HOW TO: Easily setup your own ipkg feed with Dropbox

Jason Robitaille · 01:44 AM

Earlier today I released a desktop utility called Ipkg Feed Generator and mentioned how people could use Dropbox to make your own feed. I got a lot of messages from users asking how to do that specifically.

So he here's a quick, step-by-step guide. It's not the only way to do it, but it's how I've done it.

What you'll need:
- Ipkg Feed Generator
- Dropbox installed
- 1 or more .ipk files you want to put on a feed

Guide

Go to your Dropbox folder. Inside it, look for a folder called "Public". This is where we can publicly host files and will be where we put our ipkg feed.
Go into the Public folder. For organization purposes I recommend making a new folder specifically for the feed. In this example, I named the new folder as "feed".
Go into the new folder you just made. This is where your feed will be located.
Add your .ipk files to the folder.
Put the IpkgFeedGenerator.jar in the folder.
Run IpkgFeedGenerator.jar. This will create the 2 important feed files: Packages and Packages.gz
Right-click on Packages and browse into the Dropbox menu. Click the "Copy Public Link" option.
Paste the text somewhere (notepad, browser toolbar, etc.). Remove the "/Packages" text from the end of the URL. What's left is the ipkg feed URL.
Code:
```
Pasted: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2774158/feed/Packages
So feed URL is: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2774158/feed
```
You can now add the feed to WOSQI and Preware:
- For WebOSQuickInstall, go File->Settings. Then add the feed URL to the custom feed list.
- For Preware, go in the app menu, choose "Manage Feeds", then scroll to the bottom and you can add your feed. Name it whatever you want (all lowercase), and make sure "Is compressed" is set to "Yes".
  
  Update the feeds afterwards.

Whenever you wanna add or remove ipk files to the feed, just add or remove ipk files in the feed folder and re-run the IpkgFeedGenerator.jar after.

Same with putting updated ipk files; just replace the old ipk file, put the updated one in, and re-run the IpkgFeedGenerator to update the feed.

And that's about it

Do note: the feed created is public and theoretically anyone could assess it if they had the URL. Use at your own discretion.

Psychonaut · 05/13/2011, 02:01 AM

This is amazing.

This will be great way to restore (on a new device or post-doctor) any patches/apps that were obtained from outside of Preware.

johnnygewitter · 05/13/2011, 02:54 AM

Thanks, this is a great way to distribute all my silly little apps to my girlfriend's Pixi

**mamouton** · 05/13/2011, 05:58 AM

Will it create the ipks for patches we put in there as well?

Jakeeeee · 05/13/2011, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamouton

Will it create the ipks for patches we put in there as well?

No I tried, I think we'll manually have to convert the patches into IPKs, similar to the WebOS Internals feed (http://ipkg.preware.org/feeds/webos-patches/2.1.0/) That's okay though.

Jason Robitaille · 05/13/2011, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamouton

Will it create the ipks for patches we put in there as well?

No ipk files are created from this app. The AUPT scripts WebOS-Internals uses are GPL and available on the WebOS-Internals git if you desire to manually create (you can use Ipk Packager for that). For a variety of reasons, it's just much simpler to submit the .patch to WebOS-Internals patch portal or just install directly with WOSQI, or install directly on-device with Internalz Pro.

That said, IpkgFeedGenerator recognizes all ipk formats and contents. If you have an ipk for a linux application, ipk for a theme, and an app ipk made with palm-package, all will properly be read and put onto the feed

Rnp · 05/13/2011, 07:54 AM

Great!! There is someway to I click in thanks two times?

Best Regards...

GMTesta · 05/13/2011, 10:45 AM

awesome. Thanks for the tutorial!

copystring · 05/13/2011, 02:21 PM

When I post the link into WOSQI it does absolutely nothing, once I got a error message saying something like invalid feed or something like that.

Jason Robitaille · 05/13/2011, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by compuseum

When I create my own feed, the .ipks appear in a category called "unknown" in "available other" (or something like that - in German it's "Verfügbare Andere".

Is there a way to change that?

Category is assigned via the Source JSON in the ipk. If you used palm-package, there is no Source JSON (as it's a homebrew design), however you can package it with my Ipk Packager and you can specify the additional data fields. In a future version of IpkgFeedGenerator, I may have palm-package'd ipk files automatically recognized application type apps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by copystring

When I post the link into WOSQI it does absolutely nothing, once I got a error message saying something like invalid feed or something like that.

Make sure the "Packages" and "Packages.gz" files properly generated and that it, and the ipk files are in a public folder. Also check to see if you can add the feed to Preware. If so, then it may be an issue with WOSQI not being able to connect online properly.

NuttyBunny · 05/15/2011, 04:15 PM

mmm... already setting up one for Greg's Messaging Plugins...

Ubuntite · 05/16/2011, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamouton

Will it create the ipks for patches we put in there as well?

+1

It would be great if we could drop in patches, and have them converted to patches during the feed generation!

Jason Robitaille · 05/16/2011, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubuntite

+1

It would be great if we could drop in patches, and have them converted to patches during the feed generation!

May wanna read above, I've already responded to this

Ubuntite · 05/16/2011, 05:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Robitaille

May wanna read above, I've already responded to this

I did. I know that it's possible to do this manually. I thought it would just be neat to be able to dump our own patches and ipks that don't exist in Preware into our own feed and just double-click on your feed-generator to have it all available automatically.

Jason Robitaille · 05/16/2011, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubuntite

I did. I know that it's possible to do this manually. I thought it would just be neat to be able to dump our own patches and ipks that don't exist in Preware into our own feed and just double-click on your feed-generator to have it all available automatically.

Keep in mind the AUPT scripts are GPL, so the resulting ipk file would thus be GPL, and you'll then need to release the source somewhere. Besides that, it's possible, but things like including additional files and json files would be unlikely at this point. I may expand the project in the future, but for the next li'l while I'm busy with summer classes and other projects like ArchiveXtractor and Internalz

thenyboy · 01/09/2012, 12:34 PM

Can it be done with Box.net or 4shared?

05/13/2011, 01:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
Jason Robitaille Legend Join Date: May 2005 Location: Winnipeg, MB, Canada Posts: 3,883 Likes Received: 496 Thanks: 801 Thanked 12,954 Times in 1,495 Posts	HOW TO: Easily setup your own ipkg feed with Dropbox Earlier today I released a desktop utility called Ipkg Feed Generator and mentioned how people could use Dropbox to make your own feed. I got a lot of messages from users asking how to do that specifically. So he here's a quick, step-by-step guide. It's not the only way to do it, but it's how I've done it. What you'll need: - Ipkg Feed Generator - Dropbox installed - 1 or more .ipk files you want to put on a feed Guide Go to your Dropbox folder. Inside it, look for a folder called "Public". This is where we can publicly host files and will be where we put our ipkg feed. Go into the Public folder. For organization purposes I recommend making a new folder specifically for the feed. In this example, I named the new folder as "feed". Go into the new folder you just made. This is where your feed will be located. Add your .ipk files to the folder. Put the IpkgFeedGenerator.jar in the folder. Run IpkgFeedGenerator.jar. This will create the 2 important feed files: Packages and Packages.gz Right-click on Packages and browse into the Dropbox menu. Click the "Copy Public Link" option. Paste the text somewhere (notepad, browser toolbar, etc.). Remove the "/Packages" text from the end of the URL. What's left is the ipkg feed URL. Code: Pasted: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2774158/feed/Packages So feed URL is: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2774158/feed You can now add the feed to WOSQI and Preware: For WebOSQuickInstall, go File->Settings. Then add the feed URL to the custom feed list. For Preware, go in the app menu, choose "Manage Feeds", then scroll to the bottom and you can add your feed. Name it whatever you want (all lowercase), and make sure "Is compressed" is set to "Yes". Update the feeds afterwards. Whenever you wanna add or remove ipk files to the feed, just add or remove ipk files in the feed folder and re-run the IpkgFeedGenerator.jar after. Same with putting updated ipk files; just replace the old ipk file, put the updated one in, and re-run the IpkgFeedGenerator to update the feed. And that's about it Do note: the feed created is public and theoretically anyone could assess it if they had the URL. Use at your own discretion. __________________ If you've liked my software, please consider to towards future development. Developer of many apps such as: WebOS Quick Install, WebOS Theme Builder, Ipk Packager, Unified Diff Creator, Internalz Pro, ComicShelf HD, LED Torch, over 70 patches and more. @JayCanuck @CanuckCoding Facebook Last edited by Jason Robitaille; 05/13/2011 at 01:44 AM.
	Liked by Thanked by appsotutely, capt4chris, GreenHex, Jakeeeee, johnnygewitter, JoshC72, mamouton, MartinH@webos, mikevember, mjkjr, NachoB, NuttyBunny, patrickc, Psychonaut, RickNeff, Rnp, rretsiem, tooearly, warlord9159

05/13/2011, 02:01 AM	#2 (permalink)
Psychonaut Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Colorado Posts: 635 Likes Received: 15 Thanks: 213 Thanked 142 Times in 109 Posts	This is amazing. This will be great way to restore (on a new device or post-doctor) any patches/apps that were obtained from outside of Preware.
	Liked by

05/13/2011, 02:54 AM	#3 (permalink)
johnnygewitter Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: de Posts: 466 Likes Received: 48 Thanks: 24 Thanked 60 Times in 49 Posts	Thanks, this is a great way to distribute all my silly little apps to my girlfriend's Pixi
	Liked by

05/13/2011, 05:58 AM	#4 (permalink)
mamouton Forum Leader Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fort Worth, TX Posts: 5,771 Likes Received: 5 Thanks: 796 Thanked 1,165 Times in 801 Posts	Will it create the ipks for patches we put in there as well? __________________ My contributions to customizing the Palm Pre. Browser Mega Mix\|Email Mega Mix\|Additional Sync Days\| Disable Various Phone Sounds\|Priority Discard Buttons\| Sign up for SugarSync Get 500MB extra space Sign up for Dropbox Get 250MB extra space
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05/13/2011, 07:54 AM	#7 (permalink)
Rnp Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Rio de Janeiro - Brazil (Oh, Yeis!!!) Posts: 712 Likes Received: 74 Thanks: 855 Thanked 43 Times in 36 Posts	Great!! There is someway to I click in thanks two times? Best Regards... __________________ [b]"Evolution History... Or Not!" Basic Math: Pre + Pre - Pre 2 ≠ Pre³ :-\
	Liked by

05/13/2011, 10:45 AM	#8 (permalink)
GMTesta Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 190 Likes Received: 1 Thanks: 6 Thanked 24 Times in 13 Posts	awesome. Thanks for the tutorial!
	Liked by

05/13/2011, 02:21 PM	#9 (permalink)
copystring Homebrew Developer Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 55 Likes Received: 8 Thanks: 3 Thanked 12 Times in 7 Posts	When I post the link into WOSQI it does absolutely nothing, once I got a error message saying something like invalid feed or something like that.
	Liked by

05/15/2011, 04:15 PM	#11 (permalink)
NuttyBunny Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Mexico Posts: 2,392 Likes Received: 225 Thanks: 88 Thanked 944 Times in 475 Posts	mmm... already setting up one for Greg's Messaging Plugins... __________________ Just remember: If I helped you, press the thanks button! Owner of: Pre Sprint, Pre Telcel, Pre Plus AT&T, Pre 2 Unlocked, Pixi Plus AT&T, TouchPad, and a shiny new AT&T Pre3. Needs: Veer (anyone?) Apps: Subnet Calculator, FreeCam, PhotoFun, NuttyPad (work in progress) HomeBrew: meta-doctor and Messaging Plugins collaborator Twitter: @cesarneg
	Liked by

01/09/2012, 12:34 PM	#16 (permalink)
thenyboy Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Argentina Posts: 96 Likes Received: 7 Thanks: 2 Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts	Can it be done with Box.net or 4shared? __________________ Nokia 1100 - Alcatel OT156A - Motorola C650 - Motorola v220i - Motorola V555 - The Great Motorola V360 - The Amazing Treo 650 - Treo 750 - Original Palm Pre (1.4.5) - Palm Pre2 (2.1) + Touchpad.
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