Cannot create a desktop menu entry when installed using pipx

[staceybellerose]

I installed Porcupine using pipx, and when checking the box in Settings to show Porcupine in the desktop menu system, I get the error messagebox: "Porcupine must be installed in a virtual environment in order to create a desktop menu entry".

Installation process: pipx install https://github.com/Akuli/porcupine/archive/v2024.03.09.zip

pipx doesn't use the environment variable VIRTUAL_ENV, but instead creates soft links in $HOME/.local/bin that point to its internally-managed venvs. This appears to be why the action fails.

[Akuli]

Thanks for reporting this. I will look into this eventually.

Pipx seems like a good way to install and run Porcupine, if you already have pipx installed, so I want it to be a "just works" experience.

[staceybellerose]

Here's an idea: using shutil.which(), check to see if porcu is in the path, whether or not a virtual environment is present.

If it's not in the path, then error out with the messagebox.

Otherwise, if a virtual environment exists, use the current logic. If there's no virtual environment, then create the desktop entry with the Exec= line as just "Exec=porcu". (EDIT: my project needed the full location here, not just the command name.)

Some pseudocode:

location = shutil.which('porcu')
if location is None:
    # error out
venv = os.environ.get("VIRTUAL_ENV")
if venv:
    # build exec_line as before
    activate_path = ...
    bash_command = f'source {shlex.quote(str(activate_path))} && {EXECUTABLE} "$@"'
    exec_line = f"Exec=bash -c {shlex.quote(bash_command)} bash %F\n"
else:
    exec_line=f"Exec={location}"
# write file as before

This seems to work for my project when I install it with pipx.

[Akuli]

The problem is that porcu might point at a different installation of Porcupine.

[Akuli]

Related: #1219