[packagekit] multi-package suggestions

[Richard Hughes]

On Mon, 2008-05-12 at 11:09 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote:
> The http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageKitFaq says you want
> input on the multi-package user interface. I'll try sending this
> to the mailing list and give up if it bounces because I have
> to subscribe first :-).

Heh, thanks. Sorry for the delay, I'm in the middle of the countryside
clearing about a months worth of email backlog.

> Most tools (perhaps the worst offender is the yast2 software
> manager in opensuse) tend to let you click on packages you want
> in a big list, then cycle between obscure and meaningless icons
> marking those packages.

Right. if we need a "key" then I think the UI needs work :-)

> In synaptic, I do indeed get obscure and meaningless icons showing
> up, but only because clicking on the item pops up a menu with
> meaningful descriptions of actions I can take. I can click on
> the description of the action I want, and the fact that an obscure
> icon shows up as well is something I can ignore because I
> was also able to see a decent descriptive phrase.

Right, PackageKit only supports installing an available package, rather
than the few actions that synaptics supports. Synaptics for instance
supports reinstalling packages which PackageKit does not.

> The search dialog in synaptic is also excellent, allowing me to
> search just the name (when I know the search string will be in the name,
> and I want to get a smaller list to sort through), or the name and
> description (when I have no idea what the package is named,
> but have a good idea of something that probably shows up in the
> description). A search for files I want to get installed would
> be really nice as well (not sure if synaptic can do that).

Have you tried the filter UI in 0.2.x? You get a little box that you can
select the search modes, and also filter menu that lets you filter
packages out. I would be interested to hear what you have to say about
the new ideas.

Thanks,

Richard.