p7zip and runprogram

[pierre2]

Apologies for another RunProgram question. I am trying to use p7zip (executable name: 7za) via RunProgram.

Having navigated to the correct directory, the following works in Terminal:

7za a MyBackup *.pdf

(this copies and compresses all .pdf files in the directory, and saves them in an archive called MyBackup, in the same directory)

The following doesn't work, and I have tried dozens of permutations, including without the Chr(34)s, from the various posts in the forum on the subject.

Code: Select all

theSubDirs.s = "~/Documents/BusRecs testing/"
...
Case #PB_Event_Gadget
If EventGadget() = #theButton
  SetCurrentDirectory(theSubDirs)
  theApp.s = "7za a MyBackup *.pdf"

  If RunProgram("open", Chr(34) + theApp + Chr(34), "")
    MessageRequester("Test", "OK")
  Else
    MessageRequester("Test", "Problem")
  EndIf

EndIf

It says "OK", but does not create the archive.

Any help please ? Many thanks.

[Marc56us]

RunProgram <> 0 mean launching program OK (program or document exist) but does not mean all parameters OK

Some things to test:

Add #PB_Program_Wait to see console information (errors).

I think this is a path problem, I don't know if unix shell shortcut for home dir (~) can be use in a program ?
Try GetHomeDirectory() + "BusRecs testing/" instead

Add -bb3 (to 7zip parameters) to see log
"show information about additional operations (Analyze, Replicate) for "Add" / "Update" operations."

PS. I don't have a Mac. This may be helpfull ?
viewtopic.php?p=548226#p548226

[pierre2]

Thanks for your ideas, and for your time. I tried all of your suggestions, including all variations of the Mac post (except, it seems, the correct one !), e.g.

Code: Select all

theApp.s = "-a 7za --args " + Chr(34) + "a MyBackup *.pdf" + Chr(34)

- no luck yet ...

[pierre2]

Making progress with a combination of zip (rather than p7zip), a shell script, and of course PB. The p7zip version of the shell script works from the command line, but I can't get it working from RunProgram, so I am now using zip instead.

[deseven]

7za is not a default system utility, it's located in a directory that is not included in a default PATH, you can't call it without full path to it.
Zip is a default system utility, you can call it just fine by its name.
Oh, and you can't use ~ anywhere you want, RunProgram() (or SetCurrentDirectory()) is not a shell, it won't expand anything for you.

The correct way to do what you want:

Code: Select all

RunProgram("/usr/local/bin/7za","a MyBackup *.pdf","/path/to/my/cool/directory")

If you really need ~, expand it manually:

Code: Select all

RunProgram("/usr/local/bin/7za","a MyBackup *.pdf",GetEnvironmentVariable("HOME") + "/my/cool/directory")

But that's useless since PB's packer module fully supports both 7z and zip archives and can pack and unpack anything you want without using external tools. Look into UseLZMAPacker() and UseZipPacker().

[pierre2]

Stunning - thank you so much for your reply, which explains so much. I had no idea that PB had 7zip functionality built in. I have stashed your entire reply away in my file of "really useful stuff".

[Piero]

If you really need ~, expand it manually:

Code: Select all

RunProgram("/usr/local/bin/7za","a MyBackup *.pdf",GetEnvironmentVariable("HOME") + "/my/cool/directory")

Won't work: the "*"(.pdf) would be interpreted 'literally'

[deseven]

Won't work: the "*"(.pdf) would be interpreted 'literally'

Ah, right, it's also shell functionality.
You could try something like that:

Code: Select all

RunProgram("/bin/sh",~"-c \"/usr/local/bin/7za a MyBackup *.pdf\"",GetEnvironmentVariable("HOME") + "/my/cool/directory")

Explanation: spawn a copy of /bin/sh that will expand *.pdf into the list of files and run 7za with it.

[Piero]

spawn a copy of /bin/sh

Thanks, that can be useful and gives some possibilities (even pipe thru other commands…)
I tested workarounds like that; the BIG problem is when you need double quotes in your shell command…

[deseven]

the BIG problem is when you need double quotes in your shell command…

Not a problem if you pipe your command into the shell instead of passing it as an argument (standard shell quote rules do apply, though):

Code: Select all

shell = RunProgram("/bin/sh","",GetEnvironmentVariable("HOME") + "/my/cool/directory",#PB_Program_Open|#PB_Program_Write)
If shell
  WriteProgramStringN(shell,"/usr/local/bin/7za a MyBackup *.pdf")
  WriteProgramData(shell,#PB_Program_Eof,0)
  While ProgramRunning(shell) : Delay(10) : Wend ; comment out if you don't need to wait for completion
  CloseProgram(shell)
EndIf

[Piero]

Not a problem

Many, many, many thanks! That will be very useful to me!