ZPAQ GUI

[thometal]

ZPAQ GUI

is another GUI for ZPAQ, the alpha version is only available for win/linux/mac

- req: java 1.7
- first steps: download zpaq and insert path of exec into preferences dialog to enable all functionality.
- hint: opening archives with many files will go faster if console is closed.

- iam grateful for every tiny bug report or criticism

https://github.com/thometal/zpaqgui

Releaes & Binaries:
https://github.com/thometal/zpaqgui/releases

[lunaris]

ZPAQ GUI

is another GUI for ZPAQ, the alpha version is only available for win/linux 64Bit. The Link will be disabled after some time.

- req: java 1.7
- first steps: download zpaq and insert path of exec into preferences dialog to enable all functionality.
- hint: opening archives with many files will go faster if console is closed.

- iam grateful for every tiny bug report or criticism

win 64: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z03xgnsx66...n32.x86_64.zip

lin 64: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z9qnp8ss6g...gtk.x86_64.zip

I think programming languages must write apps directly using gui and abandon console text. It will eliminate entirely the flawed separation in backend and frontend.

[nburns]

I think programming languages must write apps directly using gui and abandon console text. It will eliminate entirely the flawed separation in backend and frontend.

I think you'd have to do it the other way around. If you eliminate the separation between frontend and backend, then you can eliminate the console.

[lunaris]

I think you'd have to do it the other way around. If you eliminate the separation between frontend and backend, then you can eliminate the console.

I think console is a very ancient thing.Of course ,GUIs uses more memory and more bugs,but GUIs are much better to use and understand.And remove the need of frontend-backend development.

[nburns]

I think console is a very ancient thing.Of course ,GUIs uses more memory and more bugs,but GUIs are much better to use and understand.And remove the need of frontend-backend development.

In zpaq, the backend already exists, so you might as well take advantage and just add a GUI. It's faster and easier to create a CLI and it's more flexible than a GUI, so it's the natural kind of interface to create for a cutting-edge tool like zpaq.

[Piotr Tarsa]

CLI is a must. Writing shell scripts is much faster than clicking all day.

[Matt Mahoney]

I tried the Linux version in Ubuntu. I have 32 bit Windows so I couldn't test the Windows version. To run in Linux I had to install Java, which was not hard after a little bit of Google searching led me to http://www.webupd8.org/2012/09/insta...u-via-ppa.html

It was not immediately obvious how to do things but after a bit of playing around I figured out how to create archives, open existing archives, add and extract files and test the archive. There are a lot of options which might be confusing to someone unfamiliar with the command line version but were pretty obvious to me. Probably the best thing would be a help screen that explains what the program is supposed to do. Concepts like versioning are probably unfamilar to someone used to zip, 7zip, rar, etc.

I was getting console errors like this when I was resizing the window but it didn't seem to stop the program from working:

(de.tt.zpaqgui:3598): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 15270 was not found when attempting to remove it

(de.tt.zpaqgui:3598): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 15325 was not found when attempting to remove it

(de.tt.zpaqgui:3598): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 15454 was not found when attempting to remove it

Not all of the features are available through the GUI, like compare, purge, and encrypt. But that's probably OK because a GUI is supposed to make the program easier to use. My inclination would be to have a GUI similar to zip, or that looked like a folder that you could navigate in the usual way without the user being aware that the files are compressed. You could drag files in or out and it would automatically add or extract them. One difference from zip is that the old versions would still be available. To support the full functionality I would need to add commands to zpaq to move or rename files and folders and change their attributes.

But I agree you need a command line version. I run backups from a script and you can't do that with a GUI.

Anyway, thanks for working on this. When it's ready for release I'll add a link on the zpaq home page.

[thometal]

I tried the Linux version in Ubuntu. I have 32 bit Windows so I couldn't test the Windows version. To run in Linux I had to install Java, which was not hard after a little bit of Google searching led me to http://www.webupd8.org/2012/09/insta...u-via-ppa.html

It was not immediately obvious how to do things but after a bit of playing around I figured out how to create archives, open existing archives, add and extract files and test the archive. There are a lot of options which might be confusing to someone unfamiliar with the command line version but were pretty obvious to me. Probably the best thing would be a help screen that explains what the program is supposed to do. Concepts like versioning are probably unfamilar to someone used to zip, 7zip, rar, etc.

I was getting console errors like this when I was resizing the window but it didn't seem to stop the program from working:

(de.tt.zpaqgui:3598): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 15270 was not found when attempting to remove it

(de.tt.zpaqgui:3598): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 15325 was not found when attempting to remove it

(de.tt.zpaqgui:3598): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 15454 was not found when attempting to remove it

Not all of the features are available through the GUI, like compare, purge, and encrypt. But that's probably OK because a GUI is supposed to make the program easier to use. My inclination would be to have a GUI similar to zip, or that looked like a folder that you could navigate in the usual way without the user being aware that the files are compressed. You could drag files in or out and it would automatically add or extract them. One difference from zip is that the old versions would still be available. To support the full functionality I would need to add commands to zpaq to move or rename files and folders and change their attributes.

But I agree you need a command line version. I run backups from a script and you can't do that with a GUI.

Anyway, thanks for working on this. When it's ready for release I'll add a link on the zpaq home page.

thank you for your feedback

openjdk should also work, i think it isnt necessary to install sun/oracle java

the error looks like an swt error i had this to under linux mint 64bit too, but iam not aware of any drawbacks.

In the future i will propably add d&d, more easier archive navigation, auto update zpaq and more

[lunaris]

CLI is a must. Writing shell scripts is much faster than clicking all day.

With GUI ,you can do both things.Gui is not limited to strings and 32 colors. I know CLI is a bit faster ,but we have more powerful computers to run powerful softwares. CLI should be abandoned.Is very 1970 thing using monchromatic monitors.CLI creates a backend-frontend concept because the developers don t want to abandon CLI.

The communication between backend-frontend is horrible and gives a lot of bugs.If possible the developer must use libzpaq.dll and JNI instead zpaq.exe.

[Matt Mahoney]

Ideally, backup and compression should be invisible. It should happen automatically every time you create or update any data. In fact, the user should not even have to think about files and folders or where their data is stored, much less compressing it.

zpaq and other archivers are tools for sysadmins and developers. They should be able to read documentation, write scripts, and be comfortable with a command line interface.

[lunaris]

Ideally, backup and compression should be invisible. It should happen automatically every time you create or update any data. In fact, the user should not even have to think about files and folders or where their data is stored, much less compressing it.

zpaq and other archivers are tools for sysadmins and developers. They should be able to read documentation, write scripts, and be comfortable with a command line interface.

I think we should remove the idea of "developer only use CLI" .GUI is not anti-development.The colors and extra symbols used on GUIs helps find bugs and use the software in a better way.

[thometal]

The communication between backend-frontend is horrible and gives a lot of bugs.If possible the developer must use libzpaq.dll and JNI instead zpaq.exe.

Can you please give for every bug an example.

Jni isnt that what i want because i need to recompile the zpaq.CPP etc. Also i dont see an benefit from using jni.

[lunaris]

Can you please give for every bug an example.

Jni isnt that what i want because i need to recompile the zpaq.CPP etc. Also i dont see an benefit from using jni.

Sometimes the backend gives an error ,but the frontend don t get the error.Or the output of frontend is completely confusing.

[nburns]

Sometimes the backend gives an error ,but the frontend don t get the error.Or the output of frontend is completely confusing.

I think you may be attributing the problems to the wrong cause. Changing the high-level architecture usually isn't necessary to fix those sorts of things.

[lunaris]

I think you may be attributing the problems to the wrong cause. Changing the high-level architecture usually isn't necessary to fix those sorts of things.

Yes I know.We can fix these problems using different solutions.But I still think CLI is unnecessary these days.Software development is very attached to input/output of plain text.We need create software which interacts well using gui,which is not limited only to plain text.

[nburns]

Yes I know.We can fix these problems using different solutions.But I still think CLI is unnecessary these days.Software development is very attached to input/output of plain text.We need create software which interacts well using gui,which is not limited only to plain text.

I'm saying that changing the architecture shouldn't be necessary to make a decent GUI for zpaq. There are good reasons for leaving this architecture in place. What's needed is to smooth out the rough spots in the interaction between the GUI and the zpaq process.

[lunaris]

I'm saying that changing the architecture shouldn't be necessary to make a decent GUI for zpaq. There are good reasons for leaving this architecture in place. What's needed is to smooth out the rough spots in the interaction between the GUI and the zpaq process.

I think CLI exists because the programming languages are text based and there's no a standard for GUIs to all programming languages follow.

Byuu created a layer for use any GUI Toolkit .

http://byuu.org/programming/phoenix/

[thometal]

updated zpaqgui for zpaq 7.0

and open sourced zpaqgui

https://github.com/thometal/zpaqgui

[Matt Mahoney]

Thanks. I added a link on my zpaq webpage.

[thometal]

Thanks. I added a link on my zpaq webpage.

Sry i had to recreate the repository the link is now:

https://github.com/thometal/zpaqgui

[thometal]

updated first post

released compiled version 0.0.1

more updates expect to come soon

[Gonzalo]

Illegal zpaq version?



The exe is this:

D:\Descargas\Software\zpaqgui-win32.win32.x86\zpaqgui>zpaq
zpaq v7.06h journaling archiver, compiled Mar 12 2016
zpaq archiver for incremental backups with rollback capability.
http://mattmahoney.net/zpaq

[thometal]

Illegal zpaq version?



The exe is this:

D:\Descargas\Software\zpaqgui-win32.win32.x86\zpaqgui>zpaq
zpaq v7.06h journaling archiver, compiled Mar 12 2016
zpaq archiver for incremental backups with rollback capability.
http://mattmahoney.net/zpaq

thank you for this bugreport i will fix this tomorrow and update this thread with an executable

[Matt Mahoney]

There is a new version 7.07 to fix a bug in creating new encrypted multi-part archives.

[thometal]

thank you for this bugreport i will fix this tomorrow and update this thread with an executable

Here a fixed(I hope it works, I didnt tested by myself) win32 version: Other versions, updating the github repository do I release after further programming and bugfixing.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/....win32.x86.zip

There is a new version 7.07 to fix a bug in creating new encrypted multi-part archives.

Thank you but I will not include zpaq executables for now, because I have to build zpaq by myself which may result in a not good executable for all users, also I want to be independent from your releases. But I have a plan to implement a zpaq update check for every start.

[Gonzalo]

Ok, thanks

Now:
1) Last bug fixed. Now zpaq is recognized.
2) Files listed on the left side doesn't open on double click.
3) About non-Unicode names:

---A) Filesystem browser displays them ok.
---B) Archive browser doesn't.
---C) It also affect extraction. Non-Unicode paths are not extracted, nor error shown.

[thometal]

Ok, thanks

Now:
1) Last bug fixed. Now zpaq is recognized.
2) Files listed on the left side doesn't open on double click.
3) About non-Unicode names:

---A) Filesystem browser displays them ok.
---B) Archive browser doesn't.
---C) It also affect extraction. Non-Unicode paths are not extracted, nor error shown.

THX I will look into.

[thometal]

@Gonzalo

The unicode bug could be a bug in the jvm, which java version do you have?

[Gonzalo]

@Gonzalo

The unicode bug could be a bug in the jvm, which java version do you have?

8.73. Is up to date:



It can be Windows fault too. My system is already in Spanish but I have difficulties with console programs all the time.

Maybe another user can confirm this as a bug or not

[nikkho]

I like the console, it gives you power and tight resource usage. If you want to make it easy, you can add a frontend for confort.