Bonager: The Boot Scan Manager - Control the filesystem scan that happens at bootup!

[AgenT]

Bonager: The Boot Scan Manager
From the author of ParolaPass: The Password Generator

PLEASE DO NOT USE Bonager!!

GREAT NEWS!
Starting with 9.04, Ubuntu now has this functionality built-in!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR SUPPORTING BONAGER
You made it possible for Ubuntu developers to finally incorporate a boot-scan cancel button!

Need to cancel the boot scan?
Press the ESCAPE key during the scan to cancel!
Remember, this functionality is built-in!

If you use an older version of Ubuntu (before 9.04), you can try Bonager out. It should work. Please note, however, it is no longer supported by me.

Bonager is no longer supported!
(it may possibly break your system, especially ext4 that comes with 9.10)

Apologies to everyone for not updating this thread for a long time. And I would like to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all Bonger users for helping each other out in this thread. You guys are great! Thank you again!


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Bonager is an easy way to manage that unpredictable and sometimes very annoying disk scan that happens when the computer is turned on.

When installed, you take control of when you want that disk scan to occur. You even receive a warning before the next scan happens so that you are not surprised by it. And of course, you are given the option to postpone the scan.

Bonager is EASY to use. So easy, that everything can be done within three clicks and requires no configuration. Seriously.

Bonager is freedom software. You have the freedom to use it, modify it, sell it, change it and the like. Freedom, pure and simple. Bonager is licensed under the GPLv2.

And to top it off, Bonager is SAFE to use. It does NOT modify any system files or configurations! Never worry about Bonager making a change to your system that creates conflicts with upgrades or other programs.

FEATURES:

• Only a tray icon, so it does not get in the way
• Detection of impending scan
• Postpone a scan that is scheduled for the next bootup
• Force a scan
• Only a maximum of 3 clicks needed to do anything
• Knows what actions to make available based on your system
• No system configurations or settings are modified
• Autostart ability
• Now with localization [nationalization/translations] support
• Ubuntu Dapper and above support
• Icon shows status & useful information
• UUID and /dev compatible
• No configuration needed
• No Tray Icon mode
• Quick output to terminal (great for scripts!)

SMART Feature Details:
No one likes to mock around with unnecessary configurations or options. Bonager determines what your best option is for the moment and only presents you with a simple [NO] [YES] choice. When Bonager detects that your next boot will force a scan, it will ask you whether or not you would like to postpone it. If Bonager does not detect an impending scan, it will ask you if you would like to force a scan yourself.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Before you install, you must download the installation program (deb file) given below.

• Installation: 1) double-click on the deb file 2) click "Install"
• Starting Bonager: 1) click Applications -> Accessories -> Bonager
• Quiting Bonager: 1) right-click on Bonager system tray icon 2) click "OK"
• Using Bonager: 1) left-click on Bonager system tray icon 2) choose between "NO" and "YES"
• Enabling Autostart: 1) right-click on Bonager system tray icon 2) select "Autostart Bonager" 3) select either [NO] or [YES]

Simple, easy, elegant and fast.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q: Does Bonager support Dapper AND Edgy (and Feisty)?
A: Yes. Bonager now supports both Dapper AND Edgy (and Feisty)!

Q: Does Bonager work with Xubuntu (XFCE)?
A: Yes.

Q: Does Bonager work on AMD64 and PowerPC?
A: Yes, Bonager will work on ANY architecture available, including AMD64 and PPC.

Q: If Bonager is used to force a scan or to delay a scan, will quitting Bonager affect this choice?
A: No. This is especially useful for those with little screen space. Just select the option you want and quit Bonager.

Q: What languages does Bonager support?
A: English, French and German. If you would like to help and translate Bonager just download the translate.txt file (see "attachment" section on the bottom of this post). It will only take about 5-10 minutes of your time and you DO NOT have to dig into the Bonager source code.

Q: Does Bonager support KDE (Kubuntu)?
A: No, Bonager does not support KDE (or QT to be more exact) right now. If enough people ask for a KDE version, I will consider creating a KDE version of Bonager. As of now, only one person posted with a request.

Q: Does Bonager support XFCE (Xubuntu)?
A: I do not know. No one has tested this yet. It may work or it may not. You can always try it and remove it. If you decide to test it in XFCE, please post your results in this thread. See requirements question below.

Q: Bonager's tray does not use my system tray colour, why? [or, Bonager's tray is not transparent, why?]
A: This is because the tray is not using the theme's default colour. Bonager does change its tray background colour, but only to the theme's default background colour. This is a limitation that has nothing to do with Bonager and therefore cannot be changed. One workaround would be to switch the tray colour back to theme default and change the theme default colour to the colour wanted. Technical details: this is a pygtk limitation where it is not possible to detect the actual panel color, but only the default panel theme color - Bonager does NOT set any color for the "icon background" and just always uses the panel theme color.

Q: Why was the icon changed?
A: Icon was changed because there needed to be a notify icon in addition to the standard icon that only differed in colour and made sense. Also, the previous icon was not free.

Q: I use XFCE (Xubuntu) and when autostart is set to on, two Bonager icons are loaded in the system tray/notification area. Why?
A: This is because you have the program autostart in both your GNOME and XFCE sessions, so XFCE loads both.

Q: Does Bonager support any filesystem besides ext3?
A: No, Bonager only supports ext3 which is the default filesystem on Ubuntu and many other distributions. The reason for this is simple: the developer only uses ext3 and does not have access to non-ext3 partitioned systems.

Q: How are the new command line arguments used [No Tray Icon & Quick Output]?
A: Type this in the terminal: bonager --help

Q: What are the requirements?
A: python (>=2.4), python-gnome2-extras (>=2.14.2) | python2.4-gnome2-extras (>=2.14.0), python-gtk2 (>=2.8.6)

SCREENSHOTS:
(version 0.3)


[tray details]


[smart action]


[applications menu location]

WHAT'S NEW

• fix rc update problem
• command line check trigger (type bonager --help for details)
• command line tray icon trigger (type bonager --help for details)
• fix postpone question from poping up if it has already been answered in current boot

WHAT'S NEW (version 0.5)

• Localization enabled
• Localization support: Bonager now supports English, French and German
• Easier to understand buttons and text
• Fixed the tray icon from properly showing that a scan was postponed on startup
• Removed the number from tray icon
• On quit menu, YES is now default for fast and easy quitting of Bonager (especially useful for those with little desktop space)
• 0.5.1 addition: Now Bonager works on ANY architecture!

WHAT'S NEW (version 0.4)

• Fixed bug that caused the warning events for impending scan not show up at the correct time (it was one mount off)
• Fixed bug where negative # is shown for mounts left if scan was postponed
• Fixed postponed scan x times dialog
• Changed some of the messages to make them more easily understandable

WHAT'S NEW (version 0.3):

• New icons
• Bonager icon in every window
• Icon now shows status: changes icon to notify state when scan will happen at next boot (removed 0.2 background change)
• Support for multiple partitions!
• Smart selection of the partition that will force a scan first: now Bonager uses information from the partition that requires a scan for warnings, etc.

WHAT'S NEW (version 0.2):

• Dapper is now supported! Edgy and Dapper are supported in one deb file!
• Background of tray icon changes colour to warn of scan on the next bootup.
• Changes the tray icon digit to always be 2 digits - the tray icon will no longer change its size.
• Tray icon now shows the number of mounts before next forced scan.
• Fixed bugs that caused crashes and other problems.

DOWNLOAD:
>>> Bonager v0.6.0 <<<

SUGGESTIONS, CRITICISMS & FEEDBACK:
Please make suggestions and criticisms in this forum. Any feedback about Bonager is VERY much appreciated!

[Not the man I once was]

Greetings All,

That is an absolutely excellent looking application and I can't wait to use it on my system although I realise that it's only just been released and there are certainly going to be issues. I see simplicity is the main aim of this program and I'm certainly taken by the icon you've designed, it fits into the feeling of the Operating System well.

Well done on your project and I wish you luck on progressing your application. What format would you prefer feedback to be in? Are you taking suggestions for future versions of the program and do you plan the expand the feature set?

Regards,

Not the man I once was

[maniacmusician]

planning a QT frontend, or not so much?

[kvonb]

EXCELLENT!

Did you write this? If so then you are my hero of the week

I just tried to install it, (Dapper 686 32bit), but the following happened:

(see attached screenshots)

[AgenT]

Originally Posted by Not the man I once was I see simplicity is the main aim of this program

Yes, simplicity was a major factor in how this program was designed. After all, it is a program that is meant to solve a simple problem. "Keep it simple" - that's the motto, one may say.

Originally Posted by Not the man I once was I'm certainly taken by the icon you've designed, it fits into the feeling of the Operating System well.

This is NOT my design. I found it somewhere and in the next release or two, I intend on giving credit to the author of the icon. Right now, I do not know who the author is exactly, but I do know that the icon is an icon under the common license (the GPL for media).

Originally Posted by Not the man I once was Well done on your project and I wish you luck on progressing your application.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Not the man I once was What format would you prefer feedback to be in?

What do you mean by format? As in thread reply, email or something else? For now, please reply to this thread.

Originally Posted by Not the man I once was Are you taking suggestions for future versions of the program and do you plan the expand the feature set?

YES, please give any and all suggestions you can muster! Do not be shy about criticism. In terms of feature expansion: YES, please make any suggestions. But please keep in mind that this program should stay SIMPLE and (this being VERY important) SAFE to use. Safe includes being true to system (Ubuntu in this case) default configurations and settings.

[AgenT]

Originally Posted by maniacmusician planning a QT frontend, or not so much?

No plan to start on one right now, but who knows. The nice thing about this program is that the behind the scenes stuff is done with the backend, while the front end manages, well, what you see. This should make making a QT tray icon easier.

However, please note that this is my first python applications and my first gnome/gtk application. And I have never coded anything for QT, nor do I use it (although I can always install it).

What I would really like is to make it DE neutral, but am not sure that this is possible with tray programs.

Also, it may be possible to use this without having GNOME, but you will need to install the gnome dependencies.

[DoctorMO]

AgentT, You seem to have a good eye for the usability aspects of software development. perhaps we can come up with a barter your skills for mine. Dohickey (dohickey.sourceforge.net) if you could give it the once over to find any nooks that might get the end user confuised it would save time in the future.

[AgenT]

Originally Posted by kvonb EXCELLENT! Did you write this? If so then you are my hero of the week

Yes, I wrote this (but did NOT design the icon - see post above).

Originally Posted by kvonb I just tried to install it, (Dapper 686 32bit), but the following happened:

I do not have Dapper (currently using Edgy), and have made the deb file according to the dependencies that I used and know make the program work.

If you give me the following information, I can make a deb for Dapper. But this will be at your own risk and I cannot test the deb for Dapper compatibility. The information I need is this:

Please provide me with the full output of these commands (and tell me what output corresponds to what command):

dpkg-query -s python | grep Version
dpkg-query -s python-gnome2-extras | grep Version
dpkg-query -s python-gtk2 | grep Version
dpkg-query -L python-gnome2-extras

Please wrap your ouput in code tags so that it is easier to read.

[AgenT]

Originally Posted by DoctorMO AgentT, You seem to have a good eye for the usability aspects of software development. perhaps we can come up with a barter your skills for mine. Dohickey (dohickey.sourceforge.net) if you could give it the once over to find any nooks that might get the end user confuised it would save time in the future.

Thank you for your compliments. As a courtesy to other forum readers, I will not answer further questions about this very nice, but offtopic, post in this thread. However, please private message me using the forum (click on my name) and we can talk about it further.

[darkhatter]

I think you should take all these little tools that have been coming out, and make a ubuntu style yast.