Installation

The easiest way to install When is using pipx: this works both on Windows and Linux, at least in the tested distributions. Installation on Linux is somewhat more complicated due to the need of fulfilling the requirements before successfully running the application. On Windows the requirements are easier to deal with, in the sense that only Python and pipx need to be installed.

Requirements:

Note that even though a recent release of whenever is required for When to work as intended, When itself can be used to properly install and configure the core scheduler as described below.

Windows

These steps can be followed on both Windows 10 and Windows 11:

  1. install Python using one of the official installation methods

  2. install pipx by issuing the command py -m pip install --user pipx in a console window: after installation launch pipx ensurepath from the command prompt

  3. install the latest release of When, using pipx:

    pipx install https://github.com/almostearthling/when-command/releases/latest/download/when-command-latest.zip

  4. close the current console window, and open a new one: this is to ensure that the updated PATH environemnt variable is active

  5. install whenever using the When installation tool: when tool --install-whenever

  6. launch the configuration utility, by typing when config on the command line: create a task and a condition of your choice, and save the configuration file by clicking the Save button. The simple trace example in the tutorial can be a good choice to verify that everything works as expected.

Once a configuration is available, the resident application can be started from the command line using the when start command. A shortcut can be created as described below. On Windows, the when-bg command can be used instead of when to launch the application detached from a console window.

Linux

These steps can be followed on recent Linux distributions that derive from Debian, using a terminal:

  1. install, as root or via sudo, the common requirements:

    sudo apt install build-essential libdbus-1-dev pkg-config \
                 libx11-dev libxss-dev libglib2.0-dev libdbus-1-dev \
                 python3-tk python3-pip pipx

  2. on Debian, install the Gnome Shell Extension Manager (which will appear in the activities dashboard as Extension Manager):

    sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

    while on Ubuntu and derivatives, the AppIndicator support libraries are needed:

    sudo apt install libcairo2-dev libgirepository-2.0-dev gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1

    (the gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1 might be already present on the system)

  3. launch pipx ensurepath from the terminal: it should be done as the current user and not as root

  4. on Debian, start the Gnome shell extension manager, choose the Browse tab, scroll down to AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support (you can use the search bar to find the entry) and install it

    GnomeExtensionManager

  5. install the latest release of When, using pipx:

    pipx install https://github.com/almostearthling/when-command/releases/latest/download/when-command-latest.zip

  6. close the current console window, and open a new one: this is to ensure that the updated PATH environemnt variable is active

  7. install whenever using the When installation tool:

    when tool --install-whenever

  8. launch the configuration utility, by typing when config on the command line: create a task and a condition of your choice, and save the configuration file by clicking the Save button. The simple trace example in the tutorial can be a good choice to verify that everything works as expected.

Once a configuration is available, the resident application can be started from the command line using the when start command. A shortcut can be created as described below. The when-bg command also exists on Linux, but its behavior is absolutely identical to when.

On non-Debian-based distributions, the package manager and the package names in steps 1 and 2 will be different, while everything else should work exactly as described above.

Note: in case the appearance of When is quirky, for example the text elements in the interface are unreadable, you might need to start the desktop environment in an X.org session instead of Wayland that is the default on many Linux distributions:

GnomeLogin

Older editions of Wayland have incomplete support for the GUI library used by When, which on the other side is the one that ships with Python by default.

Create Application Icons

The --create-icons subcommand can be used to create icons in the Start or Applications menu, and on the user desktop. In particular, the following subcommand:

when tool --create-icons --autostart

will create the appropriate icons in the menu and create a shortcut that launches When and activates the whenever scheduler each time the desktop session is started.

Upgrade

The upgrade process is quite easy with this type of setup, and it just consists in the following command, issued from a terminal or command window (depending on the host operating system):

pipx upgrade when

and there is no need to recreate the program icons, as the existing ones will continue to work. It might be necessary to stop When during the upgrade process. To upgrade whenever it is sufficient to repeat its installation step, that is:

when tool --install-whenever

which will always download and install the most recent binary release.

Installation Scope

Both the installation of When using the pipx method and the installation of whenever using the --install-whenever tool are performed at the user level: neither one requires other privileges than write in the home directory. However, this also means that no other user, except the one performing the above defined actions, will be able to access either When or whenever.

See Also

◀ Main