README.install

INSTALLING MFP FROM BUILT BINARIES
=========================================

If you want to quickly install MFP without building it yourself,
and you happen to be using Linux on the x86_64 architecture,
you are in luck.

You will need to have Python 3.10 or higher available. If that's
not your system Python, you will need to install a newer version
somewhere (it doesn't have to be the system Python) and then use
the new version to run the installer.

You will also need to have the Python "venv" package available.
It's part of the standard Python library, but some distributions
(like Debian/Ubuntu) package it separately.

* Unpack the tar distribution file, doesn't matter where you are:

    tar zxf mfp_${version}_x86_64.tar.gz

* Decide if you want to install Python dependencies system-wide
  or in a virtual environment. I strongly recommend the virtual
  environment. It will have no impact on you as a user but could
  save significant pain.

* Find a nice prefix location for the install. Everything that
  MFP needs will be installed under the prefix:

  * The MFP launcher in ${PREFIX}/bin/mfp
  * A C shared library in ${PREFIX}/lib/
  * Basically everything else under ${PREFIX}/share/mfp/

  It's OK to use a shared prefix like /opt or /usr/local, and
  also OK to use an app-specific one like /opt/mfp. The launcher
  will take care of setting up library search paths and such.

* Run the installer:

    cd mfp_${version}/
    python install_mfp.py --virtualenv --prefix=/my/prefix/

The installer will print a summary of what it is going to do
and ask for confirmation before actually doing it.

* Install the .desktop file

A .desktop file is installed to
${PREFIX}/share/mfp/com.billgribble.mfp.desktop. You will need to
copy it to wherever such things go on your system.

The icon path in the .desktop file is what I needed to get icons
working on my Gnome system. You may need to change it. If you
need to do something manual, the actual icon images are installed
under ${PREFIX}/share/mfp/icons/hicolor/.

For what it's worth, on my system the desktop file should be
~/.local/share/applications/com.billgribble.mfp.desktop