sloeber in linux multiuser environment

[mwisse01]

Hallo,
we are a university and want to use sloeber for education on our linux workstations. It is a multiuser environment, so no normal user has write access on installation directories, only on his user directory.
I installed sloeber in eclipse as root and if I start eclipse as normal user, an error window appears: "the folder .../eclipse/arduinoPlugin exists but sloeber does not have write access. Alternatively use environment SLOEBER_HOME".

Neither it is a solution for us to give all users write access on the eclipse/sloeber installation directory, nor to use SLOEBER_HOME and point to the home directory of the user, because then every user fills the home directory with dublicated installation stuff.
Most eclipse plugins I know don't need write access to the plugin installation directory (in an environment like ours) , why does sloeber need it?
Do you have a suggestion, what can I do?

Regards and thanks for your support.
Michael

[jantje]

Most eclipse plugins I know don't need write access to the plugin installation directory (in an environment like ours) , why does sloeber need it?

That is because Sloeber is not like most plugins.
Sloeber implements the arduino framework which is designed to download and install software and configuration files.
Therefore sloeber needs a place to store and access the downloaded files.

Can you share the files on a shared disk drive?
If you control the environment 100% I guess you can. In this case the SLOEBER_HOME environment variable can point to a location on a shared drive and everyone uses the same "downloaded content"
However there are some caveats because Sloeber is not setup for multiple users. That means any user is capable of changing the content on the SLOEBER_HOME folder (If all the configuration has been done and available on SLOEBER_HOME Sloeber may work with a read only SLOEBER_HOME folder; only testing will proof this right or wrong)
Configuring sloeber not to download/update from the internet (and training users not to change these settings) is part of the required customization. (see the workaround in #1731 for more details for this)
If you start this effort I would advice to start from V5 as it is likely some code changes are needed and I will not update V4.

[mwisse01]

Thanks for your reply.

If you start this effort I would advice to start from V5 as it is likely some code changes are needed and I will not update V4.

Which effort do you mean, trying sloeber to work with a read only SLOEBER_HOME folder or to configure sloeber not to download/update from the internet? You mean, I have to do some code changes, even if I use V5? There is no precompiled version 5 on your website yet and eclipse marketplace only finds V4.4.2, so if I want to use V5 then I have to build from sources for myself ? Regards.

[jantje]

Which effort do you mean

Sloeber is not designed to work with many users using the same sloeber home folder.
I know some issues -which I think all can be worked around- but from experience I know: If you have not tried it; you do not know.
Anything that becomes blocking to roll this out at your location but can be fixed in Sloeber is an effort that I will have to take on.

I have to do some code changes

How do you come to the conclusion you would have to do this?

There is no precompiled version 5 on your website yet

All downloadable versions are here on github (the website are links to github versions). The latest V5 is here https://github.com/Sloeber/arduino-eclipse-plugin/actions/runs/21153570323
I strongly advice to use the sloeber product downloaded from github; configure it to the requirements of your environment (test it) and if acceptable distribute the preconfigured sloeber to the client systems.

FYI: V5 is basically finished but the projects are not compatible with V4 projects so migration code needs to be written. Somehow it is hard to finish this task.

[mwisse01]

How do you come to the conclusion you would have to do this?

I could not imagine, that you do code changes for a single request. But I think, a multiuser environment is not an unusual use case. It would be fine, if sloeber would better be suitable for such environments, universities and schools would be deeply grateful. By the way, I tried Arduino IDE and it has similar problems with this use case. I will try V5 and could you give me some hints, how to configure it to work without write access to sloeber plugin? Thanks for your support. Michael — Reply to this email directly, [ #1747 (comment) | view it on GitHub ] , or [ https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BSQJBTM3GCZ47QT7U5HTFZD4I6MXTAVCNFSM6AAAAACS5NQYR2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNRSGAYDAMI | unsubscribe ] . You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jantje]

I have been thinking about the "sloeber home without write access".
I assume you are the operations person requested with the roll-out but not the business requester.
I think you should have a talk with the requester to see whether the "sloeber home without write access" matches the business requests. (I can join if needed)
Basically you need to know what the professor has planned as use cases for the users/students.
Use cases /statements incompatible with the "sloeber home without write access" are
-The students can use any board they want (unless someone with write access to SLOEBER_HOME wants to add these boards for the students)
-The students install the board on their system
-The students can work on a linux or windows system (that would require 2 sloeber_homes which is in my book unmaintainable)

Also
As you noticed in your first post: Sloeber does a write privilege test somewhere. For the "sloeber home without write access" to work a special Sloeber version will have to be created.

[mwisse01]

Thanks for your reply.

I assume you are the operations person requested with the roll-out but not the business requester.

This is correct, but I am in the quite comfortable position, that I can tell, what we can do and how we can do it, so I can exclude such incompatible use cases. Our practical lessons are so, that there are specified tasks with some specified boards. In the past, Windows with arduino ide was used and I want to change this, because I prefer linux and eclipse. But I would rather use the sloeber eclipse plugin, because then I only need one eclipse version and can install plugins I need. In sloeber ide, there is unfortunately no eclipse marketplace (ok, "install new software" exists). I tested the prebuild ide version with sloeber V5 and perhaps I did something wrong. The ide starts without sloeber buttons and there is no possibility to create a sloeber project/arduino sketch. I attached a screenshot. If I have a look at installation details, then sloeber is present. I use openjdk17 on RockyLinux9 (it's a free version of RHEL). I compared it with the same windows version and there everything is as expected: sloeber buttons and the possibility to create an arduino project. Regards. Michael

[jantje]

In sloeber ide, there is unfortunately no eclipse marketplace (ok, "install new software" exists).

I guess I can add that.

attached a screenshot

Unfortunately I do not see it. I think it is better to respond in github so the mail content is not constantly repeated on github.

I use openjdk17

Normally sloeber should install java automatically (because a included eclipse plugin does that)

The ide starts without sloeber buttons and there is no possibility to create a sloeber project/arduino sketch

Are you sure you are in sloeber perspective?

[mwisse01]

Sorry, I wanted to delete the previous content, but then I forgot it.
Unfortunately there is no sloeber perspective and the about window looks strange.

[jantje]

I see Sloeber says it requires JavaSE-21. That may be why it is not loaded.

[mwisse01]

Thanks, now it is loaded.
The base is 2024-09/Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers ?

If I start it as root, I could add an Arduino Due board. I first created a project for Arduino Due as root.
If I then start sloeber as user, then there is one error message because of missing write access and I could compile and load a test program to let the builtin led blink.
It seems, that it is neccessary to create at first a project for a specific board as root and then it works as user, too.
Edit: There are errors in the workspace error log window: "Abnormal workbench Condition". But I can't see any impacts.

[jantje]

The base is 2024-09/Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers ?

Actions are build using the latest eclipse repository so I guess it is 2026 something now.

If I then start sloeber as user, then there is one error message because of missing write access and I could compile and load a test program to let the builtin led blink.

Good to hear that.

then there is one error message because of missing write access

I'm considering to add following code.
When the SLOEBER_HOME folder is read only; read the file sloeber.cfg in the SLOEBER_HOME folder with a format of.

SloeberHome.readOnly=true
SloeberHome.maintainer.name=[someone to contact in cases of problems]
SloeberHome.maintainer.email=[email to contact in cases of problems]

This way sloeber can disable "board and library manager read functionality" for "read only users" and provide information "who to contact to do those things" while everything remains the same for write access users.

It seems, that it is neccessary to create at first a project for a specific board as root and then it works as user, too.

Absolutely necessary and something I'm looking for to change.
Here is why I think a multiuser environment needs this change.
When you installed a package there is a boards.txt platform.txt and maybe a programmers.txt. Sloeber wants a slightly different pre processed format for these files and creates a temporary sloeber variant (boards.sloeber.txt ...) when the board is used and the variant does not yet exist.

A thing to consider here is that a upgrade of sloeber may invalidate the sloeber.txt files because the format version has been upgraded.
This is done based on the first line in the sloeber.txt file which looks something like
#Sloeber created TXT file V3.00.test 38
Which means everybody has to be on the same sloeber version (even same os windows/linux) and during a upgrade the maintainer needs to upgrade all the sloeber.txt files.

As the solution I'm thinking to put these files in the temp folder instead -in case of a intentionally non-writable SLOEBER_HOME folder as indicated in the sloeber.cfg file-.
I think I prefer to always use the local temp folder as that will be easier to test and cause less confusion when something goes wrong (at least you should know which file is being used) but I'm open for suggestions.

There are errors in the workspace error log window: "Abnormal workbench Condition".

Pretty sure this is not a message provided by one of the Sloeber plugins.

[jantje]

Thinking about the "Abnormal workbench Condition".
I assume you have put the whole sloeber product in read only (except for root).
But eclipse uses a configuration folder under the root folder of eclipse which also requires write access.
Please see eclipse documentation for this as this is better to be fixed.

[mwisse01]

The base is 2024-09/Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers ?
Actions are build using the latest eclipse repository so I guess it is 2026 something now.

The readme-eclipse.html says "Release 4.33" (this would be 09/2024) but I think this readme is not updated regularly. So it is Release 2025-12.
It is the " IDE for C/C++ Developers" edition?

But eclipse uses a configuration folder under the root folder of eclipse which also requires write access.

We use eclipse for many years for basic C/C++ development in a read-only environment and I never saw this error message.
There are no effects of this error, so I can live with it.

I think I prefer to always use the local temp folder.

I think, this is a good idea, just like adding the eclipse marketplace client, because there are other plugins missing, like eg. Terminal.
But the best solution (in my opinion) would be to provide sloeber as plugin to install via the marketplace.

Regards.
Michael

[jantje]

It is the " IDE for C/C++ Developers" edition?

Eclipse doesn't work this way. So no it is not. Basically in eclipse one can create a plugin of the type product which bundles a set of plugins and adds splash srceen and licensing and ... to make it a product.
As far as I know you can not make a product from a product.
In other words: Sloeber uses components (plugins) from CDT but does not come with everything from CDT.
Also note that V5 contains a rewrite of managed build.

because there are other plugins missing, like eg. Terminal.

Sloeber does not need the Terminal as it has it's own serial monitor (allowing to connect to multiple arduino's at the same time and to have plotter functionality)
But I have added marketplace to the sloeber product on your request this weekend.

Sloeber can be installed via the marketplace but marketplace filters on the eclipse version you use and I have not updated the compatibility of sloeber versus eclipse in the marketplace.
Installing plugins is risky as there may be incompatibilities so I prefer "new users" to go with the product (which is a bundling of everything I think you may need to run Sloeber)

[mwisse01]

Ok, then I'm looking forward to the next sloeber update, if as eclipse product and/or as plugin. Thanks for seizing my suggestions. Michael