The forum

Installed Wine, then I installed Playonlinux. I'm guessing that is not the preferred method.

When I went to install something, Playonlinux tried to install Wine again--the same version. Additionally, it did not detect my existing .wine directory.

Shouldn't Playonlinux be smarter than that. Shouldn't it detect an existing .wine directory?

This may be the default behavior, but I think that it can be much improved. Am I supposed to restart the computer or something? This is Linux not Windows.

A little guidance and consideration on a fix for this issue would be appreciated.

Tom

By the way, your server responds in French when I post. I do know some French, but I'm using the English version of this page. This happens sometimes, but not always.

Edited by thomassisson

The whole point of PlayOnLinux is having separate Wine versions. the ~/.wine folder has really nothing to do with the ~/.PlayOnLinux/ folder. This is completely normal. Dont worry about it.

The documentation for this is on the site. You should probably read it, as it will clear up some issues with how it works.

http://www.playonmac.com/en/documentation.html

More info here:

http://wiki.winehq.org/PlayOnLinux

Also, the server has a lot of French on it, even in the English forums. The admins and devs (with the exception of me) are all in France. It is slowly being translated, but its nothing to worry about.

When I went to install something, Playonlinux tried to install Wine again--the same version. Additionally, it did not detect my existing .wine directory.

It will not always be the same version. They are different depending on the script being ran.

Shouldn't Playonlinux be smarter than that. Shouldn't it detect an existing .wine directory?

It is. You just didnt read the instructions on how to use it, and dont understand how it works. ;) Read those links I posted, and that should clear it up.

You POL folder is:

~/.PlayOnLinux/

and your applications that are installed through POL are located in:

~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/

This may be the default behavior, but I think that it can be much improved. Am I supposed to restart the computer or something? This is Linux not Windows.

Again, this is because you have no clue how this program works. Nothing told you to restart the computer, so where did that come from? Also, we are aware that its Linux, and not Windows, hence the name "PlayOnLinux".

Sarcasm will not get you too far, so you can dial it back just a tad, considering that you havent read any of the instructions for PlayOnLinux and are unaware of how it functions on your system.

A little guidance and consideration on a fix for this issue would be appreciated.

Here is the fix: Read the manual. This is all in print, and very easily explained using those 2 links that I sent you.

I was always under the impression that Wine had to be installed first after installing a fresh copy of Linux.
I thought the "default" prefix in PlayOnLinux was based on the initial Wine installation...
So, can I just install PlayOnLinux without Wine at all and Let PlayOnLinux manage the Wine versions for me?

No, You do need an actual copy of Wine installed globally in your system. The POL versions of wine only have a couple of folders out of the whole wine install, but none are contained within ~/.wine. Wine is a prerequisite, but other than a system version being installed, using that folder does nothing, and will not interfere with POL. The default folder, for the most part, can be ignored. This is the one located at ~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/default/

So, to clarify, Wine does have to be installed in the system as a prerequisite for PlayOnLinux. BUT, anything done outside of PlayOnLinux with the ~/.wine folder will do nothing to the folders in the ~/.PlayOnLinux folder. That is what makes POL work; staying separate from other folders, including the .wine folder, so that different versions of wine can be used from within POLs folders.

I'm sure you have explained this elsewhere... thank you for taking the time to repeat it.
I'll continue my strategy when installing a Fresh Linux Operating System:
1. Install Wine
2. Install PlayOnLinux

Yeah. It will require it for sure. :) POL only takes a few of the folders from a full wine install and puts them in to a special folder to hold them. It uses some of the system wine components, but as to how it exactly works totally, I am not sure. lol

Me either... as long as it works and my games are playing fine... I'm happy

I wish I could say the same for me. I have to understand as much as possible. hahaha. Learning is always a fun endeavor, though.

Well of course, but I have a hard time understanding absolutely everything... sometimes I have to just trust that it works.