The "AM" application manager for AppImages has received an update that introduces a new option for reinstalling applications. The AM-updater script serves to manage and uphold current scripts for portable applications available on multiple platforms. The scripts undergo both automated and manual testing.

In the event of a script failure, manual intervention is initiated to determine the underlying cause, leading to necessary modifications of the script. The newly introduced reinstall option enables users to review scripts individually and uninstall and reinstall applications that necessitate updates. The command "am reinstall" or "appman reinstall" will verify the scripts and proceed to remove and reinstall applications that necessitate updates. The command serves to determine whether an application is malfunctioning or unable to be updated. A new command has been implemented to enhance transparency and ensure user consent. Additional modifications encompass a decrease in references to external databases, enhanced support for external databases, as well as the removal, addition, and correction of several database applications.

"AM" 9.6

New option to reinstall the apps!

To introduce the new changes, here is a premise on how the AM-updater script works.

Premise

As you well know, portable apps (not only AppImages) hosted on various official and non-official sites, can have different methods to be downloaded and installed.

The diversity of these sites and download methods involves constant maintenance of existing scripts, as many links can disappear for reasons ranging from the removal of a repository by the developer to the removal of a domain.

The scripts are tested automatically (or manually) 100 at a time through our workflows, see  https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM/actions/workflows/test-apps.yml

When one of these scripts fails, manual control is triggered, where I go to investigate the causes of such failure... until this script is modified to fix the problem.

This means that the scripts already installed prior to this change, lack new features or even just new online references to be updated.

To suppress this problem, running the command am -s (to update AM, modules and check for changes in scripts) or am -u (which includes am -s and updating all installed apps) will notify you if the online scripts have changed, so you can be warned that you may need to remove and reinstall the application.

If you used to have to run am -R {PROGRAM} && am -i {PROGRAM} manually on all reported scripts... now it's easier!

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New reinstall optionWith the following command

am reinstall

or if you use AppMan

appman reinstall

the scripts will be checked one by one as in -s, but will also be removed and reinstalled the apps that require such an update.In this test I installed lxtask and platform-tools system-wide, while brave-appimage, firefox-appimage and anydesk are installed locally, per AppManI will do a test without modifying any scripts, then I will simulate a change in the scripts by adding some lines in the local scripts... here's what happens  simplescreenrecorder-2025-03-09_16.43.07.mp4 ...the 5 apps were removed and reinstalled one by one, respecting the installation level, be it system or local.NOTE, the simple -i is executed using the local script name as argument, to avoid installing the wrong counterpart. In case you have set a .home (option -H) or .config (option -C) directory or in case you have set a sandbox (option --sandbox) you will have to do it again using the dedicated options later.How to check when to use the command?

An app installed with an old script is in the worst case broken (in the sense that the wrong file is downloaded, see  #1364) or not updatable.

To know when to use this command, simply start an update with -u or a sync with -s. I also added a final message as a reminder, in case you forget the new command (I'll do a simulation in this video too)

 simplescreenrecorder-2025-03-09_20.58.19.mp4 

Why not add the command directly in -s?

For transparency. The user needs to know when the script was changed and what was changed, before proceeding with the installation. He can then decide whether to install or remove the application altogether. I don't do things without your consent... I'm not Mozilla (the new terms of service which they say will be applied "at any time" are the reason why I abandoned Firefox after 20 years of use... I moved to a fork).

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Among other changesreferences to third-party databases have been further reduced, they can now be safely exported to a variable various improvements to third-party database support removal, addition and correction of various database applications New Contributors

• @psadi made their first contribution in  #1383

Full Changelog:  9.5...9.6

Release "AM" 9.6 · ivan-hc/AM