Portable Install of novelWriter

[Xav-Go]

Hello! I am a relatively new user of novelWriter, though I found it a bit confusing initially. I've grown to really love it for its simplicity, yet feature-richness without feeling bloated or complicated like some other popular alternatives.

I was wondering if it was possible to have a "portable" version of the app where it runs from a single folder that is usable on a portable storage device (including saved projects) and can be easily moved between computers? I'm asking in regards of Windows and maybe Linux too.

Unless this is already doable just by taking the install directory, saving your projects there, and moving it onto a USB. If so, please disregard this suggestion.

Thank you for your time!

[vkbo]

Linux already has this with the AppImage. For Windows, you should be able to just copy the installed novelWriter folder in C:\Program Files. Python and all dependencies are bundled there, and since version 2.7 there is a novelWriter.exe file you can just double click to launch.

In both cases the app will leave a config file locally on each computer though. It is saved in your user directory, so it doesn't port with the application. Neither do any custom spell check dictionaries aside from US and UK English on Windows. On Linux, spell check dictionaries are loaded from the OS.

[Xav-Go]

Thank you for the response!

Having a project folder inside the installation folder itself won't cause any issues, would it?

Although I don't use a Mac, I'll ask in case any Mac users see this discussion, how would one make the app portable for Mac?

[vkbo]

Having a project folder inside the installation folder itself won't cause any issues, would it?

No, not really, but it's a bit messy I think.

It's possible to build a single Windows executable for novelWriter using pyinstaller, but it isn't done officially since the tools to do so are the same used for a lot of malware, so low quality virus scanners tend to go bonkers about them. I gave that up a while back.

If you download the source code, you should be able to build it with:

python pkgUtils.py build-bin

This should produce a complete standalone novelwriter.exe on Windows. However, since it is no longer released officially, it may or may not work. I'm happy to fix any issues if not.

Although I don't use a Mac, I'll ask in case any Mac users see this discussion, how would one make the app portable for Mac?

I don't use Mac either. The Mac release scripts are maintained by a contributor. The Mac release is a DMG image, and I'm not sure if they are portable. But the above standalone build command should work on Linux and Mac as well.

[Xav-Go]

Upon testing, moving the installation folder elsewhere causes the novelWriter.exe to just not open at all. Not sure if that's supposed to happen, an app issue, or an issue on my end, but it might be something interesting for you to know.

I'm not knowledgable with how to use pyinstaller at the moment (I'm an ameteur programmer who only knows basic C and Java), but I'll try to figure it out and report the results later!

Edit: So I've figured out how to use pyinstaller. Though the compiled exe doesn't launch either. Running the command on the source code from the Github creates a dist_bin folder, which has the .exe and a folder called _internal with it.

[vkbo]

Upon testing, moving the installation folder elsewhere causes the novelWriter.exe to just not open at all. Not sure if that's supposed to happen, an app issue, or an issue on my end, but it might be something interesting for you to know.

Hmm, can you check staring it from the command line? I thought I made it figure out its own path before exec, but maybe I remember wrong. I'm pretty sure I've tested this.

I'm not knowledgable with how to use pyinstaller at the moment (I'm an ameteur programmer who only knows basic C and Java), but I'll try to figure it out and report the results later!

Edit: So I've figured out how to use pyinstaller. Though the compiled exe doesn't launch either. Running the command on the source code from the Github creates a dist_bin folder, which has the .exe and a folder called _internal with it.

The helper script in the source code should run pyinstaller for you. It has a lot of options. Testing it now I see that the dependencies are not installed automatically. You must create a virtual env and run pip install -r requirements.txt first, then it will include them and the app will be able to start. If you change the setting --onedir to --onefile in utils/build_binary.py as well, it will generate a single novelwriter.exe without the _internal folder.

I can make those two changes to the command later tonight.