Back to create windows cmd script if symlink creation fails

[enr]

This change allows you to use webman even if developer mode has not been enabled in windows:

if symlink creation fails, fallbacks to creating a script named ${executable name minus extension}.cmd.

Could impact #53 (and maybe #11) so, if you were interested in this, it would be necessary to correct the "Windows Symlink check" which I have left untouched right now.

[jolheiser]

This would also need to know about the extension when removing, etc.

[enr]

Hi @jolheiser ,
at the moment file name is resolved here:

https://github.com/enr/webman/blob/win-cmd/link/link_windows.go#L34

but I agree with the need to standardize the logic of creating executables (symlink or scripts) names which is now scattered in different functions.

[enr]

Hi @jolheiser

This would also need to know about the extension when removing, etc.

I'm not on a windows machine now, I'll try the remove command as soon as I can.
Have you other advices about other places to check?
Cheeers, Enrico

[candrewlee14]

The run command may need to know about the .cmd extension as well. I'm interested to hear why you want this feature... originally I had Windows machines create .bat files instead of symlinks but we switched to symlinks since Windows 11 allows developer mode.

Do you have a Windows machine that you can't switch to Developer mode?

[enr]

Hi @candrewlee14, exactly this: at dayjob I use a windows pc without administrative permissions.
I originally tried webman just because the readme specified No elevated permissions required! and in fact the first time installation worked perfectly creating the bat files, but with the latest release I have errors related to symlink.
If you are interested and do not see shortcomings in this, I am willing to try to bring the necessary changes to remove and run too.

[candrewlee14]

Makes sense, I'll probably run into use cases like that as well. I think allowing that would be good, but maybe with a warning on the first usage.

[jolheiser]

To avoid situations where there might be a mix of symlink and cmd, maybe this should be a configuration setting?

That way instead of a fallback it can be consistently applied.

[enr]

In this branch both the symlinks and the scripts have the executable name + .cmd:
in this way webman can not care about the type because in add it creates one or the other according to the system's capabilities, and in remove it knows that it will find the file to remove in .webman/bin/{name}.cmd which is symlink or script.
This is, imho, good for the development and robustness of the code but it can be counterintuitive for the user who could find a .cmd instead of the exe he was expecting.
A configuration could actually facilitate maintainability, I leave the decision to you

[jolheiser]

One of the main reasons I drove for symlinks was because I ran into problems where only an exe (symlink) would work, such as a git extension, or using glow inside nvim.

I would personally prefer a config still, but I am not the only voice. 🙂
I'll leave the final decision to you and @candrewlee14

[candrewlee14]

I think a config makes more sense, the symlinks having a .cmd extension is a bit misleading and I think it'd be better to have that more clearly delineated.

[enr]

I agree with the configuration.
with a system-wide property however, the problem would remain of resolving the exact name of the executable (in fact a user could install some software in one way and then change the property).
Maybe could be webman (when running the add command) to save the installation mode and possibly the correct names of all the files added in webman / bin

[jolheiser]

The nice thing with a config is that doctor knows the state it should be in and can change accordingly.
If it is in symlink mode, it converts cmd files. If it's in cmd mode, it converts symlinks to cmd

[candrewlee14]

I like that idea from @jolheiser.

The format is specified in the config. If at any point you manually change that config, use the doctor.
Maybe there should also be a command that changes that config like webman config windows_symlinks off or something like that, which would auto-run the piece of doctor that moves all the binary links to use that configured format.