How to run .pets that don't show in the Menu?

[Ironman5791]

Hello, the problem I am having is that some of my programs that I install don't have a menu entry and there is no application listed under my applications. It's not all my apps it's only some. I will install and I can't run it am I missing software, and if I am how can I see what I need?

An example would be iPerf I install the Pet file but I don't see it anywhere and I can't run it. Thank you all in advance.

[neerajkolte]

Hi Ironman5791,
for running applications that don't have menu entry, press Alt+F2 this will open up run command dialogue box, type in the application command and click on run.
You could also open a terminal and type command press enter to run.
This way is quite useful as in terminal you can see what goes on when application runs. This is used in debugging.
Hope that answers your query.

[Puppus Dogfellow]

you could do a search to locate it, then drag the icon to the desktop.

usr/share/applications contains most of what gets installed.
usr/local/apps, /bin, /usr/local/bin, and usr/bin may also be worth checking out.

[bigpup]

In the console try running fix menus and see if that makes anything show up in the menus.

Code: Select all

fixmenus

[Geoffrey]

The iPerf I downloaded don't have a menu entry, it's a cli app, it needs to be run in a terminal, run iperf --help in a terminal.

[slavvo67]

That used to aggravate me to no end.... Why would you take the time to put a package together and not include a menu entry? It still get under my skin! Of course, then I realized some applications are meant for terminal. Iperf is one of those terminal applications...

Anyway, locating where your application installed is not always easy or fun. It could be in usr/local, usr/bin, usr/sbin, usr/local/bin ... You can then open up a terminal window and type in the name of the "launch" file. iperf is in usr/bin/iperf so type iperf --help to get help from the terminal.

For items that are not terminal based, I recommend using a pet called Menumaker that helps you make a menu entry of an item that does not have one. Still, you need to know where that launch file is, first.


Slavvo67

[musher0]

Hi slavvo67.

This may just the aspirin you need: open rox at /usr/local/pfind and drag the pfind exec-
utable to your desktop. I click on that icon to find anything that doesn't have a menu entry.

Best regards.

musher0

[jafadmin]

At a console prompt type #which iperf

It will show you where it is located.

[slavvo67]

Hi Musher:

Thank you for the suggestion. Things can get frustrating at times, for sure. Overcoming these obstacles is part of the fun, for me anyway.

Pfind is a nice little search, for sure. Good old Sigmund with one of his hundred or so utilities! I NOTICED THERE IS A TIME SEARCH OPTION WHICH WOULD BE EXCELLENT IF SOMEONE JUST DOWNLOADED AND IS SEARCHING FOR FILES AND WHERE THEY INSTALLED. (In caps to correct myself from previously stating there was no time-search option).

When a pet installs and there is no menu entry, sometimes you don't know the name of that "key file" that will execute it through the terminal. Perfect example is that I had trouble recently with Libreoffice 4.2 menu entries. So, I tried executing in terminal with "Libre" and "Libreoffice" but neither worked. Through additional research, I found Libreoffice4.2 in the terminal worked. Of course, this is not necessarily just a Puppy issue but to memorize the version of Libre in order to run from terminal does not make my "user friendly" list.

For me, the answer was to use Don's right-click tools to open up the pet and see the files and where they install. Now, I just make my own menu entries but it was a frustrating learning curve. I see where others are having issues with this.

Kind regards,

Slavvo67

[MochiMoppel]

When a pet installs and there is no menu entry, sometimes you don't know the name of that "key file" that will execute it through the terminal

I think you missed the obvious: /root/.packages
This is the directory where a pet places a list of all its files it installed in your system. Look for a file <packagename>.files and click on it. Your text editor should open and you will see the complete file list. The files listed in /usr/bin, usr/sbin etc. are normally the ones to execute.

For me, the answer was to use Don's right-click tools to open up the pet and see the files and where they install.

Nice when you have a pet and need to know what's inside before installing it, useless when you install a pet via PPM, because it will be installed right away and there is no pet left on your system to peek into it.

[slavvo67]

Mochi Moppel:

Excellent points. I tend to forget the /root/.packages directory but that is a great spot to see where everything is. To enlighten others that might not know, it's a directory of text files where each text file represents one installed program. I note, some installed packages have blank text files (so again, not a perfect solution).

If you choose the text file which has the name of the application you are searching for, it will provide you with the location of where everything installed. For simplicity, I chose a small file p7zip:

/usr/
/usr/local/
/usr/local/bin/
/usr/local/bin/7z
/usr/local/lib/
/usr/local/lib/p7zip/
/usr/local/lib/p7zip/7z.so
/usr/local/lib/p7zip/7z
/usr/local/lib/p7zip/Codecs/
/usr/local/lib/p7zip/Codecs/Rar29.so

This shows the directories and sub-directories where the .pet installed its files. The below excerpt (from the above list) has the files of the program:

/usr/local/bin/7z
/usr/local/lib/p7zip/7z.so
/usr/local/lib/p7zip/7z
/usr/local/lib/p7zip/Codecs/Rar29.so

In this instance, 7z in /usr/local/bin would execute the file in terminal.


On another note, I always DL and save the pet prior to install (including the dependencies). This way, if it works I can use it again on another puppy without having to DL again. For someone new to the process, it might be better to just install the first time. You can always download the pet again, if needed.

Ironman:

I hope this helped. In my opinion, we had some of the smartest regulars help out on this one (excluding myself). There are obviously multiple ways to get where you want to be. Everyone, thanks for chiming in on this.