How do I run the GUI

[TonyginSLC]

I feel like a bit of a fool here, but I've run through the installation process and I don't know how to run the GUI. It didn't create an entry on the application launcher. Please help. Thank you. Oh and by the way please please please build a dbb package

[jack-ullery]

Thank you for your message, it was the motivation I needed to finally post the Debian package.

If the icon doesn't show up, you should be able to run the GUI by typing appanvil in a terminal. If that doesn't work then it probably did not build/install correctly.

Or maybe you would like to be among the first to experiment with the Debian package?

Steps for installing Debian package

1. Make sure you uninstall whatever you built before by running: sudo make uninstall
   • You can verify this worked by attempt to run appanvil in a terminal, and making sure it fails.
2. Download the Debian package from: https://github.com/jack-ullery/AppAnvil/releases/tag/v1.0.0
3. Run apt install ./appanvil_1.0.0_amd64.deb

And that should work. At least it worked for me in a VM on Debian Testing.
Of course, afterwards you can always uninstall by running sudo apt purge appanvil.

It would be great to hear any opinions.

[nobody43]

Please build for bookworm. testing is an edge case.

root@debian12# apt install ./appanvil_1.0.0_amd64.deb
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'appanvil' instead of './appanvil_1.0.0_amd64.deb'
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 appanvil : Depends: libatkmm-1.6-1v5 (>= 2.28.4) but 2.28.3-1 is to be installed
            Depends: libc6 (>= 2.38) but 2.36-9+deb12u7 is to be installed
            Depends: libglib2.0-0t64 (>= 2.32.0) but it is not installable
            Depends: libglibmm-2.4-1t64 (>= 2.66.7) but it is not installable
            Depends: libgtkmm-3.0-1t64 (>= 3.24.9) but it is not installable
            Depends: libjsoncpp26 (>= 1.9.6) but it is not installable
            Depends: libstdc++6 (>= 14) but 12.2.0-14 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
root@debian12:/root# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Debian
Description:	Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Release:	12
Codename:	bookworm

[jack-ullery]

Yeah, good point. I'm spinning up another VM right now, and experimenting with building in a Docker container. I'll try to get something out later this weekend, but maybe not tonight.

Eventually I'll try to get OBS working again, so we can build for many distributions/architectures.

[jack-ullery]

Debian files for both Bookworm/Trixie are now uploaded.

[TonyginSLC]

This is excellent. Nice work.

[TonyginSLC]

I feel rather stupid asking this question, but with this app, is there a way to change a profile from say "enforce" to "complain"? Or, if there is some documentation on that already, would you mind pointing me to it?

[jack-ullery]

You're not stupid, that's really useful feedback! If it's not intuitive, it's a design flaw. When an interface is designed well, these things should be immediately apparent.

The way to do that currently is to click the name in the row, and a drop down box should appear:

[jack-ullery]

This isn't obvious because GTK can be difficult, and I haven't found a good way to hint that the field is clickable. Ideally, when you move your mouse over, the "enforce" cell should change color or even at least passively show that it is editable.

We also have this problem when changing the "Execute" permission of file rules.

[jack-ullery]

If anything else is confusing or if there's something you would like to be able to do, feedback like this is super useful!
I am not a UX Designer. It can be hard to know what is confusing or hidden when you developed the interface yourself.

[jack-ullery]

Added an issue #96

[TonyginSLC]

Thank you very much for clarifying. I'll continue to give you feedback as it comes along. Take care. Regards,

…

--Tony

________________________________ From: Jack Ullery ***@***.***> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2025 7:01 PM To: jack-ullery/AppAnvil ***@***.***> Cc: Tony G. Meyer ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [jack-ullery/AppAnvil] How do I run the GUI (Discussion #94) If anything else is confusing or if there's something you would like to be able to do, feedback like this is super useful! I am not a UX Designer. It can be hard to know what is confusing or hidden when you developed the interface yourself. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#94 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AUO755IV7N4UJU24SAPZGKT2XHQNDAVCNFSM6AAAAABZWHZVRWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTENRYGI2TGNA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[TonyginSLC]

Another bit of feedback I might provide. Sometimes when I open the application it shows nothing under both processes and profile. I have not determined the pattern yet, so right now I would call that behavior sporadic. Unless, of course, I am doing something wrong. Regards,

…

--Tony

________________________________ From: Jack Ullery ***@***.***> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2025 7:01 PM To: jack-ullery/AppAnvil ***@***.***> Cc: Tony G. Meyer ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [jack-ullery/AppAnvil] How do I run the GUI (Discussion #94) If anything else is confusing or if there's something you would like to be able to do, feedback like this is super useful! I am not a UX Designer. It can be hard to know what is confusing or hidden when you developed the interface yourself. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#94 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AUO755IV7N4UJU24SAPZGKT2XHQNDAVCNFSM6AAAAABZWHZVRWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTENRYGI2TGNA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[TonyginSLC]

I believe I may have found the answer to my last email about the processes and profile sections being blank. If I run the application as root (sudo), that issue goes away. Regards,

…

--Tony

________________________________ From: Jack Ullery ***@***.***> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2025 7:01 PM To: jack-ullery/AppAnvil ***@***.***> Cc: Tony G. Meyer ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [jack-ullery/AppAnvil] How do I run the GUI (Discussion #94) If anything else is confusing or if there's something you would like to be able to do, feedback like this is super useful! I am not a UX Designer. It can be hard to know what is confusing or hidden when you developed the interface yourself. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#94 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AUO755IV7N4UJU24SAPZGKT2XHQNDAVCNFSM6AAAAABZWHZVRWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTENRYGI2TGNA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[TonyginSLC]

Sorry for the barrage of emails. When I do run the application as admin, I realized I see the following in the command prompt window: ***@***.***:~$ sudo appanvil [sudo] password for anthony: Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.plasma-welcome" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/plasmashell" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.libvirtd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.squid3" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.evince" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.tcpdump" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.named" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.ntpd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.apache2.mpm-prefork.apache2" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.chronyd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.clamd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.libvirt.virt-aa-helper" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.slapd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/gdm-guest-session" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.telepathy" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.dhcpd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/sbin.dhclient" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/unprivileged_userns" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss ***@***.***:~$ sudo appanvil Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.plasma-welcome" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/plasmashell" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.libvirtd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.squid3" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.evince" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.tcpdump" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.named" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.ntpd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.apache2.mpm-prefork.apache2" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.chronyd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.clamd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.libvirt.virt-aa-helper" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.slapd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/gdm-guest-session" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.telepathy" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.dhcpd" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/sbin.dhclient" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Error reading file: "/etc/apparmor.d/unprivileged_userns" Message: (%lu, %lu): %s%lu, %lu): %slu, %lu): %su, %lu): %s, %lu): %s %lu): %s%lu): %slu): %su): %s): %s: %s %s%ss Regards,

…

--Tony

________________________________ From: Jack Ullery ***@***.***> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2025 7:01 PM To: jack-ullery/AppAnvil ***@***.***> Cc: Tony G. Meyer ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [jack-ullery/AppAnvil] How do I run the GUI (Discussion #94) If anything else is confusing or if there's something you would like to be able to do, feedback like this is super useful! I am not a UX Designer. It can be hard to know what is confusing or hidden when you developed the interface yourself. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#94 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AUO755IV7N4UJU24SAPZGKT2XHQNDAVCNFSM6AAAAABZWHZVRWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTENRYGI2TGNA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

[jack-ullery]

Apologies for the late reply. This means there is a bug in the libappanvil library, and we were unable to parse the profile.

I should make that error message more helpful, and maybe follow up on this suggestion to test with more profiles. Really we'd probably want to update the parser, but that would take a good amount of work.

[jack-ullery]

Added an issue #98

[TonyginSLC]

Damn, you're going to be sick of me soon. I just realized that the reason I had to run the app under sudo is because the authorization dialog box was popping up behind the main application window. Once I answer it, the application populates. Regards,

…

--Tony

________________________________ From: Jack Ullery ***@***.***> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2025 7:01 PM To: jack-ullery/AppAnvil ***@***.***> Cc: Tony G. Meyer ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [jack-ullery/AppAnvil] How do I run the GUI (Discussion #94) If anything else is confusing or if there's something you would like to be able to do, feedback like this is super useful! I am not a UX Designer. It can be hard to know what is confusing or hidden when you developed the interface yourself. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#94 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AUO755IV7N4UJU24SAPZGKT2XHQNDAVCNFSM6AAAAABZWHZVRWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTENRYGI2TGNA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jack-ullery]

No worries at all! Thank you a lot for the comments because it helps remind me about this stuff. Glad you were able to figure it out.

If you click cancel to the authentication prompt, it should show a message on the GUI about this.

But maybe this needs to be reworded.

I also was completely unaware that the main application could show up over the pkexec authentication prompt. In Debian w/ GNOME this prompt grabs the focus, preventing the user from interacting with the application. That means I should probably have that "elevated privileges" message show up by default.

[jack-ullery]

Added an issue #97

[TonyginSLC]

One more little quirk I have found. When I am in the Profiles section, if I try to change the status of a given profile, I click on the down arrow to show the pick list and it almost immediately closes again. So I can't really change the status of a profile. Regards,

…

--Tony

________________________________ From: Jack Ullery ***@***.***> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2025 7:01 PM To: jack-ullery/AppAnvil ***@***.***> Cc: Tony G. Meyer ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [jack-ullery/AppAnvil] How do I run the GUI (Discussion #94) If anything else is confusing or if there's something you would like to be able to do, feedback like this is super useful! I am not a UX Designer. It can be hard to know what is confusing or hidden when you developed the interface yourself. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#94 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AUO755IV7N4UJU24SAPZGKT2XHQNDAVCNFSM6AAAAABZWHZVRWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTENRYGI2TGNA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jack-ullery]

Thanks for mentioning this. Yeah it looks like an issue in how we refresh the TreeView.

Behind the scenes (also related to your next comment). AppAnvil calls our helper binary aa-caller every 5 seconds to looks for changes in profiles, processes, or logs. It then updates the TreeView table in a silly way that I guess unexpands the column.

There's a lot that can be done to fix this issue and probably the whole aa-caller loop should be overhauled.

[jack-ullery]

Added an issue #99

[TonyginSLC]

Another:

While running Appanvil, I get this in my logs every 5 seconds:

anthony: Executing command [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/usr/sbin] [COMMAND=/usr/bin/aa-caller -s]

[jack-ullery]

As mentioned above, that is expected behavior for now.

Although thinking about this made me realize, maybe we can do something to avoid this whole polling situation. We might be able to make aa-caller a persistent process, which would lower the amount of these logs. This would be a reasonably big update to the code, but would fix a bunch of problems (including #80 and the one you mentioned earlier).

[jack-ullery]

I updated the title of issue #80.

Thanks again for all the feedback. It really is useful!

[TonyginSLC]

No problem. I use my Linux machine daily and therefore would likely use AppAnvil quite frequently. If you would like someone to test alpha or beta releases, I would be glad to. I am in IT as a profession. Not a coder though, I'm on the networking side. So I do have a good base of technical knowledge. So that offer is out there.