Tutorial : Install debian package or from sources without unlock Ostree

[Domenico_GUERRA]

EndlessOs is a fantastic OS, stable and with a really well thought out user interface.

The only limitation is the impossibility to install deb or from sources packages, in case the flatpak does not exist.

This prevented me from using EndlessOs for many years, because there are 2 apps that I cannot do without, gnome-pomodoro and audio-recorder.

Today I was able to overcome this problem and have the 2 apps perfectly functional, which allowed me to switch to EndlessOs.

I am writing this tutorial because it took me a long time to collect the necessary information and complete it, because some passages I had to create it. What follows applies to any application.
I hope this sharing will be useful to you.

[Domenico_GUERRA]

audio-recorder

in terminal :

##create toolbox

toolbox create -i docker.io/endlessm/eos-toolbox:master

toolbox enter eos-toolbox-master

sudo apt update

install dependency

sudo apt install -y wget libgtk-3-0 libappindicator3-1 libcanberra-gtk3-module fonts-cantarell gnome-tweaks

get audio-recorder deb

wget https://launchpad.net/~ubuntuhandbook1/+archive/ubuntu/audio-recorder/+build/26500089/+files/audio-recorder_3.3.4~ubuntu2310.1_amd64.deb

sudo apt install -y ./audio-recorder_3.3.4~ubuntu2310.1_amd64.deb

gnome-tweaks ### set fonts to canterell for good looking, not mandatory

Extract icons from deb and copy to home/.icons

mkdir temp

mv audio-recorder_3.3.4~ubuntu2310.1_amd64.deb temp

cd temp

ar x audio-recorder_3.3.4~ubuntu2310.1_amd64.deb

tar -xvf data.tar.zst

cp -r usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/ /sysroot/home/$USER/.icons

copy audio-recorder launcher to user folder

cp usr/share/applications/audio-recorder.desktop /sysroot/home/$USER/.local/share/applications/audio-recorder.desktop

##open in text editor

/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=gnome-text-editor --file-forwarding org.gnome.TextEditor /sysroot/home/$USER/.local/share/applications/audio-recorder.desktop

change « Exec=audio-recorder » ( 5 occurrences ) to :

Exec=toolbox --container eos-toolbox-master run audio-recorder

change « StartupNotify=true » to :

StartupNotify=false

delete temp folder and all install files

rm -r /sysroot/home/$USER/temp

[Domenico_GUERRA]

install gnome-pomodoro from sources, because .deb not make translate app in my langage.

##create toolbox if not exist

toolbox create -i docker.io/endlessm/eos-toolbox:master

toolbox enter eos-toolbox-master

sudo apt update

wget https://github.com/gnome-pomodoro/gnome-pomodoro/archive/refs/tags/0.23.1.zip

unzip 0.23.1.zip

cd gnome-pomodoro-0.23.1

sudo apt-get install meson gettext valac pkg-config desktop-file-utils appstream-util libappstream-glib-dev libglib2.0-dev gsettings-desktop-schemas-dev gobject-introspection libgirepository1.0-dev libsqlite3-dev libgom-1.0-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev libgtk-3-dev libcanberra-dev libpeas-dev libjson-glib-dev

meson . build --prefix=/usr

meson compile -C build

sudo meson install -C build –no-rebuild

cd … ## diplay 3 dots, use 2
rm -r gnome-pomodoro-0.23.1

gnome-pomodoro use extension, it is necessary to install also in user directory , same for icons.

unzip 0.23.1.zip

cd gnome-pomodoro-0.23.1

meson . build --prefix=/sysroot/home/$USER/.gnome-pomodoro

meson compile -C build

sudo meson install -C build –no-rebuild

NEVER delete .gnome-pomodoro, somes files are mandatory

copy extension to local extensions folder

cp -r /sysroot/home/$USER/.gnome-pomodoro/share/gnome-shell/extensions/pomodoro@arun.codito.in /sysroot/home/$USER/.gnome-pomodoro/share/gnome-shell/extensions/pomodoro@arun.codito.in

Copy icons to .icons

cp -r /sysroot/home/$USER/.gnome-pomodoro/share/icons/ /sysroot/home/$USER/.icons

copy gnome-pomodoro launcher to user folder

cp /sysroot/home/$USER/.pomodoro/share/applications/org.gnome.Pomodoro.desktop /sysroot/home/$USER/.local/share/applications/org.gnome.Pomodoro.desktop

##open in text editor

/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=gnome-text-editor --file-forwarding org.gnome.TextEditor /sysroot/home/$USER/.local/share/applications/org.gnome.Pomodoro.desktop

##change « Exec=gnome-pomodoro » to :

Exec=toolbox --container eos-toolbox-master run gnome-pomodoro

remove install file

cd … ## diplay 3 dots, use 2
rm -r gnome-pomodoro-0.23.1