Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-10 Thread Jason Edgecombe
Marius Vollmer wrote:
> "ext Mike Lococo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
>   
>> - Debtags-based searches: Give AppMgr a real search facility, and ship 
>> canned-queries like "graphical apps", "terminal apps", etc.
>> 
>
> I like this best.
I'm cool with this as long as I can put openafs in some reasonable 
category and install it without resorting to apt-get on the command-line.

Jason

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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-10 Thread Eero Tamminen
Hi,

ext Mike Lococo wrote:
>> But I do think that there should be a category specifically for command line 
>> tools so that people who do not use the command line don't have to waste 
>> time 
>> on them.  And I also agree that a GUI configuration dialogue for a system 
>> tool is much better than expecting someone to edit a config file.
> 
> This stikes me as a similarly flawed approach.  Terminal-based 
> applications have the same range of functionality that graphical 
> applications have, so you either need to duplicate your category list in 
> two places (and force users interested in both types to look twice), or 
> you stop categorizing terminal-apps altogether (and leave users that use 
> them with the bad categorization problem we have now).
> 
> Some alternate approaches...
> 
> - Standard labels: A -cli suffix at the end of each app name would allow 
> users to quickly recognize and skip terminal apps if they aren't 
> interested in them.  Even just including a note in the description would 
> be sufficient in my mind.


Most of these packages come unmodified from Debian, so changing
the package name is not really good solution.  Having this
in description is even worse, AM couldn't filter them out for
normal users ("aunt Tilly").


> - Debtags-based searches: Give AppMgr a real search facility, and ship 
> canned-queries like "graphical apps", "terminal apps", etc.
> 
> - Advanced-Browsing mode: With proper package classification and the 
> existence of extras-devel to hide truly dangerous apps, red-pill (or 
> something similar) could be made into a more discoverable "advanced 
> browsing" mode that hides end-user apps that are likely to be 
> uninteresting to grandma-types that folks seem so concerned about.  Give 
> it a normal preference checkbox, and have it do some debtag or other 
> magic to hide complicated stuff, while making it easy and safe for users 
> who want to see the full range of available software.  I do think any 
> binary solution like this which is aimed at hiding apps that are "too 
> hard" will ultimately prove to be unscalable and unhealthy for the 
> community, which depends on folks discovering challenges which interest 
> them and choosing to learn something new.  If the binary filtering is at 
> least easy to disable/ignore, as proposed above, the damage will be 
> minimal though.

Showing by default only packages with certain tags and having some
UI for configuring which to show sounds fine to me, but upstream
Debian compatibility should be kept in mind when designing this
(which tags to use, propagating tag changes back to Debian etc).



- Eero

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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-10 Thread Eero Tamminen
Hi,

ext Andrew Flegg wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 10:47 PM, tz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> This is a problem since there may be various enhancements which are
>> part of an EXISTING interface.  Consider media codecs like ogg
>> support
> 
> If an ogg support package instantly provides ogg capability in
> existing media players, without any further configuration; no further
> GUI is required and it can go directly in user/multimedia.

Problems should be solved properly, not with user unfriendly kludges.
How "aunt Tilly" would know which codec package to install?

For the media codecs, the device should detect that a currently
unsupported codec is needed and ask user whether one should be
downloaded.


>> filesystems.  Or for example I ported WebDav so I have
>> access to my mac.com idisk from my tablet.  I could write a trivial
>> user/password popup, but that is the tail wagging the dog.
> 
> No, it's not wagging the dog. If a user needs to open a terminal,
> create a configuration file and run something from the command line; I
> *strongly* believe it's outside the scope of the Application Manager.
> 
> Since there's a requirement to use the terminal to configure it, it is
> no extra step to require the user to use apt-get to install it.

Agree.


- Eero
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-09 Thread Marius Vollmer
"ext Mike Lococo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> - Debtags-based searches: Give AppMgr a real search facility, and ship 
> canned-queries like "graphical apps", "terminal apps", etc.

I like this best.
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-09 Thread Graham Cobb
On Saturday 08 November 2008 19:28:57 Mike Lococo wrote:
> This stikes me as a similarly flawed approach.  Terminal-based
> applications have the same range of functionality that graphical
> applications have, so you either need to duplicate your category list in
> two places (and force users interested in both types to look twice), or
> you stop categorizing terminal-apps altogether (and leave users that use
> them with the bad categorization problem we have now).

Good point.  I withdraw the suggestion for a category for CLI tools.  I like 
your suggestion of standardising on some debtags to indicate a CLI tool as I 
am hoping that, one day in the future, AppMgr will gain a debtags search 
function.

Graham
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-09 Thread Ryan Abel
On Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 2:02 PM, tz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> If the whole application manager apt-get dists debian system is going
> to be so brittle that the only SAFE way to get an application on to
> your system is with Application Manager in blue-pill mode, then there
> should be a user/cli category or something.
>

apt-get upgrade wont break your system if you're not fetching from
every insane repository you can find. An apt-get dist-upgrade, on the
other hand, will break things when it pulls in coreutils if you have
the SDK repository enabled, but Nokia is very clear about that not
being intended for the device.

Red Pill and SDK repos are a misdirection, please leave them out of
this discussion, as they aren't relevant here.

The question is: Should console-only applications be sorted into a
user/-prefix category?

Yes, but the distinction should be between "root" and "non-root"
packages. Stuff like SSH, nano, rootsh, zip/unzip, irssi,
etc.--clearly user-oriented applications should appear in user/*, but
stuff like bluez-utils-test, and developer-oriented stuff really
shouldn't.

Again, if you've got issues with the setup of the SDK repo, or your
particular decisions regarding dependencies, then those are separate
issues than whether certain system and CLI packages should be
user-visible.

Either get the Tools repo moved to Extras, or upload the dependencies
you need yourself, but don't be user-hostile by trying to solve these
issues breaking the categorization.
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-08 Thread Mike Lococo
>> Since there's a requirement to use the terminal to configure it, it is
>> no extra step to require the user to use apt-get to install it.
> 
> 
>
> I don't think we really want to be encouraging people to use apt-get, 
> particularly while "apt-get upgrade" can break your system.

Absolutely agree.  While I understand the impetus to save users from 
having to wade through lots of apps that don't interest them, handling 
the installation of some applications very differently than others is a 
non-scalable approach to the problem.

> But I do think that there should be a category specifically for command line 
> tools so that people who do not use the command line don't have to waste time 
> on them.  And I also agree that a GUI configuration dialogue for a system 
> tool is much better than expecting someone to edit a config file.

This stikes me as a similarly flawed approach.  Terminal-based 
applications have the same range of functionality that graphical 
applications have, so you either need to duplicate your category list in 
two places (and force users interested in both types to look twice), or 
you stop categorizing terminal-apps altogether (and leave users that use 
them with the bad categorization problem we have now).

Some alternate approaches...

- Standard labels: A -cli suffix at the end of each app name would allow 
users to quickly recognize and skip terminal apps if they aren't 
interested in them.  Even just including a note in the description would 
be sufficient in my mind.

- Debtags-based searches: Give AppMgr a real search facility, and ship 
canned-queries like "graphical apps", "terminal apps", etc.

- Advanced-Browsing mode: With proper package classification and the 
existence of extras-devel to hide truly dangerous apps, red-pill (or 
something similar) could be made into a more discoverable "advanced 
browsing" mode that hides end-user apps that are likely to be 
uninteresting to grandma-types that folks seem so concerned about.  Give 
it a normal preference checkbox, and have it do some debtag or other 
magic to hide complicated stuff, while making it easy and safe for users 
who want to see the full range of available software.  I do think any 
binary solution like this which is aimed at hiding apps that are "too 
hard" will ultimately prove to be unscalable and unhealthy for the 
community, which depends on folks discovering challenges which interest 
them and choosing to learn something new.  If the binary filtering is at 
least easy to disable/ignore, as proposed above, the damage will be 
minimal though.

Thanks,
Mike Lococo
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-08 Thread tz
I would have to agree with Graham's point.

If the whole application manager apt-get dists debian system is going
to be so brittle that the only SAFE way to get an application on to
your system is with Application Manager in blue-pill mode, then there
should be a user/cli category or something.

Having something that is otherwise useless without doing CLI
interaction is different than something that is specifically useful on
the CLI itself.  If I port Kismet, it might automatically open an
Xterm from a script, but it will run in text mode until a GTK frontend
or something else is done.  And some things are diagnostic that you
want to be available for when something does go wrong.  You can't
possibly build everything into the apps or add enough things on.

The problem is that INVISIBLE EQUALS UNINSTALLABLE and VISIBLE EQUALS
USER/* as far as the Application manager is concerned.  Well, not
quite, but I can't create an X.install file or anything else except an
isolated .deb if it is not in user/*

Since there is no clean way of doing this, either user/whatever gets
cluttered up with a bunch of things simply to make them safely
installable, or everyone uses apt-get, dpkg, or red-pill mode and
breaks their tablets, or you create junk meta-packages that install a
very short doc file but "depend" on the real file solely for the
purpose of pulling that file in.

Right now all three manners of ugliness are being used, and I think
there have been enough pleas to get it fixed.  The worst possible
outcome is for whatever reorganization, refactoring, etc. to happen
and yet we will still be stuck with all three hacks after it was
supposedly fixed.

Call it user/advanced, user/powertools, user/dangerous or whatever, or
create a second major category to make things visible and safely
installable, poweruser/*, etc. or something.  Let them be disabled by
default like Extras is now, but so that it can be turned on.

On Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 5:29 AM, Graham Cobb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Saturday 08 November 2008 08:56:28 Andrew Flegg wrote:
>> No, it's not wagging the dog. If a user needs to open a terminal,
>> create a configuration file and run something from the command line; I
>> *strongly* believe it's outside the scope of the Application Manager.
>>
>> Since there's a requirement to use the terminal to configure it, it is
>> no extra step to require the user to use apt-get to install it.
>
> I see your point but I don't quite agree.  Xterm is a standard part of the
> tablet and I think command line utilities have a place in AppMgr.  An obvious
> example is ssh!  And possibly most of the applications which will go into the
> developer tools category.
>
> I don't think we really want to be encouraging people to use apt-get,
> particularly while "apt-get upgrade" can break your system.
>
> But I do think that there should be a category specifically for command line
> tools so that people who do not use the command line don't have to waste time
> on them.  And I also agree that a GUI configuration dialogue for a system
> tool is much better than expecting someone to edit a config file.
>
> Graham
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-08 Thread Graham Cobb
On Saturday 08 November 2008 08:56:28 Andrew Flegg wrote:
> No, it's not wagging the dog. If a user needs to open a terminal,
> create a configuration file and run something from the command line; I
> *strongly* believe it's outside the scope of the Application Manager.
>
> Since there's a requirement to use the terminal to configure it, it is
> no extra step to require the user to use apt-get to install it.

I see your point but I don't quite agree.  Xterm is a standard part of the 
tablet and I think command line utilities have a place in AppMgr.  An obvious 
example is ssh!  And possibly most of the applications which will go into the 
developer tools category.

I don't think we really want to be encouraging people to use apt-get, 
particularly while "apt-get upgrade" can break your system.

But I do think that there should be a category specifically for command line 
tools so that people who do not use the command line don't have to waste time 
on them.  And I also agree that a GUI configuration dialogue for a system 
tool is much better than expecting someone to edit a config file.

Graham
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-08 Thread Andrew Flegg
On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 10:47 PM, tz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> This is a problem since there may be various enhancements which are
> part of an EXISTING interface.  Consider media codecs like ogg
> support

If an ogg support package instantly provides ogg capability in
existing media players, without any further configuration; no further
GUI is required and it can go directly in user/multimedia.

> filesystems.  Or for example I ported WebDav so I have
> access to my mac.com idisk from my tablet.  I could write a trivial
> user/password popup, but that is the tail wagging the dog.

No, it's not wagging the dog. If a user needs to open a terminal,
create a configuration file and run something from the command line; I
*strongly* believe it's outside the scope of the Application Manager.

Since there's a requirement to use the terminal to configure it, it is
no extra step to require the user to use apt-get to install it.

If there's a GUI configuration, and it can be started either manually
or automatically without having to open a terminal; it can go in
"user/system" (for WebDav and OpenAFS) and be visible in the
Application Manager.

> There needs to be at least one category visible (sans red-pill) in the
> application manager for system enhancements which do not have
> something DIRECTLY visible to the user.

I agree: as long as the user is not REQUIRED to use terminal to do
anything with it.

Cheers,

Andrew

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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-11-07 Thread tz
This is a problem since there may be various enhancements which are
part of an EXISTING interface.  Consider media codecs like ogg
support, or filesystems.  Or for example I ported WebDav so I have
access to my mac.com idisk from my tablet.  I could write a trivial
user/password popup, but that is the tail wagging the dog.

There needs to be at least one category visible (sans red-pill) in the
application manager for system enhancements which do not have
something DIRECTLY visible to the user.

> user/ category should be used only by packages that provide user
> something visible; has an UI, can be started from the applications
> menu etc.  Anything else should come as dependencies of such packages
> or be installed with apt-get from command line.
>
> Maybe there could be additional developer/power-user category which
> visibility can be toggled from AM options (without resorting to the
> red-pill hack), but such packages shouldn't be visible by the default,
> they just confuse normal users.
>
>
>- Eero
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-10-27 Thread Jason Edgecombe
Andrew Flegg wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 8:05 AM, Eero Tamminen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>   
> [snip]
>   
>> user/ category should be used only by packages that provide user
>> something visible; has an UI, can be started from the applications
>> menu etc.  Anything else should come as dependencies of such packages
>> or be installed with apt-get from command line.
>> 
>
> Indeed. A point well worth making, I had assumed (perhaps mistakenly)
> that the OpenAFS packages would provide a GUI configuration.
>   

Eventually, I would like to have a GUI config tool, but it has yet to
materialize.

Jason
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-10-27 Thread Andrew Flegg
On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 8:05 AM, Eero Tamminen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
[snip]
>
> user/ category should be used only by packages that provide user
> something visible; has an UI, can be started from the applications
> menu etc.  Anything else should come as dependencies of such packages
> or be installed with apt-get from command line.

Indeed. A point well worth making, I had assumed (perhaps mistakenly)
that the OpenAFS packages would provide a GUI configuration.

Cheers,

Andrew

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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-10-27 Thread Eero Tamminen
Hi,

ext Andrew Flegg wrote:
>> I need to upgrade the OpenAFS package. The package is in the
>> "user/support" category.
>>  Is that the right category? It's a network filesystem. Should it be
>> under support, network or some other category. Feedback on this or any
>> other part of the package is welcome.
> 
> This is currently in flux, see:
> 
> https://wiki.maemo.org/Task:Package_categories
> 
> The Maemo Packaging Policy does not currently have a "user/network"
> category; the closest being "user/communication" or "user/support".
> Neither fulfill the purpose very well (hence the new rationalisation).
> 
> Personally, I'd stick with "user/support" for now and move it to a
> better category when the new categories are decided upon.

user/ category should be used only by packages that provide user
something visible; has an UI, can be started from the applications
menu etc.  Anything else should come as dependencies of such packages
or be installed with apt-get from command line.

Maybe there could be additional developer/power-user category which
visibility can be toggled from AM options (without resorting to the
red-pill hack), but such packages shouldn't be visible by the default,
they just confuse normal users.


- Eero
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Re: What category should network filesystems like OpenAFS go under?

2008-10-25 Thread Andrew Flegg
On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 8:36 PM, Jason Edgecombe
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I need to upgrade the OpenAFS package. The package is in the
> "user/support" category.
>  Is that the right category? It's a network filesystem. Should it be
> under support, network or some other category. Feedback on this or any
> other part of the package is welcome.

This is currently in flux, see:

https://wiki.maemo.org/Task:Package_categories

The Maemo Packaging Policy does not currently have a "user/network"
category; the closest being "user/communication" or "user/support".
Neither fulfill the purpose very well (hence the new rationalisation).

Personally, I'd stick with "user/support" for now and move it to a
better category when the new categories are decided upon.

HTH,

Andrew

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