I’ve had several requests for a portable (i.e., setup-less) version of Sublime Text, and while there is currently the --data command line parameter that is enough to enable it, it’s still more work to setup than it needs to be. My current plan for this is:

• If there’s a directory called ‘Data’ in the same directory as sublimetext.exe, then use that as the data directory, and not %APPDATA%/Sublime Text.

• Provide a downloadable .zip in addition to the setup exe, that would be otherwise identical, but contain a Data subdirectory to trigger the above behaviour.

Are there any scenarios for a portable version that the above wouldn’t cover?

Also, I’m vaguely considering moving to an automatic update system in the future, is there some sort of consensus about whether a portable version should participate in this or not?

Jon,

Maybe I’m missing the obvious, but what would the point of an installed version then? If you’d put the unzipped folder in your %APPDATA% you get roughly the same result.

Maybe the context menu entry to open files?

I’m all in favor of a portable version and I don’t anticipate any problems with automatic updates.

The advantage of the installed version is that it requires a little less thinking - you don’t have to worry about where to put it, just double click the installer, hit next a few times, and you’ll have a entry in your start menu for it. The explorer context menu is a handy thing to have too, as you mention.

The installed version does make sense.
When I install SublimeText, I expect it to do all sorts of things like set up a Start Menu entry, add itself to the Add/Remove programs dialog, put itself in Program Files, etc.

As for auto-updating, I’d actually stay away from auto-updating the portable version, since most people will be carrying it around in a flash disk, and you don’t want to start messing around with files there.
On the other hand, if it asks whether it should update itself (which it should do anyway, I suppose), I don’t see any harm in it.

I like this idea. It would certainly make things simpler and more seamless in my case.

This is my current “portable” setup:
SublimeText is installed in my DropBox folder, which is substed to drive X:
This way, the path to sublime (and my custom data folder) is the same on my two machines.
I only need to update Sublime on one machine; however, I need to run a .reg file after updating to add a --data option to the Open with sublime text function.

re: automatic update system: How would that work for users using the beta versions (which I believe is the majority of users?)

Oh and if you ever add an option to add/remove file associations, please don’t remove it from the portable version

I would favor to Portable Sublime, in an obvious of mobility i can code anywhere anytime, using my favorite editor sublime … hack-on-the-go…

Hey!

I’m currently testing the portable version (20100913), I’ve manually installed PackageDownloader to help me download the others packages.
Even if I create a shortcut for sublime sublimetext.exe --data Data, PackageDownloader keeps wanting to download them in %APPDATA%…

Am I missing the obvious?

Note: I also have a version of ST installed locally.

I can’t speak for PackageDownloader, but to install a .sublime-package file manually in the portable version, place it within the “Data/Installed Packages” directory and restart.

Yeah, I don’t think the Package Downloader has been touched since before portable Sublime came to be. I didn’t write it, but may be able to take a look at it. Should be a pretty easy fix.