How to package your Gtk App for Mac

Preface

Couldn't get the gtk-mac-bundler to work so I had to package my Gtk app on my own. searching the internet for information.

So how do you package Gtk app for Mac distribution? Luckily, a guy on Stackoverflow asked the same question.  With no one having the answer, he answered his own question.  He created a blog on a website that's long gone.  Thanks to Wayback Machine, the information is preserved.  Somewhat.

Thanks to danivdwerf, I was able to package Kage Studio for Mac!

One learning from this activity is the copying of Gtk library to the App.  And having to modify the copied libraries to actually access the same libraries already copied inside the App.

danivdwerf indicated on his blogpost that he had to create a shell script so he doesn't have to do the same manually in the future.  My concern was,  Gtk library is always updating, and I will have to modify the shell script each time.

So, I decided to create a python script to generate the shell script itself.

How to package your Gtk App for Mac

Automatically creating the App file is a work in progress but currently, simply run this line on Terminal

python3 copylib.py yourapp

You should have a shell script called, copylib_yourapp.sh, which you can use to copy all the Gtk libraries and modifying them for your App.

Final Words

Get a copy of copylib.py on Gtk-App-Builder.

Happy hacking!

~creek23

Open source Matroska MKV converter

It's been a long time since I blogged about anything.

Is your hard drive (the one where you save you files and all that -- not the other one, if you know what I mean ^^) getting all spaced up because of your video file collections? Despite the number of hard disks in your PC?

Don't sway there's an open source MKV converter that will take care of your AVIs.

As of this post there's simply no better compressed video format than Matroska. Sad as it may be, but MKV is not an open format.

Enter HandBrake, an open source (GPL-licensed) multiplatform video converter available for Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and Windows.

Remember. I'm just showing you a tool to help you get more disk space. I am not telling you to download pirated Hi-Def DVD rips out in the Internet and have the file size get shrank by this tool. Also, what I just said is not a reverse psychology thingy. ;)

EDIT: Been using MKV for more than a year and I never had the slightest idea that MKV was indeed an open format. Thanks robux4!

Want a free Mac OS?

Unless you buy an iPod Shuffle for US$1078, then you can get your MacBook for free. :P

Seriously, I long to have one either. But until then, I stay with theming my current OS. ^^

I started wanting to try Mac way back 2006 just to escape the Windows world once in a while. Though, back then, I'm already trying out GNU/Linux just to learn something new.

Upon learning that Mac OS are only bundled on a Mac machine -- no retails available, I started looking for Mac themes for Windows. It's then that I heard about WindowBlinds and ObjectDock, YzShadow and other freewares and sharewares on the net that help tweak Windows theme into a Mac. Good thing FlyAKite OSX existed -- it did all the dirty jobs for me.

Playing around with my Mac-themed Windows, I wasn't all too happy as it didn't give the UNIX feel.

So I turned into my GNU/Linux box and started looking for FlyAKite OSX for GNU/Linux. Sadly, there was none at that time. Yes, you can find some wallpapers, icons and sounds but it's not close to what FlyAKite did to my Windows box.

Year later, here comes Mac4Lin. I installed it on my newly upgraded Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. Though, you still have to do some dirty works installing the replacements -- reading 6 pages of how-to.

But all that changed last June 2009, as Mac4Lin v1.0 has been released. Automating it all with shell scripts.

Now, everybody can have a free Mac OS -- well a Mac-themed UNIX-like free OS. :D

As Michael Jackson sung it, "easy as 1-2-3":

1. Install Ubuntu
2. Install Mac4Lin
3. Enjoy!

Sweet!