Portable Linux binary: Decompress .run or compile from source?

Posts: 3 · Nagai-san 9 May 2021, 08:08

Hello everyone!

I've been using FreeFileSync for a bit over a year now and really love the app. I'm using it to sync my work pc (Linux) with my home pc (Windows) and it works really well.

Up until recently, I could put the files of the program to a specific folder on my Linux machine essentially making my install of FreeFileSync portable. Unfortunately, as of 11.8 only the .run installer is provided, so I can't really update my FreeFileSync on the Linux pc.

Is there any way to decompress the .run file and just install the files to the path I want? If not, is there any guide to compile from source?

Alternatively, would the developers consider also providing the old .tar.gz archive with just the files instead of an installer script?

Posts: 7212 · Zenju 9 May 2021, 11:32

What's the problem with running the .run installer?

Posts: 309 · bgstack15 9 May 2021, 23:21

The .run (as of 11.6 was the last time I checked) can be decompressed with 7z or 7za and you can place the files where you want.

Posts: 3 · Nagai-san 10 May 2021, 09:58

@Zenju: I prefer to specify where apps are installed myself; this keeps my system cleaner and easier to maintenance.

@bgstack15: I was not aware you could just use 7z for this. I will give it a try and report back. If it does indeed work, consider this thread as resolved!

Posts: 1 · prueba_hola 11 May 2021, 16:42

i'm agree with @Nagai-san
i prefer the old .tar.gz instead the .run

Posts: 7212 · Zenju 11 May 2021, 18:57

Extracting manually instead of using the installer is probably okay for an FFS update. But for first-time users it's a significant functional downgrade because file-associations won't have been registered.

Posts: 309 · bgstack15 12 May 2021, 03:00

I agree with Zenju. For users who just want FreeFileSync to work, the installer is ideal. For power users who want to do things manually, it's all available to them.

Posts: 3 · Nagai-san 17 May 2021, 09:30

Decompressing with 7z worked, but it is a bit of a hassle. Still, since it works I'm ok with it; but could you maybe document the process somewhere? I essentially had to call 7z 3 times to get the binaries extracted from the package. Is there a better way to do this?

Posts: 1 · linuxlore 19 Jun 2021, 23:23

Very glad I did another search when I was notified of the 11.11 update and found this. I have to admit that I'd stuck on 11.5 because I wasn't happy with the .run installer. It is an installer format I tend to avoid having been stung in the past. It is easy and works great if done properly, but I tend to recommend not using it because you have no idea what it is doing, what it will put where and if there's an uninstall option. It looks as though this one is pretty good, but I only know that now that I have found that 7zip will extract it for me to look inside.

Now I know how to do it I'm happy to continue that way, but adding the option to add --extract-only to the installer and just get the files extracted would give both options and hopefully not increase the download by too much.