This repository also contains blend-settings, a tool for configuring blend and overlays, as well as many other utilities.
The init-blend file in this repository uses a few lines (the sections have been marked clearly) uses from distrobox's init script. These lines have been marked and attributed appropriately, and are licensed under the GPL-3.0 license.
I would also like to thank Luca Di Maio from Distrobox for NVIDIA driver support in containers.
overlayfs-tools has been taken from https://github.com/ecdye/zram-config, which itself forked https://github.com/kmxz/overlayfs-tools.
Aside from these lines, all the other code in this repository has been written by me (rs2009). blend-settings is based on Modren, a software store I (rs2009) had written long ago, and is licensed under the same license as the rest of the code in this repository, the GPL-3.0 license.
It's recommended to use the blend-settings UI, instead of the blend CLI.
dependentcies require for both methods
podman
clone this repo
set script to executable in file manager
run as sudo sudo ./nonarchinstall.sh
To build manually, you are going to need the following dependentcies
pacman fakeroot git binutils npm electron(maunaully downloaded from github, see later) bzip2 make gcc
Install the dependentcies from your package manager except for electron
i.e sudo dnf install pacman fakeroot git binutils npm bzip2 make gcc
Clone the repo for building blend
git clone https://github.com/blend-os/blend-pkg
Then download electron from https://github.com/electron/electron/releases/download/v24.2.0/electron-v24.2.0-linux-x64.zip
Extract the zip and rename it to electron22
Go to where you downloaded it
cd Downloads
Copy it to /usr/lib (on mutable systems)
sudo cp electron22 -R /usr/lib
On immutable systems, you will need to edit the pkgbuild in blend-pkg to set a different directory
Go to blend-pkg
cd blend-pkg
Edit the file with editor of choice
(text editor) PKGBUILD
Edit this line to a directory you can copy to
electronVer="$(sed s/^v// /usr/lib/electron${_electronversion}/version)"
i.e on silverblue /var/usrlocal/lib/electron
Go back to home
cd
Go to where you downloaded it
cd Downloads
Then copy to chosen directory
sudo cp electron22 -R /var/usrlocal
Go back to home
cd
Go to the blend-pkg folder
cd blend-pkg
This is where the guide splits from Arch to non Arch
##Arch
Install podman from your distro's repo.
Proceed building the package and installing it and any missing dependentcies(if you forgot) with
makepkg -si
The reason why this is the arch version is that -s uses pacman to install dependetcies, which on non arch wouldnt work, and -i would install as a Arch app
may have unintended consequences on non arch.
run the /etc/profile.d/blend.sh to set the path
Go to location
cd /etc/profile.d/blend.sh
Set the sh as executable
chmod +x blend.sh
Run the script
./blend.sh
Enable the blend-files service
cd /usr/lib/systemd/user
systemctl enable blend-files.service
#Done
##Non Arch
Proceed building the app with
makepkg --nodeps
Once that is done, head over to #Installation
Download the two tar files under releases
Install npm from your distros repo
Mutable systems
Then use npm install electron -g
Head to # Installation
Immutable systems use below instructions for electron
Download electron from https://github.com/electron/electron/releases/download/v24.2.0/electron-v24.2.0-linux-x64.zip
Extract the zip and rename it to electron22
Go to where you downloaded it
cd Downloads
Copy it to overlay for /usr/lib; in silverblue its /var/usrlocal/lib
sudo cp electron22 -R /var/usrlocal/lib
Head to # Installation
Install podman from your distro's repo.
Extract the new tar files to the their own folders
e.g. (blend-git... and blend-settings-git...)
Create a new folder named workspaceBlend
copy all the contents of the extracted tar files to workspaceBlend; merge the folders and skip the replace(dont need buildinfo,mtree or pkginfo)
(so each extracted tar has its own usr directory, so copying that to workpaceBlend will merge them)
Here comes another split
On mutable distros,copy the usr folder to /usr and the etc folder to /etc; merge the folders
Enter workspaceBlend
cd workspaceBlend
sudo cp usr -R /usr
sudo cp etc -R /etc
On immutable distros, rename the /usr folder to what you need based on the overlay filesystem setup you have
On silverblue you would rename to usrlocal and copy to /var/usrlocal; merge the folders
sudo cp usrlocal -R /var/usrlocal
Do the same with /etc if you need
You dont need to on Silverblue though so proceed as normal.
sudo cp etc -R /etc
run the /etc/profile.d/blend.sh to set the path
Go to location
cd /etc/profile.d/blend.sh
Set the sh as executable
chmod +x blend.sh
Run the script
./blend.sh
Enable the blend-files service
cd /usr/lib/systemd/user
systemctl enable blend-files.service
Thats the main Install, some goodies below
To start on log in add the following to .bash_profile
blend start-containers blend-files & disown blend-files
Note for immuable systems, you may have to edit the built files if they cant find each other
Namely blend,blend-files service and blend-settings