Preware

[oil]

Preware:
For a complete change log, up-to-date installation instructions, and all other information pertaining to preware, Please visit the webos-internals preware wiki page: Application:Preware - WebOS Internals. The wiki will ALWAYS have the most up-to-date information on preware.

Installation:
See Here: http://install.preware.org



Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
Q - I want to remove the virtual keyboard patch but 'Available Patches' is grayed out?
A - Look for the virtual keyboard in the 'Installed Packages' section. Or change the "Installed Is Available" option to yes in the preferences.

Q - I'm stuck at "Checking Version"
A - Rebooting your pre will fix it.

Q - Why are there no other questions and answers?
A - I'm currently working on the list, please stand by.



Contributors: (listed alphabetically)

• destinal
• oil
• PuffTheMagic
• rboatright
• rwhitby
• Templarian
• tharris
• Zuchmir2

Licensing Conditions:
Preware and the Package Manager Service are licensed under the GPLv2. They cannot be used by a closed source application. If you want to use them in a non-GPLv2 but otherwise open source application, please contact the authors.

[ldudiaz]

I downloaded it yesterday and it looks good another installer app for us Pre user. Is this completely separate from Filecoster? or do we have to look at Preware, Preload and Filecoster for apps? or will they all be joint

[maxima2k53]

i love how i was able to install the virtual keyboard thru Preware and also there's no limitation with Preware on how many apps u can install...pretty much if u go over the limit on ur pre u can still keep on installing apps thru Preware but u cant thru filecoaster or preload

[One_Deep]

Love the keyboard patch

[maxima2k53]

Originally Posted by OneDeep

Love the keyboard patch

+1

[rwhitby]

Originally Posted by ldudiaz

I downloaded it yesterday and it looks good another installer app for us Pre user. Is this completely separate from Filecoster? or do we have to look at Preware, Preload and Filecoster for apps? or will they all be joint

fileCoaster holds a very special place in the history of homebrew application installers. Unfortunately, it cannot currently install Advanced Homebrew packages like the Virtual Keyboard Patch, Terminal, MyTether, etc (only WebOS Quick Install and Preware can do this at the moment).

fileCoaster is still very useful for the purpose that it's name describes - downloading files onto the Pre.

Preware uses the Package Manager Service developed by the WebOS Internals team to be able to securely install Advanced Homebrew. Any other open source installer application is welcome to use the same service to add this capability. We do not allow closed source installers to use the service, since we need to be able to do a security review of the installer source code to make sure it is doing things properly and not compromising the security of the Pre (we had a problem previously where the closed source MyTether application was using a proof-of-concept command line service incorrectly and introduced a huge security vulnerability as a result).

I believe that PreLoad currently uses the same installation technology as fileCoaster (and therefore cannot currently install Advanced Homebrew). However, since PreLoad is open source, it could easily be updated to use the new Package Manager Service. PreLoad already uses the standard package feeds from preware.org, so it already has access to all the homebrew applications that are available from all 4 originating sites (PreCentral, WebOS Internals, Canuck Software, PimpMyPre).

See Towards an open, interoperable homebrew ecosystem for the reason why we created Preware and the Package Manager Service.

-- Rod

[TMed_ATL]

Thanks for all you guys work on this. I like many others had "No Install room Error" and now i don't have to wait til I get home to try out all the new homebrew for the day thru webos quick install 2.1 or heven forbid decompliling the IPk and install via USB mode. No im good to go! If only we could pull out palms app catalog apps so that i could still install them... Im sure palm will have to figure out a fix for that anyways

[Xyg]

Will other webOS patches be made available though preware?

[rwhitby]

Originally Posted by Xyg

Will other webOS patches be made available though preware?

That will depend on the motivation and time available to skilled patch developers. Note that quite a few of the patches from the WebOS Internals wiki are available on the tweaks page of the WebOS Quick Install tool.

I'll personally be working towards a Preware 1.0.0 release and improving the metadata available on preware.org before focusing on any other patches myself, but that doesn't stop others.

Some of the other WebOS Internals devs have some good ideas for the next generation of patch management technology too ... ask PuffTheMagic and destinal for details in the IRC channel if you are interested.

-- Rod

[czarphanguye]

Preware is the best. Everyone needs this!

[Clipse]

great app. the community makes the pre so great.

[plee3ac]

I like the new ability of Preware to apply patches but I have a few questions:

1) Will patches installed by Preware coexist with patches applied using "quilt"?
2) Does Preware patching handle collisions changes to the same file like quilt?
3) Will Preware keep a history of applied patches to allow proper removal of patches?

Thanks... plee3

[ldudiaz]

it would be very helpful to see the description of an app before installation, the same way that homebre apps has it that way we know what we are instaling

Is that in your future plans?

[rwhitby]

Originally Posted by plee3

I like the new ability of Preware to apply patches but I have a few questions:

1) Will patches installed by Preware coexist with patches applied using "quilt"?
2) Does Preware patching handle collisions changes to the same file like quilt?
3) Will Preware keep a history of applied patches to allow proper removal of patches?

Thanks... plee3

1) Yes, as long as they do not conflict with patches to the same files.

2) Yes, the Virtual Keyboard patch will not apply if any other modifications have been done to the same files. It does md5sum checks on the files before it patches them.

3) Using Preware to uninstall the Virtual Keyboard package properly reverses the patch.

Note that some members of the WebOS Internals development team have ideas for the next generation of patch management to deal with file-level conflicts. Ask in the IRC channel for details.

-- Rod

[rwhitby]

Originally Posted by ldudiaz

it would be very helpful to see the description of an app before installation, the same way that homebre apps has it that way we know what we are instaling

Is that in your future plans?

Yes, we are waiting for that information to be supplied by the originating sites to the open standard package feed. PreCentral expects that to be done this coming week.

See Application talk:Preware - WebOS Internals for more details about the future plans.

In general, we focus on getting the underlying functionality of installing advanced homebrew applications correct before implementing the niceties of how to display the information that allows you to make a decision about which application you should install. But descriptions and other information like that will be in before the 1.0.0 release.

-- Rod

[jersey221]

i downloaded it and right now it's making my phone kinda slow but i think it might just be because it just got downloaded so i'll leave it on for a little if i want it off i just do the orange key and delete right? or a different way?

[rwhitby]

Originally Posted by jersey221

i downloaded it and right now it's making my phone kinda slow but i think it might just be because it just got downloaded so i'll leave it on for a little if i want it off i just do the orange key and delete right? or a different way?

Follow the removal instructions here:

Application:Preware - WebOS Internals

-- Rod

[texasjack]

Does it work on the emulator because after installing the preware its stuck on loading and i'm afraid it might do the same on my pre. just being careful!

[mikachu]

So Recently I just installed Virtual Keyboard by following these instructions:

\/\/\/\/\/\/.precentral.net/screen-virtual-keyboard-go-mere-mortals
And yes they keyboard works good.

Because of those instructions I found out about Preware. In preware, I had just noticed that there was an app to install mytether. Now I from what I remember filecoaster could not install it because of root requirements. Now I know Preware is more advanced and maybe it will work.

Well, I hit install and accept the Warning. Its installed. I dont see an Icon to run mytether on the pre. I know its installed because preware says to uninstall it when i go to Install my tether page.

[rwhitby]

Originally Posted by texasjack

Does it work on the emulator because after installing the preware its stuck on loading and i'm afraid it might do the same on my pre. just being careful!

Yes, follow exactly the same installation instructions for the emulator. If you follow them correctly, it will work fine.

I personally don't own a Pre, so all my development and testing is done with the emulator. That's one reason why all WebOS Internals applications work perfectly on both the Pre and the Emulator

-- Rod