* Crossover/PlayonMac/Linux winhttp download problem

[Valkrider]

I deleted Check for Possible Duplicate Media Plugin and then reinstalled it. The install went fine. However you need to be patient with the download and install of md5 and luasql library modules. It takes a while to download them. I suspect this is a limitation of winhttp in Wine as I do have a reasonably quick internet connection.

Now for the even better news Check Installed Plugins Against the Store works perfectly. This is the result:

Screenshot 2020-04-25 at 14.24.45.png (56.22 KiB) Viewed 9577 times

Crossover will be my next tests but I need to get the laptop out for that whereas POM is readily available on my iMac.

Winetricks is not the easiest thing to install, I know I have tried before. Hopefully Crossover will have similar functionality to POM. I will report back in due course.

[tatewise]

It just keeps getting better and better You have made a great find
I'm surprised md5 takes long to install as it is only 12 KB.
Whereas, pl is 108 KB and luasql is 336 KB.

Do you think a progress bar is needed to show library module installation progress?
Or maybe just an additional comment in the download required message to say it may take a while?

When this skirmish is over, could you post a list of the PlayOnMac > Configure > install components offered.
There may be some to overcome other problems such as the Reg Read/Write needed by Backup & Restore FH Settings.

[ColeValleyGirl]

I wonder if the speed is a function of the proxy server (how beefy/how busy).

[Valkrider]

Mike

I think the additional comment will suffice.

The list of additional components is extensive and there is no easy way to cut and paste them.

None of the components are Registry related that I could see.

Now for the bad news unfortunately.

Crossover has a method for installing winhttp which is even easier than POM as it is built in to Crossover just not enabled by default. Even with it enabled it fails to download the pl library. I will do some more investigation but it is looking like a challenge.

[tatewise]

@Helen, it is not certain that a proxy is involved at all now.

@Colin, try the tiny test script I posted on Thu 23rd Apr 2020 12:07 to download the PDF icon file.
It seems odd that Crossover offers winhttp yet it does not work. Is there anything about it in their forums?

[ColeValleyGirl]

Sorry, Mike -- I missed that detail in Colin's description of the fix -- going boss-eyed fiddling with the new KnowledgeBase platform and working out how to project manage the migration. It is going to have to be tightly managed or it will be a disaster.

[Valkrider]

@Mike

No your script fails as well just like it did initially in POM.

There is nothing on the user support forum and as I am a paying Crossover customer I have raised a ticket so awaiting a reply. I will update this thread as and when I get a reply. The way it is enabled in Crossover is very different to POM so it may not actually be enabled. There is no way to add the component as I did in POM.

[tatewise]

A bit of Google searching suggests that other modules associated with winhttp such as winsock & wininet might need enabling too.

[Valkrider]

@Mike

I have heard back from Crossover support. What they say is "It is no longer possible to add winhttp to Crossover as Microsoft have removed the service pack and so you can not download it to install winhttp" I asked what the required service pack is but they have not responded yet. So it looks like Crossover goes down the list of ways of getting FH working on Mac.

[tatewise]

So that begs the question: "Where does POM get its winhttp installation file?"

Does it mean POM (and POL) are better hosts than Crossover for what we need for FH and AS?
What are the pros & cons of POM (and POL) versus Crossover?

[JP Ford]

PlayOnLinux
Presumably, PlayOnLinux will have the same Configure > install components option for winhttp.
It may be necessary to contact JP Ford to ask him to experiment.

Yes, you can install virtually any standard windoze library using the Wine configuration interface. There are >500 libraries available in the list. Not to beat a dead horse, but that's not POL, it's the Wine configuration. They're totally separate functions, so likely the same between mac and pc. Each instance (bottle in mac-speak)) of Wine can be configured in this way.

[tatewise]

I got the impression that the POM/POL Configure > install components option was distinct from the Winetricks command in WINE, although I guess the end result is the same.

Have you the time to experiment with those commands to get winhttp installed and check the Plugin library modules download automatically? Colin said downloads were quite slow in POM, so how long does that process take in POL?

You have no doubt seen that Colin has found that Crossover does not install winhttp.
Do you know the WINE command to install winhttp that might be a workaround?
Would that be the same command that would work for Crossover and POL and POM.
If so, then only that one command needs to be documented in our FHUG Knowledge Base.

[JP Ford]

I can check it. I'm setting up a an FH demo instance now. POL offers to install libraries at setup, although they are the same libraries that Wine offers to install in any virtual instance. I have better success using Wine directly to do this, but I'll try both ways just to be thorough.

[JP Ford]

Okay, I have vanilla install of FH 6.2.7 using the sample project. Using POL to do the initial install, I selected the winhttp library to be installed into the Wine virtual and have now confirmed that it is installed in this virtual Wine instance, to wit:

(002).png (24.22 KiB) Viewed 9463 times

The same result can be accomplished after the fact, by opening the Wine config for this virtual instance and installing said library using the interface show in the screencap.
Now what ?

[tatewise]

Try downloading and installing the Check for Possible Duplicate Media Plugin from the Plugin Store.
When run it installs the md5 and luasql library modules and reports on any duplicate Media like the posting by Valkrider on Sat 25th Apr 2020 13:30 in this thread at https://www.fhug.org.uk/forum/viewtopic ... 894#p99786.

[JP Ford]

So, there ya go.

(003).png (7.16 KiB) Viewed 9460 times

switched the library configuration to prioritize Builtin vs. native and vice versa, but this has no effect.

[tatewise]

Did that follow the message This plugin requires md5 support, please click OK to download and install the module?

I wonder why POL is different from POM?

BTW: I also got mixed up between that Plugin and Check Installed Plugins Against the Store shown in that earlier posting.

[JP Ford]

SUCCESS!!!

Removed the library completely from the Wine instance and reinstall using the POL interface. After clicking yes several times to the "Do you want to try again?" error when downloading the files, POL proceeded to download W2KSP4_EN.EXE.

Installation of the library was successful, so I started FH and when I ran the FH plugin, all prerequisite files were downloaded and the plugin ran as it should

(004).png (5.89 KiB) Viewed 9450 times

.

[JP Ford]

Did that follow the message This plugin requires md5 support, please click OK to download and install the module?

I wonder why POL is different from POM?

Yes, it did.

[JP Ford]

So, I do not know exactly what the difference is/was, but when I installed the winhttp library using only the Wine config, it did not take as long as it did with the POL interface - I think maybe it was never fully downloaded.
Using the POL interface, it downloaded the complete library file and the installation had an asterisk - see screencap, which was different from the Wine interface install.

(005).png (20.54 KiB) Viewed 9450 times

It's possible I screwed up the initial install and the removal/reinstall fixed it.

[tatewise]

Is it asking too much of you to repeat the two winhttp install methods and see whether there is consistent success or failure for them?

[Valkrider]

So that begs the question: "Where does POM get its winhttp installation file?"

Does it mean POM (and POL) are better hosts than Crossover for what we need for FH and AS?
What are the pros & cons of POM (and POL) versus Crossover?

POM got its file as a download from I know not where but it was about 130meg in size. I tracked the file down on my Mac and tried to load it into Crossover and it threw an error of an incompatible file version.

Crossover is better if you want to run Family Historian and Ancestral Sources at the same time.

POM is better if you have winhttp installed and then want to install a library that a plugin requires.

POM can only run Family Historian by itself OR Ancestral Sources by itself. Trying to run concurrently on the same gedcom locks them both up.

All in all IMHO Crossover is still the better one of the two BUT now only just whereas before it was significantly better.

[Valkrider]

Have you the time to experiment with those commands to get winhttp installed and check the Plugin library modules download automatically? Colin said downloads were quite slow in POM, so how long does that process take in POL?

It is the Library modules that are slow to download and install not winhttp.

[Valkrider]

SUCCESS!!!

Removed the library completely from the Wine instance and reinstall using the POL interface. After clicking yes several times to the "Do you want to try again?" error when downloading the files, POL proceeded to download W2KSP4_EN.EXE.

Installation of the library was successful, so I started FH and when I ran the FH plugin, all prerequisite files were downloaded and the plugin ran as it should

(004).png.

This is exactly what I found in POM.

Crossover only has the same option as Joel showed in his previous post and that does not actually install winhttp even though it is reported as being correctly installed.

[JP Ford]

Is it asking too much of you to repeat the two winhttp install methods and see whether there is consistent success or failure for them?

no, not a problem. Let me get a snack first and I'll back up and do the Wine config again to see how that goes .