I am following a decade old article (by Pat David) on focus stacking macro photos, written for use in a windows environment. Thus it was easily to find the align_image_stack.exe process and use it. When I try to replicate the procedure under Linux (Mint 22.1 in my case) I immediately come across the general problem of not knowing where software package components are installed. Is there a general principle in the Linux environment that I could study - and if so where is it documented? More specifically, where is the Hugin installation location - for my environment - documented? I have looked in the Hugin manual on-line and examined the Panotools Wiki but didnât find any guidance.
(I have, naturally, searched for the string âalign_image_stackâ using the functions of Nemo, getting multiple results; how do I know which I should use? Further more, those results for the flatpak version of hugin used more than 100 characters to define the location for the binary. Thereâs no way I can type this long of an address into the terminal without error.l
So what is the principle that will tell me where to look, irrespective of how Hugin was installed? I.e. Iâm searching for understanding so that I donât have to pose specific detail questions to this highly capable forum.
And thanks foe the command - I should have known that one.
This technique is very effective at listing packages by name; it gives no information on installed locations of those packages.
Those command which do provide a full file-id often give multiple locations - see, for example, the output from âwhereis darktableâ and compare to the output from âwhich darktableâ. How do I know which location is the correct one to use to invoke an executable, especially if the locations point to different versions of the executable?
Many programs (the binaries/scripts) end up in /bin or /usr/bin â depending on how the software was installed â with other parts in various configuration directories (often in/under etc ).
Flatpack/Snap/AppImage software works differently as these packages arenât installed at all (at least, not in the traditional sense).
If youâve tried to install Hugin using more than one method (via the repo and via Flatpack, for example), then youâll end up with a duplication of the files (stored in different locations for different reasons).
will list the files of an installed package on an apt software installation based system, given your app is not install via a misc system like SNAP or FLATPAK
If the hugin package is properly installed, all the associated scripts and executable constituting itâs cli should be in your $PATH meaning :
all the command that comes with hugin like align_image_stack should just work in any terminal emulator in your system without you caring to know where they are really stored.
I hope this answer can help you on this and on a more general way in navigating your way on linux systems
As I understand it Installation path is up to the distros/package maintainers and not the software creators ^^
Unlikely to be a SNAP. Mint by default does not support SNAP
Unlikely to be an Appimage which is an old version. and generates an error. However, the way appimages work is to unpack the files to /tmp and delete them when the Appimage is closed. You can always unpack one using the --appimage-extract switch.
A good version is a PPA hugin : Panda Jim and if that is installed, find the files using synaptic.
For a flatpak (a bit on the bloated side) depends if installed for system or user.
For user look in ~/.local/share/flatpak/app/net.sourceforge.Hugin/x86_64/stable/active/files/bin/
I most certainly have: Synaptic. I try to avoid PPAs.
Your illustration from Synaptic is directly applicable - and, as you probably noticed, fails to reveal where âalign-image-stackâ executable is installed. One might naturally think it is in â/usr/share/applicationsâ. No such luck. Which is what I discovered prior to submitting the original post.
I also installed the Flatpak version hoping that that would reveal the location I desired. It did reveal that complete file-ids can be more than 100 characters long in flatpak. But didnât show me where âalign-image-stackâ is.
No I didnât as I do not run an apt based Linux distro at home (itâd translate as âequery files $packageâ on gentoo the $package here being hugin)
Properly packaged hugin should put the command you need in your $PATH to be readily accessible in any terminal as I mentioned before. So Iâd advise you to install hugin on your system via apt using your favorite graphical interface to apt (synaptics or any other) or running in a terminal : sudo apt-get install hugin as I believe in mint the package is simply called âhuginâ
If you already installed it via synaptics but it does not work I believe synaptics have a âright clickâ option to re install the thing but itâd be strange to have to resort to this as packages marked as installed (checked in synaptics) are supposed to be if you did not tempered manually with root/sudo privileges with the files yourself
for a more up to date hugin, you can alternatively follow the instruction given as âOption 2â in this guide
Unfortunately I can not test all of this myself not running an apt system so youâd best be advise by someone who does if this does not work.
Thus it was easily to find the align_image_stack.exe process and use it. When I try to replicate the procedure under Linux (Mint 22.1 in my case) I immediately come across the general problem of not knowing where software package components are installed.
Running Linux is a conscious choice. What I find ironic is that I used Windows give or take 15 years. It bit me so hard that I still remember it (I lost some very precious information - sentimental value). This is when I switched to Linux (about 20 years ago) and despite all the challenges (and there were a few over the years) it is still my favorite OS.
On the other hand - the above is my experience. Others will have their own favorites and this is completely okay. Leaning is always in the mix. And believe it or not - I am having to learn flatpak myself and this is okay too.
