I had an enjoyable conversation with Kent Tenney yesterday on this topic. Here are some notes, with some additional thoughts.
tl;dr: Only one-step solutions would seem to be a real improvements. Possibilities include pip install and executable files that create VM's. I welcome any comments. Installation is really not my field. ===== Background Leo is already fairly easy to install, which makes significant improvements more challenging. Indeed, the short form of the installation guide is: A. Install Python. B. Install the version of Qt that matches the Python version. C. Install Leo using Leo's single-click installer, or using git clone. ===== One-step solutions To do *significantly* better than this would require a one-step solution. There are at least two possibilities: Option 1: a do-everything executable file. In essence, this file would be a VM (Virtual Machine) containing: A. Some version of Python. B. The matching version of Qt. C. All files installed by Leo's installer, including documentation, example files, and the entire installed contents of the leo-editor/leo folder. Yes, this will be a large .exe file, but that can't be helped. PortableApps <http://portableapps.com/>is a Windows only solution. Option 2: pip install leo-editor full The effect would presumably be similar to option 1. This would be more convenient for the user (assuming it can be done) *provided* the user already has pip installed. Otherwise this is a two-step solution. On Windows, installing pip is non-trivial. ===== Other Possibilities Kent mentioned the possibility of creating docker containers <https://www.docker.com/>. But this would require installing docker, unless I am missing something. Also, the docker subscription service costs $150/month. It may be possible to using a free hosting service, but I'm not sure about that. Similarly, VirtualBox <https://www.virtualbox.org/>can create, (if I understand correctly), self contained VM's. But like docker, VirtualBox must be installed by the user, making this a two-step solution. On the Mac, Leo could be delivered as a Homebrew formula (assuming we ever figure out how ;-), but again, Homebrew itself must be installed first. ===== Summary 1. The only true one-step solution is like to be an executable file containing a VM containing everything needed to run Leo. PortableApps is such, but is Windows only. 2. pip install (Linux and maybe Windows) and Homebrew formulas are *almost* one-step solutions in the sense that both pip and Homebrew are commonly installed. Edward -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "leo-editor" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to leo-editor+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to leo-editor@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/leo-editor. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
