Apps Settings can be configured by launching Menu -> Preferences -> Pi-Apps Settings.
  

To-do

• [X] Make app creation system. (completed with the createapp script)
• [X] Add Pi-Apps to Twister OS. (completed on 11/2/2020 via the Twister 1.8.5 patch.)
• [X] Support individual 32-bit and 64-bit install scripts.
• [X] Allow multiple apps to be selected from the app list and be installed simultaneously.
• [X] Add a search function to the app list. It's still experimental: to enable it, switch to xlunch in Pi-Apps Settings -> App List Style.
• [X] Break up the long app list with some categories.

#!/bin/bash

DIRECTORY="$(dirname "$(dirname "$( cd "$(dirname "$0")" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; pwd -P )")")"

function error {
  echo -e "\\e[91m$1\\e[39m"
  exit 1
}

wget https://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-1.8.13-linuxarm.tar.xz || error "failed to download!"

tar -xf arduino-1.8.13-linuxarm.tar.xz || error "failed to extract with tar!"
arduino-1.8.13/install.sh || error "failed to run install as non-root user!"
sudo arduino-1.8.13/install.sh || error "failed run install as root user!"

rm $HOME/Desktop/arduino-arduinoide.desktop
rm arduino-1.8.13-linuxarm.tar.xz
exit 0

#!/bin/bash

DIRECTORY="$(dirname "$(dirname "$( cd "$(dirname "$0")" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; pwd -P )")")"

function error {
  echo -e "\\e[91m$1\\e[39m"
  exit 1
}

wget https://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-1.8.13-linuxarm.tar.xz || error "failed to download!"

tar -xf arduino-1.8.13-linuxarm.tar.xz || error "failed to extract with tar!"

arduino-1.8.13/install.sh || error "failed to run install as non-root user!"
sudo arduino-1.8.13/install.sh || error "failed run install as root user!"

rm $HOME/Desktop/arduino-arduinoide.desktop
rm arduino-1.8.13-linuxarm.tar.xz
exit 0

echo "[Desktop Entry]
Name=Ultimaker Cura
GenericName=3D Printing Software
Comment=Cura converts 3D models into paths for a 3D printer. It prepares your print for maximum accuracy, minimum printing time and good reliability with many extra features that make your print come out great.
Exec=bash -c 'sudo modprobe fuse; ~/Cura.AppImage'
Icon=$(dirname $0)/icon-64.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
MimeType=application/sla;application/vnd.ms-3mfdocument;application/prs.wavefront-obj;image/bmp;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;model/x3d+xml;
Categories=Graphics;Education;Development;Science;
Keywords=3D;Printing;
StartupNotify=true" > ~/.local/share/applications/cura.desktop

#!/bin/bash
arduino-1.8.13/uninstall.sh
sudo arduino-1.8.13/uninstall.sh
rm -rf arduino-1.8.13

arduino-1.8.13/uninstall.sh
sudo arduino-1.8.13/uninstall.sh

rm -rf arduino-1.8.13

Directory tree

• ~/pi-apps/ This is the main folder that holds everything. In all scripts, it is represented as the ${DIRECTORY} variable.
  • CHANGELOG.md This file is a written history for all important events for Pi-Apps, including dates for when each app was added. It's worth a read! :)
  • COPYING This file contains the GNU General Public License v3 for Pi-Apps.
  • createapp GUI script - this is run when you click "Create App" in Settings.
    
  • gui The main GUI window. This script is responsible for displaying the App list and the Details page.
  • install This script is used to install Pi-Apps. Adds a couple menu launchers, and makes sure YAD is installed.
  • manage This script handles installing, uninstalling, and updating Apps. It does not check or update any files outside the apps/ directory.
  • pi-apps.desktop This file is a .desktop launcher, exactly the same as the main Pi-Apps launcher in Menu.
  • pkg-install If an App requires some apt packages in order to run, its install script will run pkg-install. Pkg-install records which app installed what (in the installed-packages folder BTW), so when you uninstall an App, those packages will be removed.
  • preload This script generates the app list for the gui script. If no files have been modified since last launch, preload won't regenerate the app list, but instead will return a previously saved version of the list. This approach reduces Pi-Apps's launch time by around 1 second.
  • purge-installed This does exactly the opposite of pkg-install This script is run when an App is being uninstalled. Purge-installed will uninstall all packages the app installed.
  • README.md You are reading this file right now!
  • settings This GUI script is executed when you launch 'Pi-Apps Settings' from the Menu.
  • uninstall Uninstalls Pi-Apps and removes the menu launchers. Asks permission to uninstall YAD.
  • updater This GUI script is executed every time the gui script is launched. Updater first compares today's date against the last-update-check file. If it's time to check for updates, updater first checks for App updates, then checks for other files/folders that have been modified or created. If anything can be updated, a dialog will open and ask permission to update:
    
  • data/ This folder holds all local data that should not be overwritten by updates.
    • categories - This directory stores everything relating to which categories your apps are in. Currently it only contains one file:
      • structure - The file that keeps track of which apps are in which categories. It's edited by the Pi-Apps Category Editor.
    • installed-packages/ This keeps track of any/all APT packages each app installed. This folder is written to from the pkg-install script. For example, if Pi Power Tools installs xserver-xephyr and expect, then the installed-packages/Pi Power Tools file will contain "xserver-xephyr expect".
    • preload/ This directory is used by the preload script to improve Pi-Apps' launch time.
      • timestamps This file stores timestamps for the most recently modified app, the most recently modified setting, and the most rencently modified status file. If any of these entries don't match when preload is called, then the app list will be regenerated.
      • LIST This file holds the app list. The entire file's contents is piped into the YAD dialog box.
    • settings/ This stores the current settings saved by the 'Pi-Apps Settings' window. Each file contains one setting. For example, the file settings/Preferred text editor contains "geany" by default.
    • status/ This folder stores all installation information for all apps. If you install Zoom, then the status/Zoom file will be created, containing "installed". Installed apps will have this status icon in the app list:
      If installation was unsuccessful, then the file will contain "corrupted". The corresponding icon looks like:
      If the app has been uninstalled successfully, the icon is
      If the app has never been installed or uninstalled, then its status file will not exist. The icon for that is: . Notice the slight amount of red in the center. That's how you can tell the difference.
    • update-status/ This folder keeps track of which apps can be updated. Each file's name is of an app, so update-status/Zoom stores the update status of the Zoom app. This folder is refreshed whenever ~/pi-apps/manage check-all is run. "latest" means that app is up to date. "new" means that app is new from the repository. (in other words, it does not exist locally) "local" means that app does not exist on the repository. "updatable" means the repository's version and the local version don't match.
    • hidelist This file contains app names that should be hidden from the app list. template should always be there. If your Pi runs TwisterOS, then hidelist will contain several more app names, like balenaEtcher, for example.
    • last-update-check This contains a date in numeric form. (Jan. 1 would be 1, Dec. 31 would be 365.) The updater script uses this file to keep track of when updates were last checked.
  • etc/ This folder is basically an extension of the main pi-apps/ folder. Its contents don't need to clutter up the main directory, but they can't go in data/ because these files should be kept up-to-date.
    • setting-params/ This stores the GUI entries for the Settings window. For example, if I wanted to add a new setting called "Auto donate", with 'Yes' and 'No' parameters, with Yes being the default setting, I'd create a new file called setting-params/Auto donate and it would contain this:

    #Donate automatically to Botspot every time Pi-Apps is launched
    Yes
    No
    

    Now, the next time Settings is opened, you will see:
    
    With this file-based approach, adding new settings (and/or parameters) is much easier to do and in a standardized way. (As opposed to adding new settings by editing a bash script)
    • bitlylink - Simple bash script that fetches a Pi-Apps analytics link, if enabled.
    • categoryedit - This script is the Pi-Apps Category Editor.
    • git_url This simple file stores this link: https://github.com/Botspot/pi-apps If you fork this repository and make changes, you will want Pi-Apps checking for updates from your repository, not this main one. Simply change the URL in this file to use your repository.
    • preload-daemon - A simple wrapper for the preload script. It periodically updates all app lists for each category for minimal latency.
    • terminal-run - This script is used to run multi-line scripts in a terminal. As easy as that sounds, in reality each terminal is different. So to be compatible with all Raspberry Pi OS'es, terminal-run is necessary to ensure terminal windows open and run properly.
  • icons/ This stores all the icons that are embedded into various dialogs.
    • screenshots/ Stores screenshots of various dialogs, mainly used as an image hosting service, though I suppose they could come in handy if an offline help dialog was made.
  • update/ This folder holds the latest version of the entire Pi-Apps repository. It's contents is re-downloaded every time the updater script checks for updates. It is used to compare file hashes, detect when an app or file can be updated, and is used to copy new file versions into the main pi-apps/ directory during an update.

Badge

If your application is on Pi-Apps, please consider adding this pretty badge/hyperlink to your README:

Embed code:

[![badge](https://github.com/Botspot/pi-apps/blob/master/icons/badge.png?raw=true)](https://github.com/Botspot/pi-apps)  

Q&A with Botspot

• Why did you develop Pi-Apps?

For a long time I have been saddened by how few people are aware of open-source RPi software projects. Many of these projects are extremely useful and beneficial, but there has never been a good way to distribute them.
The repositories don't host them, and they usually aren't advertised very well, so how will people find them?
Most people never find them.
One day I realized: Why not make my own app store that specializes in all the community RPi software projects out there? It will help more users find the software, and at the same time it would provide a super simple way to install them.
(Which would you rather do - click a shiny Install button, or copy-n-paste a bunch of commands from a sketchy blog tutorial?)

• How long did it take to program this?

About two weeks of nearly non-stop coding to make Pi-Apps from the ground-up. And since then, I've regularly fixed bugs, solved problems, adding new features, and handled new app submissions.

• Is Pi-Apps still under development?

Sure is! Initial development is done for the most part, and I don't see any more major features being added to Pi-Apps's core functionality. (besides maybe allowing apt-package apps in the future) But, there's always an app or two that need attention, and dozens of app requests. It's enough work to keep a team of developers busy.

• How can I help?

• It's always nice to leave a kind word about Pi-Apps on forums and in comments. In addition to helping others find this useful software, you may just get added to the hall of fame!
• You can donate if you'd like. The money goes to me (minus the Paypal fees), and helps support future open-source development. Some of the money goes to placing bounties on apps that I'd like to see completed by someone else who has skills/time that I don't have.
• You can look through the list of app requests and help create the scripts for them.
• If you see someone complaining about a broken app on Youtube, Reddit, or Facebook, please encourage them to join the Pi-Apps Discord or to open an issue to get the problem solved. (I'm not on those sites very often.)
• You could help troubleshoot/diagnose issues others are having.