Nearly a year ago, I posted to this list about the need for a better way to distribute and install desktop applications [1]. There was some interesting discussion, and people pointed out some existing alternatives. But I remained convinced that something else was needed.
I've been thinking about the problem and tinkering for a while, and the result is Batis: https://batis-installer.github.io/ Batis allows developers to package their applications for users on any distro to conveniently install. Example applications: https://batis-installer.github.io/example-apps/ Key features: - Users get Batis packages directly from application developers, rather than going through a middleman like Linux distribution repositories. I expect this to be controversial, but I think it's key for getting users up to date software. - Batis uses XDG specs for desktop entries, mimetype definitions and icon themes, so that apps can integrate with desktop environments. - Graceful fallback: Batis packages are tarballs, including an install.sh which users without Batis can run. A developer could use Batis to generate tarballs even if they didn't want to mention Batis to their users. - Keeps it simple: Batis packages are based on prosaic things like tar and json - no fancy filesystem features or container technologies. It should be easy for a developer to to understand what Batis does, as well as how to use it. Batis is ready for you to try out, but it's not battle tested yet. Please don't judge it too harshly by the rough edges of 0.1! Bugs can be filed here: https://github.com/batis-installer/batis/issues Thanks, Thomas [1] http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xdg/2014-December/013372.html _______________________________________________ xdg mailing list xdg@lists.freedesktop.org http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg
