AppStream Ideas and Thoughts

[FlorianFesti]

Hi!

Let me start with a preliminary remark:

Your perception that your package format (or what ever you call it) is 
relevant within AppStream is wrong. It is wrong because it is in another 
layer of the package handling stack. I am currently working on a 
document describing the layers [1] but it is not ready yet. But the pure 
fact that you could add the AppStream features on top of a repository 
with your packages should make that clear. AppStream is not about 
package formats. Packages are taken for granted. We don't mind where 
they come from, what they contain or how they are installed. These are 
all questions of the layer below. While our group might look like the 
right people to talk to they are not. Especially not here in the context 
of AppStream.

On 02/15/2011 12:52 AM, James Rhodes wrote:
> I believe that the reason these projects generally fail is because
> there is no adoption by the mainstream distributions, usually, at
> least from the projects that I've previously seen, because they don't
> integrate with the underlying package system, or they provide an
> inconsistent experience (like you can run an application from a Klik
> package, but if you want to install it you need to go find a DEB /
> RPM).  AppTools is designed such that it integrates with the
> underlying package system where possible, and provide a consistent
> user experience.
I believe that the reason these projects generally fail is because they 
fail to understand why distributions work the way they do and fail to 
find arguments why this reasons don't apply to their model[2]. They 
especially fail to understand the the main problems are not technical 
(although there are several pretty hard technical problems) but 
organizational.

> But while you'll have a consistent interface, you won't have a
> consistent software selection.  We already know that different
> distributions name packages differently (that's why AppTools has a
> standardized package naming specification so that it's not an issue).
This shows very well why you fail: "Everybody is different. But I have 
the solution: I am different, too." Why don't you just suggest to 
abandon all distributions except one.

Florian

[1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Ffesti/PackageHandling
[2] No, I won't list them here. It is your job to come up with arguments 
for your project.