How to check before posting your submissions

[admin]

The web page that lists apps that have been rejected is getting rather long and unwieldy. As such, I have dumped it to a database table and made it searchable by name.

Now when you perform a search, if the query matches the names of one or more rejected apps, they will be listed in a box labeled Rejected apps at the right-side of the screen. If you hover the mouse cursor over any of the links, further details will be displayed in a popup text box.

Please use this function to check before submission. Thanks!

[EDIT]

You should also search the forum to see if anyone has submitted the same app previously.

Please note that Java and .NET apps are currently not accepted in the database.

Nagware will also not be added to the database.

[Achille]

Why are you 'denying' so many programs because they write to the registry? Did you mean to say it's writing in the registry 'outside' HKEY current user? Admins usually disable editing for HKEY Local Machine / System / Root, but HKEY current user is always writable, even windows would have trouble if you locked it, 99% of apps would not be able to run.

[Andrew Lee]

Just think of your favorite portable music player X. You have configured X to your liking at home eg. disable the toolbar, display track info the way you like it etc. Great! You unplug your USB stick or HDD, bring it to your office, plug in, run X. Pow! Everything defaults back to factory setting. How would you feel? All that time you have spent configuring X to the way you like it. Now you have to do it again. Wouldn't you feel slightly put off?

This same principle applies to your favorite text editor, image viewer, word processor. Why can't I configure things once and it runs the same on every machine I plug into? Don't you think that makes a critical factor for portability?

[Crash]

In addition to Andrew's example, think also of security, privacy and registry bloat. If you are familiar with a typical user's registry, you are aware of the vast amount of information (and often junk) that gets deposited there by applications. The majority of that information would be classified as innocuous by most users, but it's not uncommon to find user account names, personally identifiable information from registrations, even encrypted passwords (which the savvy know can be easily retrieved). Isn't it a much safer and prudent solution to forgo the registry and keep a portable application's settings/configurations isolated to that application's folder on the portable media? Think also of courtesy to the owner of the host PC that you are using your portable applications on--not leaving behind unnecessary registry bloat. Though I dislike Windows implementation of the Registry, I don't begrudge it's advantages. However, the Registry is by its own nature "tied" to the PC on which it resides. It really does not belong in the "portable application" world. Just my $.02

[Fluffy]

This is also a good place to mention that applications requiring the .NET, Java, or GTK+ runtimes are not acceptable.

[Andrew Lee]

Some apps do have the GTK+ runtime bundled. Off the top of my head, I think Portable GIMP is one of them.

I am still wondering how to deal with apps that bundle a private copy of the Java runtime. What do you guys think?

To my knowledge, I don't think a private copy of the .Net runtime can be bundled with an application this way.

[Fluffy]

Well to be fair, apps bundled with GTK don't really require it since it's a part of the package. I also happen to hate GTK (ugly and slow), Java (slow) and .NET (not only slow, but last time I checked it interfered with OpenGL rendering, which actually pissed me off a great deal), so I think that they should remain out of the database purely due to personal taste. However, if applications run portably and do not contain spyware or malware, they should be added.

In short, I hate Java applications.

[djoledj]

I would be very thankfull to someone teach me how to check app as if it is portable.... I think i found some apps that seem atand alone, some of them look like those in floppy office and some of them have their own ini file but i'm not sure if they write to regitstry...

Thanks in advance

[djoledj]

By the way i hate java apps to

[linuxamp]

I would be very thankfull to someone teach me how to check app as if it is portable.... I think i found some apps that seem atand alone, some of them look like those in floppy office and some of them have their own ini file but i'm not sure if they write to regitstry...

Thanks in advance

Check the FAQ page
There's a section titled "How do you test the programs to ensure they are portable?"

[linuxamp]

This is also a good place to mention that applications requiring the .NET, Java, or GTK+ runtimes are not acceptable.

I agree with this statement for the most part, however I think it depends on the framework penetration. For instance, flash is not installed by default on most PCs yet is installed on almost every PC connected to the Internet. [citation needed]

If studies were to find that some framework is on, say, 90% of PCs then I'd think it would be acceptable to begin listing applications requiring that framework.

I've been seeing a lot of my favorite applications turning to .NET recently and I wouldn't be surprised to see more. Two examples:

CD Burner XP Pro - .NET from version 4.x
KeePass - .NET from version 2.x

[SmackEwe]

You have configured X to your liking at home eg. disable the toolbar, ... Pow! Everything defaults back to factory setting..Why can't I configure things once and it runs the same on every machine I plug into? Don't you think that makes a critical factor for portability?

How ever might this have been done in operating systems without a registry? Gee, perhaps a preferences file in the same directory as the executable?

Either portable (or virtualized) with all files written to same portable device or not written at all. Alternatively: profile lives online (another way to not-modify host machine)

Why is it so challenging to grasp to NOT make lasting changes to the host machine in ANY way?