Add an `install.sh` for easy install

[Stefterv]

Relevant sub-area for this feature?

PDE

Feature details

Feature description

We are about to add a nix distribution and FlatHub distribution to Processing, making installation on Linux a little bit more complicated. To solve this it would be helpful to create an install.sh script that will scan the system for the best installation method and then continue with installing Processing in that chosen way.
Would be cool if an override method could also be selected.

Benefits

This will greatly simplify how Processing is installed on Linux, simplifying the command to curl https://processing.org/install.sh | sh

Challenges

• Creating a maintainable script and linking to it from the website might be a challenge.
• Detecting the proper installation methods is hard to test

Additional context

Idea: @catilac

Would you like to help implement this feature?

No, I’m just suggesting the feature

[MAVRICK-1]

@catilac can i work on this ?

[catilac]

@MAVRICK-1 you're welcome to propose a solution!

[SalmaneKhalili]

@catilac HI, thanks for recommending this!

So please correct me if I'm wrong, the general flow here would be to parse the command, check for override, if yes apply specified method, if not, check path for existing package managers, suggest to user the package manager (based on a decision tree). If yes, echo out the correct installation command.
Case that stands out: the path parsed doesn't have one of the package managers in our decision tree. In that case, what should we do? Suggest snap installation? Use a tarball instead ?? How is that going to be? Is it hosted on the website, or we fetch from somewhere else?

[SalmaneKhalili]

Alright, so ive made the bash script (Discord for screenshots), and now i think the next step is to expose a /GET endpoint for the users, that should be done in process-website, not this repo, is that correct? any assistance/guidance would be appreciated. @catilac @Stefterv

[SableRaf]

Hi @SalmaneKhalili and thanks for the update. Could you please share the screenshots here?

[SalmaneKhalili]

This one was for my own system which had flathubt and snap available, i did run an additional arch container with docker for testing, if my code detects AUR properly, and it worked out pretty well.

#!/bin/bash

set -euo pipefail
trap 'cleanup' EXIT


# Global variables
METHOD=""                     # user-requested method (snap|flatpak|aur|tarball)
DRY_RUN=false
TEMP_DIR=""
SCRIPT_NAME="$(basename "$0")"


# Helper functions
usage() {
    cat <<EOF
Usage: $SCRIPT_NAME [options]

Options:
  --method snap|flatpak|aur|tarball   Force a specific installation method
  --dry-run                           Show actions without executing
  --help                              Show this help message
EOF
    exit 0
}

error() {
    echo "Error: $*" >&2
    exit 1
}

confirm() {
    # Prompt user for yes/no, default yes
    local prompt="$1"
    local response
    read -r -p "$prompt [Y/n] " response || true
    case "$response" in
        [nN][oO]|[nN]) return 1 ;;
        *) return 0 ;;
    esac
}

run() {
    if [ "$DRY_RUN" = true ]; then
        echo "[DRY RUN] $*"
    else
        "$@"
    fi
}

command_exists() {
    command -v "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1
}

cleanup() {
    if [ -n "$TEMP_DIR" ] && [ -d "$TEMP_DIR" ]; then
        rm -rf "$TEMP_DIR"
    fi
}


# Installation method functions

install_snap() {
    echo "Installing Processing via Snap..."
    if confirm "This will run 'sudo snap install processing --classic'. Continue?"; then
        run sudo snap install processing --classic
        echo "Snap installation complete."
    else
        echo "Aborted."
    fi
}

install_flatpak() {
    echo "Installing Processing via Flatpak..."
    if confirm "This will run 'flatpak install flathub org.processing.processingide'. Continue?"; then
        run flatpak install flathub org.processing.processingide
        echo "Flatpak installation complete."
    else
        echo "Aborted."
    fi
}

install_aur() {
    echo "Installing Processing from AUR..."

    local helper=""
    if command_exists yay; then
        helper="yay"
    elif command_exists paru; then
        helper="paru"
    fi

    if [ -n "$helper" ]; then
        if confirm "This will run '$helper -S processing'. Continue?"; then
            run "$helper" -S processing
            echo "AUR installation complete."
        else
            echo "Aborted."
        fi
    else
        echo "No AUR helper found. Install manually from AUR:"
        echo "  git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/processing.git"
        echo "  cd processing && makepkg -si"
    fi
}

install_tarball() {
    echo "Installing Processing via direct download..."
    echo "This feature is coming soon! For now, you can manually download from:"
    echo "  https://processing.org/download/"
}

# Distribution detection helpers

is_arch_based() {
    if [ -f /etc/arch-release ]; then
        return 0
    fi

    if [ -f /etc/os-release ]; then
        . /etc/os-release
        case "${ID:-}" in
            arch|manjaro|endeavouros) return 0 ;;
        esac
    fi

    return 1
}

has_flathub() {
    command_exists flatpak || return 1
    flatpak remote-list 2>/dev/null | grep -q flathub
}


# Main

TEMP_DIR="$(mktemp -d)"

# Parse command-line arguments
while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
    case "$1" in
        --method)
            [ $# -ge 2 ] || error "--method requires an argument"
            METHOD="$2"
            shift 2
            ;;
        --dry-run)
            DRY_RUN=true
            shift
            ;;
        --help)
            usage
            ;;
        *)
            error "Unknown option: $1"
            ;;
    esac
done

# If override method is provided, use it directly
if [ -n "$METHOD" ]; then
    case "$METHOD" in
        snap)     install_snap ;;
        flatpak)  install_flatpak ;;
        aur)      install_aur ;;
        tarball)  install_tarball ;;
        *)        error "Invalid method: $METHOD. Use snap, flatpak, aur, or tarball." ;;
    esac
    exit 0
fi


# Auto-detection

echo "Detecting best installation method for your system..."

if command_exists snap; then
    echo "Snap is available (official package)."
    if confirm "Install Processing via Snap?"; then
        install_snap
        exit 0
    fi
fi

if has_flathub; then
    echo "Flatpak (Flathub) is available."
    if confirm "Install Processing via Flatpak?"; then
        install_flatpak
        exit 0
    fi
fi

if is_arch_based; then
    echo "Arch-based distribution detected."

    if command_exists yay || command_exists paru; then
        if confirm "Install Processing from AUR?"; then
            install_aur
            exit 0
        fi
    else
        echo "No AUR helper found. You can install manually from AUR:"
        echo "  git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/processing.git"
        echo "  cd processing && makepkg -si"
        exit 0
    fi
fi

# Fallback
echo "No suitable package manager found. Falling back to direct download."
install_tarball
exit 0

[Stefterv]

Soon we'll also have the .deb

[AbhishekTiwari9926]

Hi! I’m new here and have been reading through the discussion and the proposed script to better understand the installation flow.

Since .deb support is planned, I was curious for Debian-based systems, would it make sense to prefer the native .deb/apt installation over snap or flatpak once it’s available? It feels like that might align better with the distro’s default package management.
I’d be happy to help test or experiment with the detection logic if that would be helpful. Thanks

[Stefterv]

The preference for snap or flathub would be that these methods are auto-updating

[Stefterv]

Just realised it would be good to also add nix NixOS/nixpkgs#466611 and NixOS/nixpkgs#441815 @SalmaneKhalili

[SalmaneKhalili]

Will be right on it!