hussein-l-almadhachi/rhenium

Rhenium is an easy to use automated setup tool to compile and install programs in different software and hardware environments.

Rhenium

Rhenium 2023 version 0.2.1 (formerly Active Installer)

Rhenium is an easy to tool to make an automated setup to compile and install programs in different software and hardware environments.

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Content

• Why to use Rhenium
• Get started
• Automate your software installation
• Writing your Installation file
  • Operating System specific script
  • Hardware specific script
  • Software Environment specific script
  • Building your installation logic
• Debug Mode
• Final words

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Why to use Rhenium

1. For the end users Rhenium makes installing software or compiling it from source a lot easier. you just write rhenium install then you wait for all the magic.

2. For software developers it simplifies the whole automated installation process in multiple environments for you. You can write shell scripts that are specific to an operating system, a hardware device, or a piece of software that is installed on the targeted system.

Get started

Rhenium can be installed simply by running this in the command line script then it will ask you to select your operating system

NOTE: this may emit some error messages that can be ignored.

user@host:~$ sh install.sh

if you have installfile downloaded locally you just navigate to the this file then you start the setup as shown below

user@host:~$ cd  <path to 'installfile'>
user@machine:~$ rhenium install

if what you want to install is on a remote repository you can download it then install it directly with this

user@host:~$ rhenium clone  <remote repository URL>

if you want to change any of the settings

user@host:~$ sudo rhenium setup

Automate your software installation

1. You need to have Rhenium installed

2. Create a file called installfile which we will talk about how to organise your scripts inside it in the next section.

3. add installer.sh to the same same location as installfile.

4. Now the user can install your program by running this installer.sh or use rhenium install or clone your remote repository with rhenium clone ..

Writing your Installation file

here is an example of and installfile

# NOTE: indentation is neglected by Rhenium

pci {NVIDIA}
    echo you have an NVIDIA GPU
end

pci not {NVIDIA}
    echo you do not have an NVIDIA GPU
end


path {/etc/rhenium}
    echo you have Rhenium installed
end



os {debian}
    echo you are using debian
end

os not {debian}
    echo you are not using debian
end


os {fedora} and path {/etc/rhenium} and pci not {NVIDIA} and path not {/etc/apt}
    echo you are using fedora
    echo you are using Rhenium
    echo you do not have an NVIDIA GPU
    echo you are not using apt package manager
end

path {/usr/bin/perl} or path {/usr/bin/python3}
	echo you have either Perl or Python 3 installed 
end

# this is a comment

exec
    # any code here will run anyway
    echo hello world
end

Operating System specific script

os {arch}
    # shell script goes here
    echo you are using Arch linux
end

this is for Arch Linux here is a list of all supported operating systems

{arch} for Arch Linux
{fedora} for Fedora Linux
{opensuse} for OpenSUSE Linux
{cent os} for CentOS
{alpine} for Apline Linux
{gentoo} for Gentoo Linux
{freebsd} for FreeBSD
{netbsd} for NetBSD
{openbsd} for OpenBSD
{dragonfly} for DragonFly BSD
{debian} for Debian Linux
{ubuntu} for Ubuntu Linux
{void} for Void Linux
{nix os} for Nix OS

if you think we forgot some POSIC complient operating systems create an issue

Hardware specific script

first use lspci command to list all the devices

user@machine:~$ lspci
    ... 
0000:01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107M [GeForce MX350] (rev a1)
    ... 

then copy the text are you looking for from the output. here we will take GeForce MX350 as an example to write a specific shell script for this

pci {GeForce MX350}
    # shell script goes here
    echo you have GeForce MS350 GPU
end

Software Environment specific script

for example operating systems that uses systemd (famous component used in many Linux distros) usually have this path /run/systemd/system

path {/run/systemd/system}
    # shell script goes here
    echo your system uses system
end

Building your installation logic

You can use the not operator to assign a script if a condition wasn't met

os not {alpine}
    echo you are not using Alpine Linux
end

this also works for pci and path too.

You can use logical operators and and or to combine more than one condition and assign a script that is specific to this.

for example:

os {fedora} and path {/etc/rhenium} and pci {NVIDIA} and path not {/etc/apt}
    echo you are using Fedora Linux
    echo you are using Rhenium
    echo you are using an NVIDIA GPU
    echo you are not using apt package manager
end

Debug Mode

if you ran into any problems there is a debug mode that will detail how it is running your scripts. here is how to run Rhenium in debug mode

instead of regular rhenium install you write

user@machine:~$ rhenium debug

Final words

Have you seen any problem?
Do you think there is something I forgot?
Do you have some ideas about how to improve this program?

Join our Community discussions
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