[RFC] AppImage for OCR-D

[stweil]

An AppImage for OCR-D might be an interesting alternative to Docker containers.

AppImages contain all code and data for one or several applications in a single file (technically a compressed filesystem embedded into a standalone Linux executable). They only work on Linux, but don't require a special distribution or pre-installed packages. Their only requirement is working FUSE (user space filesystem).

Building an AppImage with similar contents as the current Docker containers has some challenges, but should be possible.

[mikegerber]

proof-of-concept AppImage for ocrd core: #130 (comment)

[cneud]

I think thar for target group an AppImage could indeed have a lot to offer, since it does not require superuser rights on the host (contrary to Docker).

[mikegerber]

From what I can see (#130 (comment)) the one big problem is the handling of the working directory. Other than that it seems relatively easy to do.