projector-installer 0.1.11

Install, configure and run JetBrains IDEs with Projector Server on Linux or in WSL

projector-installer

Install, configure and run JetBrains IDEs with Projector Server on Linux or in WSL.

Prerequisites

To use projector-installer you need machine with Linux (or WSL) and with Python 3.6 or higher. Before install projector-installer make sure that you have python3 and pip3 in your system. In Debian-based distributive you can install them using the command:

sudo apt install python3 python3-pip 

Also make sure that you have installed the following packets:

• libxext6
• libxi6
• libxrender1
• libxtst6
• libfreetype6

In Debian-based distributive you can install them using the command:

sudo apt install libxext6 libxrender1 libxtst6 libfreetype6 libxi6  

Installation

install from PyPi

pip3 install projector-installer 

install from wheel file

pip3 install projector_installer-VERSION-py3-none-any.whl

install from source

git clone https://github.com/JetBrains/projector-installer.git
cd projector-installer
pip3 install -r requirements.txt 
python3 setup.py bundle
pip3 install .

install in virtual environment

python3 -m venv venv
source ./venv/bin/activate 
pip3 install  projector-installer 

After that the command projector is available.

NOTE: In fresh Linux installations the directory ~/.local/bin can be missed in the PATH variable. If the projector command is not available after installation, try to restart the terminal.

Quick start

First time you run projector, it automatically starts the installation. Just run projector and follow the instructions. The script will run the installed IDE with projector-server and display URL to access it. Open this URL in your browser and use IDE as usual.

To run IDE again use projector run

To install a new IDE run projector install

Get help

General help: projector --help:

Command or command group help: projector command --help:

projector run --help

projector config --help

Subcommand help: projector group subcommand --help to get help.

projector config add --help

Shortcut commands

To simplify usage most useful commands have shortcuts. In simple cases (when you have the only IDE installed, or you do not run several IDE instances simultaneously) it is enough to use a couple of shortcut commands, such as install and run.

• find - find available IDEs (a shortcut for 'ide find')

• install - install IDE (a shortcut for 'ide install')

• run - run IDE (a shortcut for 'config run')

Details

Script has two groups of commands:

• IDE management commands intended to manage Projector-compatible IDEs. All such commands are prefixed with 'ide' keyword, for example:

  projector ide find 
  

finds all Projector-compatible IDEs.

or:

   projector ide find goland

finds all Projector-compatible IDEs which have 'goland' in their names.

• config commands, intended to run and manage configurations, for example:

  projector config run goland
  

runs the configuration with name 'goland'

IDE commands

projector ide find - display all Projector-compatible IDEs

projector ide find pattern - display Projector-compatible IDEs whose names match the given pattern

projector ide list - display all installed IDEs

projector ide list pattern - display Projector-compatible IDEs whose names match the given pattern

projector ide install - select and install IDE interactively

projector ide install ide_name - install the specified IDE

projector ide uninstall - uninstall IDE interactively

projector ide uninstall ide_name - uninstall the specified IDE

Config commands

projector config run - run default or interactively selected configuration with Projector

projector config run configuration - run the specified configuration

projector config list - list all existing configurations

projector config add - add a new configuration

projector config edit - change an existing configuration

projector config edit configuration - change the specified configuration

projector config remove - select configuration and remove it

projector config remove config_name - remove a configuration

projector config rename from_config_name to_config_name - rename an existing configuration

projector config show - show configuration details

projector config rebuild - regenerates all files, related to run config. Can be useful after manual run config file edit, or incompatible changes in installer.

Configuration options

Projector installer script has the following configuration options:

--config-directory=path_to_dir - specifies path to configuration directory. Default - ~/.projector

--cache-directory=path_to_dir - specifies path to download cache directory.

Build python wheel file

pip3 install wheel
rm -r projector_installer/bundled dist build  # Remove old build files
python3 setup.py bundle bdist_wheel

Publish

rm -r projector_installer/bundled dist build  # Remove old build files
python3 setup.py bundle sdist bdist_wheel  # Build required files
python3 -m twine upload --repository testpypi --verbose dist/*  # Upload to https://test.pypi.org/project/projector-installer/
python3 -m twine upload dist/*  # Upload to https://pypi.org/project/projector-installer/

Secure connection

During installation Projector asks the user if they want to use a secure connection. If the user chooses "yes", installer configures Projector to use HTTPS for accessing a built-in HTTP server and WSS to communicate with the Projector server. Using a secure connection may be a good idea because some JavaScript features are not available in insecure environments, for example, Asynchronous Clipboard API. So using Projector with insecure protocols may limit its functionality.

However, using a secure connection requires telling the browser that it should trust the certificate. One of the ways to do it is to do it forcefully. Open the page, see the warning about unknown certificate, find a button like "trust it anyway", and click it. After it, you will probably get a message like "can't connect to wss://host:port". Please change wss to https, open it in a new tab, and click the "trust" button too. After performing these two actions, the browser should remember this connection and you won't have to perform these actions again. Just open the initial web page and use all functionality of Projector.

FAQ

1. Where does projector-installer keep downloaded IDE and run configurations?

All the necessary stuff is kept in the configuration directory. Usually configuration directory is ~/.projector. But the user can specify another location for it, using option --config-directory, for example: projector --config-directory=config run

Android Studio support

Projector installer can't support automatic Android Studio installation due to legal issues. However installer can help you to configure existing Android Studio installation to use with Projector. To make new run config for Android Studio use projector config add command.

NOTE: Please take into account, that Projector uses JVM, bundled with IDE and supports Java 11 only. Most of Android Studio IDE shipped with Java 1.8, so they are incompatible with Projector. However, starting from version 4.2 (still in EAP), Google ships Java 11 with Android Studio. So Android Studio ver. 4.2 and later can be run with projector.

Example:

$projector config add
Enter a new configuration name: AndroidStudio
Do you want to choose a Projector-installed IDE? [y/n]: n
Enter the path to IDE: /path/to/your/android-studio
Enter a desired Projector port (press ENTER for default) [10005]: 
Use secure connection (this option requires installing a projector's certificate to browser)? [y/n]: y

Troubleshooting

• projector command is unavailable after installation.

In some Linux distributions the directory ~/.local/bin can be missed in the PATH variable. If the projector command is not available after installation, try run source ~/.profile. If it does not help, try add the following line at the end of your ~/.profile: export PATH=${PATH}:~/.local/bin and run source ~/.profile.

• On WSL can't access URL, displayed in projector console from Windows browser.

Please refer to section Resolving WSL issues.

• projector exits immediately after projector run

Make sure, that you installed all packages, mentioned in Prerequisites section.

Resolving WSL issues

WSL is new technology and sometimes there are problems with network interfaces forwarding from Linux to Windows system. (Example: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4636)

If you have issues with accessing Projector running in WSL from browser, try do the following:

• Do not use several WSL machines in the same time. Connectivity issues happens rarely if only one WSL machine is running. You can check state of existing WSL machies using wsl -l -v command.

• Try command Get-Service LxssManager | Restart-Service in PowerShell console

• Restart your WSL environment: wsl --shutdown and start your linux console again.

WARNING! The wsl --shutdown command will close all Linux consoles. Save your work before stopping WSL!

• Using docker service with WSL2 backend can cause connectivity issues. Try to disable it and restart WSL terminal.

• Use HTTP address other than localhost. Usually WSL have problems forwarding localhost interface only. Try to use listening address other than localhost. You can assign HTTP listening address during initial installation or using projector config edit command.

WARNING! Using external address for projector HTTP server can be dangerous, use this method with caution.