processing / processing/processing4

Prefill Libraries for classroom usage not working in macOS

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enhancement help wanted
Dominant language
Java
Stars
494
Forks
183
Avg merge
4h 39m
Merged PRs (30d)
3

Description

Most appropriate sub-area of Processing 4?

Other (specify if possible)

Processing version

4.3

Operating system

macOS Sonoma and Sequoia

Steps to reproduce this
  1. Install libraries as current logged in user
  2. Capture the contents of ~/Documents/Processing to a "shared" template folder
  3. Log in as another local user
  4. Copy the contents from template folder to current ~/Documents/Processing folder
  5. Open Processing app and check if the Libraries are marked as installed
  6. Libraries aren't noted as installed in Processing 4
Additional context

We're using your software in our classroom labs where we give Processing lessons. Our lab macOS devices are shared between a lot of students and therefore we need to delete all the home folders with reboots to prevent storage problems and to (pre)deploy preferences for all kinds of software titles that are teached in those classroom labs.

We would like to be able to also pre-deploy (copy) Processing 4 libraries when a random student logs in. When we can’t pre deploy those preferences it takes a teacher an additional 10-15 minutes of their lesson when the teacher needs to ask all the students in the classroom to install those libraries using the GUI in the Processing.app. And they have to perform this procedure every time a macOS computer reboots.

Background:
These preferences we capture from all kinds of software titles and copy those to a template folder. When a new student logs in a new local home directory is created (by the OS) and preference files are copied to the corresponding local homefolder directory using a script.

We were already using that for Arduino and Processing 3 for example. But for Processing 4 this doesn’t work anymore and therefore this seems like a bug.

Do you have a workaround for this problem, or is there an additional folder that we need to copy to the template folder directory?

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Reproduce the macOS classroom workflow with Processing 4.3: copy ~/Documents/Processing from one user to another, open the Processing app, and inspect how library installation state is determined. Done means a copied library set is recognized as installed for a new local user, or the required additional location and workaround are documented.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java, macos
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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