Linux AppImage Betas

[DiapDealer]

We're finally at a point where we're going to offer some beta versions of Sigil and PageEdit as AppImages for Linux.

These are targeting Ubuntu Jammy 22.04 and later (the oldest still supported Ubuntu LTS after May 31st 2025). Most linux OSes with a glibc of 2.35 or higher have a good shot of being able to run these. Running ldd --version at a terminal should tell you your glibc version. I've run them on out of-the box Jammy installations and Fedora 36 with no trouble (as well as newer distros).

Some warnings:
These AppImages will share any existing Sigil preferences you already have. So if you're not already running version 2+ of Sigil, you'll want to make sure to have good backups of your preferences as the newer Sigil will update your preferences to a point where they won't be usable by pre-2.0 versions of Sigil any more.

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You need to download these, check their file properties and make sure they're executable (make them so if they are not). Then you should be able double-click them to launch them. You can also launch them from a terminal.

The Sigil AppImage has a complete bundled Python plugin environment built into it that should pass all of our testplugin tests right out of the box. If you don't have Sigil installed already, it will be enabled by default. Otherwise, open the Plugin Manager and check the "Use Bundled Python Interpreter" box (or don't; the AppImage should be able to make use of a properly configured external Python environment as well).

Enough talking! The beta AppImages can be downloaded from my personal GitHub (don't worry about the name of the repo, it's meaningless): https://github.com/dougmassay/win-qt...s/tag/v5.212-1

Look for the Sigil-2.4.900-x86_64.AppImage and PageEdit-2.4.900-x86_64.AppImage assets.

[KevinH]

And fwiw, DiapDealer has really worked hard to create these and get them to the release point.

And I am so very happy we will finally have a version of Sigil and PageEdit for almost any Linux that is fully configured with all the required python version and modules, has our Qt patches in place, is fully under our control, and is the exact equal to the releases we make for MacOS and Windows!

[PeterT]

Seems to be working on my chromebook under the Linux environment.

Where could I find icons to add to the .desktop files for both sigil andd pageedit?

[DiapDealer]

The icons for the embedded .desktop file already exist within the AppImage. If you're asking another question, then I'm not sure what it is. These AppImages are currently standalone betas. The are not yet ready to incorporate into anything like appImaged or appimagelauncher.

[PeterT]

No. I was asking about the icon displayed within the desktop launcher for lack of a better term. Let me experiment a bit more

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by PeterT

No. I was asking about the icon displayed within the desktop launcher for lack of a better term. Let me experiment a bit more

I extracted these from the Windows .exes.

BR

[PeterT]

I found the svg's when I looked at the appimages mounted on /tmp.

Under ChromeOS if I want an app to show in the standard launcher bar, I need to create a corresponding .desktop file and install it using desktop-file-install. If I do not specify an icon there I get a default penguin face icon displayed, so if possible I try to override it.

[DiapDealer]

Oh, gotcha. All of the various icons are also available from Sigil's source code. They should be downloadable from GitHub.

https://github.com/Sigil-Ebook/Sigil.../app_icons_alt

https://github.com/Sigil-Ebook/PageE...e/master/icons

[philja]

DoubleDealingDiap!!! After inciting me yesterday to make a fresh build of Sigil from Master on Github, here is an Appimage which just works by download and double-click.!!

I downloaded both Sigil and PageEdit Appimages and they run fine on my UbuntuStudio24.04.2LTS box.

Sigil looks identical to the build I made yesterday from Master. In brief testing I can't see any difference between the Appimage and the regular build of Sigil.

I'd been meaning for some time to have a look at PageEdit but I've never really felt an urgent requirement. I'm generally happy working in Sigil's Code view or if I need an HTML editor, there's always Bluefish Editor.

I've parked both Appimages rather untidily on my Desktop for the moment and I've managed to open PageEdit by right-click on the xhtml file in Book Browser and selecting Open With --> PageEdit.

I'll look closer at what I might want to do with PageEdit a bit later.

[DiapDealer]

Thanks for checking it out! Also note that you can actually set Sigil (AppImage Sigil included)'s external xHTML editor to the PageEdit AppImage using Sigil's prefs. That way, the entire epub's xhtml is opened in PageEdit (not just the single xHTML file).

[philja]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Thanks for checking it out! Also note that you can actually set Sigil (AppImage Sigil included)'s external xHTML editor to the PageEdit AppImage using Sigil's prefs. That way, the entire epub's xhtml is opened in PageEdit (not just the single xHTML file).

I'd already made that entry in Prefs but couldn't find where, in Sigil's interface, to call the external editor despite searching all the menus. I'd expected to see it under the menu list for 'Tools'.

I eventually found the 'X' icon after noting that there was an External Editor Toolbar. I very rarely use any icon so lots of Toolbars were not selected for viewing. I prefer drop-down menus.

It'll take me a while to sort out how (and if) to use PageEdit.

[KevinH]

FWIW, The interface to PageEdit was designed to emulate the "one click on the icon" just how the old BookView was launched.

[DiapDealer]

I'm very curious about the environments and OSes that people are testing this on. I know that @philja using Ubuntu 24.04, but I'm curious about the desktop environment, and whether or not the AppImages are matching your system theme?

@PeterT I'm not familiar with Chromebook's Linux environment at all. I'm happy that the AppImages appear to work (I had no idea it might be possible), but could you give some detail on what type of Linux environment is being provided?

For anybody else that might be testing, I'd love to hear which versions of OSes its working on; as well as one it might not be (provided the glibc 2.35 minimum is met).

Thanks!

[philja]

Originally Posted by KevinH

FWIW, The interface to PageEdit was designed to emulate the "one click on the icon" just how the old BookView was launched.

That's completely the right attitude. Keep what works and what the users are accustomed to.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer;

I'm very curious about the environments and OSes that people are testing this on. I know that @philja using Ubuntu 24.04, but I'm curious about the desktop environment, and whether or not the AppImages are matching your system theme?

I use KDE Plasma because that's what the devs decided to change to around 3 or 4 years ago. Previously, I had been accustomed to XFCE and had to survive a new learning curve but now it works quite well.

Attached is a clip from my desktop where the 2 Appimages are parked for the moment so you can see how the images appear. The background is a blue jpg I use for the desktop. It's about the only customisation I do and it is on my machines and my phone - none of the fancy wallpaper. It's a nostalgic reminder of the old Windows BSOD. And I don't do dark mode if I can help it.

When running, the 2 apps appear just like any other application so it looks like they follow the system settings ok.

[PeterT]

The Linux environment provided on the Chromebook is debian bookworm running in a virtualized environment.

One is limited in access to USB devices; storage types are mapped to a 9p based model mounted on /mnt/chromeos/removable .

About the only change I made (and this was to simplify running calibre) was to add QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb to the default environment. Trying sigil without this set resulted in Sigil still launching but producing a warning message 'Could not find the Qt platform plugin "Wayland" in ""'.