Ubuntu Wiki

This is a work-in-progress specification for the utility previously codenamed AppCenter. Your feedback is welcome at SoftwareStore/Comments. The Software Store is a major part of Ubuntu’s overall software handling.

• Launchpad entry: software-library

• Created: 2005-08-29 by MatthewPaulThomas

• Packages affected: aptoncd, computer-janitor, computer-janitor-gtk, gdebi, gnome-app-install, software-properties-gtk, software-store, synaptic, update-manager

The Ubuntu Software Store will be a single graphical interface for package management in Ubuntu. In version 1, it will build on the basic philosophy of Add/Remove Applications and make it even easier to use. In later versions, it will grow to replace Synaptic, gdebi, some parts of the Computer Janitor, and possibly Update Manager. Having a single interface will make handling software easier, socially improve security, hopefully free space on the CD, and provide a prominent showcase for Ubuntu and partner software. The Store is implemented using Python, GTK, and Aptdaemon, and may use PackageKit for some components. Software Store is hosted in Launchpad.

How you can help

We welcome useful contributions from anyone, regardless of age, gender, or experience.

If your expertise is in one of these areas, search through this specification for the color-coded sections relevant to you:

Otherwise, if you are a Python programmer, get the latest code, look through this specification for a feature or behavior that hasn’t been implemented yet, implement it, and propose it for merging.

If you are a tester, look through this specification and compare the behavior described to the behavior you see in the latest version. If something has been implemented but behaves differently from how the specification describes it, report a bug if it hasn’t been reported already.

Rationale

In Ubuntu 9.04, there are at least four graphical utilities promoted for installing and removing software. For installing and uninstalling graphical applications you can use “Add/Remove Applications“ or the more technical “Synaptic Package Manager”, though the former warns you to use the latter “for more complicated needs”. For installing and uninstalling other software, you must use Synaptic. For installing updates, the usual route is Update Manager, but it instructs you to run Synaptic if it encounters conflicts. For configuring where these utilities look for software, you use “Software Sources”. For installing downloaded .deb packages, you use gdebi. And for removing no-longer-needed software, you use Computer Janitor. This redundancy increases the amount of interface people have to learn, wastes space on the Ubuntu CD, and fragments development effort. Having multiple sanctioned graphical methods of installing software also makes people more likely to think that unsanctioned methods (such as Ultamatix or third-party Web sites) are also safe, when they are not. Meanwhile, the descriptions of available software are often technical gibberish. And many software project and vendor Web sites either provide command-line installation instructions (dulling users to malicious terminal commands from other sources) or .tar.gz downloads that are difficult to install and near-impossible to update.

Instead, there should be one obvious mechanism for installing, removing, and updating software in Ubuntu, with a self-evident name and an interface a grandparent can use. There should be a coordinated system for developers and enthusiasts to improve the usefulness of descriptions and other metadata for software packages. The software updates interface should be honed to maximize the voluntary installation of updates across the millions of computers on which Ubuntu is installed. And projects and vendors whose software is packaged for Ubuntu should be encouraged to provide links to their software’s presence in the Software Store, instead of command-line installation instructions.

Ubuntu Software Store 1.0

In this specification, 1 em means the height of the Gnome application font setting. (For example, if the current Gnome application font setting works out to be 12 pixels, then 3 em = 36 pixels.) The term leading means “left” whenever the system is using a left-to-right language, and “right” whenever the system is using a right-to-left language. The term trailing means “right” whenever the system is using a left-to-right language, and “left” whenever the system is using a right-to-left language. All mockups in this specification are of left-to-right layouts.

Name and icon

In application menus etc, the Store should appear as “Ubuntu Software Store”. This name should be localized, and the code should advise translators to “Translate 'store' with the meaning of 'shop' rather than 'repository', if there is no common term covering both”. The package name and executable name should both be software-store.

Launching

Launching graphically

“Ubuntu Software Store” should be a top-level item in the “System” menu, immediately after “Administration” but before the following separator. It should not be present anywhere in the “Applications” menu. [Idea #12193 (Add/Remove and Synaptic should be strongly displayed to new users), [[http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/17431/|Idea #17431 (Add/Remove Applications is ugly and confusing)]

How do we specify performance requirements? Also need to specify progress feedback if launching is slow.

When opened directly, the Store should by default display the lobby screen of the “Get Free Software” section, scrolled to the top. The search field should be empty. Default focus should be on the lobby screen, so that arrow keys scroll through the screen, but none of the items in the screen should be focused by default.

Launching from the command line

software-store should launch the Store to its default view. software-store package-name or software-store apt:package-name should open the Store to display that package, if it is both an application and present in repositories that the Store is configured to display. If it is not — for example, if it is in Universe, while the Store is set to display “Canonical-Maintained Applications” — the Store should not appear, and should exit immediately with an error.

Launching from apt: links

Whenever an apt: link is opened, gdebi should try to launch the Software Store to the requested package. If the Store returns an error (for example, because the package is not a visible application, or it is an application in Universe when the Store is set not to show applications from Universe), gdebi should fall back to displaying its own interface as usual.

In version 2.0, the Store will replace gdebi completely.

Shared interface components

Menus

_File
=====
  _Install
  _Remove
-------------------
  _Close    Ctrl W

“Install” and “Remove” should be disabled by default. “Close” should, by default, exit the Software Store without prompting.

_Edit
=====
  _Undo                     Ctrl Z
  _Redo               Shift Ctrl Z
-----------------------------------
  Cu_t                      Ctrl X
  _Copy                     Ctrl C
  Copy _Web Link      Shift Ctrl C
  _Paste                    Ctrl V
  _Delete
-----------------------------------
  Select _All               Ctrl A
-----------------------------------
  Searc_h…                  Ctrl F
-----------------------------------
  _Software Sources…

“Software Sources…” should open the Software Sources control panel, or focus it if it is already open.

All other items in this menu should be insensitive by default; their availability and behavior is defined elsewhere in this specification.

_View
=====
* All Applications
  Canonical-Maintained Applications

Should behavior be defined here, or in each section?

_Help
=====
  Software Store _Help…
------------------------
  _About This Version

By default, “Software Store Help…” should open the help viewer to the front page of the help.

“About This Version” should open the About window, or focus it if it is already open.

Location bar

Many Store sections include a location bar, which appears at the top of the main pane. It should appear as a raised block inside the main pane.

The location bar should always contains a path button. Depending on the particular screen being shown underneath it, it may also contain a search field. Whenever the search field is not present, the path button should consume, if necessary, some of the space the search field would otherwise consume.

Path button

The path button should consist of a button in one or more interlocking segments. The Human theme should present these segments as chevron shapes, with the point of one fitting into the crook of the next. Whenever the chosen theme does not have support for the path button, it should be shown as a series of toggle buttons, in which the button at the trailing end is always selected and the others are always unselected.

If the button cannot be wide enough to display the text of all the segments, then the first segment should be shortened, with the text inside it being ellipsized at the trailing end, e.g. “Get Free Softw…”. If the button is still too wide even after the first segment has been shortened to read just “…”, then the second segment should be shortened in the same way, and so on.

Search field

Whenever a search field is present in the window, the “Edit” > “Search…” menu item should be sensitive. Selecting it should focus the search field, and (even if it is focused already) select its entire contents.

Whenever the search field is focused, the “Edit” > “Undo”, “Redo”, “Cut”, “Copy”, “Paste”, “Delete”, and “Select All” items should have their usual sensitivity and operation for a text field.

Inside the left end of the field should be a symbolic magnifying glass icon. Clicking the icon should focus the field and select its entire contents.

When (and only when) the search field is not empty, the trailing end of the field should have a symbolic clear icon. Clicking the icon should focus the field and clear its contents.

Whenever the insertion point (caret) is at the trailing end of the search field, pressing the Down arrow key should focus the search results screen and select the first result.

Search results

Any word in the search string that is followed by a space or punctuation should be treated as a a complete word, while any word that is not should be treated as if it may be either a complete word or the beginning of a word. Test case: Searching from the lobby for “atom” should return both Atomix and Liferea (an Atom feed reader). But searching for “atom ” (with a trailing space) should return only Liferea.

Search results should be displayed as a package list view with navigation buttons, where the button goes to the appropriate application screen inside the relevant section.

While search results are being displayed, the status bar text should be of the form “1 matching item” or “37 matching items”.

If the contents of the search field is cleared for more than two seconds, the rest of the main pane should return to its original display.

Application icon view

An application icon view is used to present applications, and currently also the list of departments in the “Get Free Software” section.

Each item in an icon view has an icon and a name. If the icon is scalable, or larger than 4 em in either dimension, it should be scaled down proportionally so that it is 4 em in its largest dimension. If the icon is smaller than 4 em in both dimensions, it should be drawn at actual size and centered (both horizontally and vertically) inside a 4 em square that has a 0.05-em-wide border of color 170,170,170 (#aaaaaa). Underneath it, the name of the item should be printed in 0.9-em text that is horizontally centered but top-aligned in its own block.

Items should be laid out like horizontal text: starting at the leading edge and continuing until there is no room for another on the same line, then wrapping downward.

Each item in an application icon view should produce the pointing-hand pointer when moused over, and single-clicking should navigate to that item.

Package list view

A package list view is used in several screens in the Store. In a list view, each package should have a row with an icon, primary text, and secondary text.

The icon should be the application icon if there is one, otherwise the generic package icon. As with the package icon view, the icon should be overlaid in the corner with the installed emblem if the package is currently installed.

The primary text should be the application FullName if there is one, otherwise the Summary from the package metadata. If the text is wider than the space available, it should be ellipsized at the trailing end.

The secondary text should be the application Comment if there is one, otherwise the package name. If the text is wider than the space available, it should be ellipsized in the middle (because unique parts of package names are often at the end).

By default, none of the rows in a package list view should be selected. If the view allows selection, clicking anywhere in an item should select that row, and Ctrl+clicking on a selected item should deselect it. If no item is selected, pressing the Down arrow key should select the first row, and conversely pressing the Up arrow key should select the last row. If the view does not allow selection, the arrow keys should scroll the view without highlighting rows.

If the view is defined as having navigation buttons, then when – and only when – an item is selected, it should have a button at its trailing end with an arrow icon. The button should have the usual appearance of a default button, and pressing Enter should activate it. Double-clicking anywhere in the row should do the same as activating the navigation button, regardless of whether the row was previously selected.

Unless otherwise specified, a package list view should always have a vertical scrollbar. (This avoids any navigation buttons – or other elements at the trailing end – jumping about when the view contents switches between shorter than, and longer than, the container’s height). A package list view should never have a horizontal scrollbar.

Main window

The Store should use a normal window, with the title “Ubuntu Software Store”.

default window size and placement TBD

The main window has four major components: the menu bar at the top, the navigation pane on the leading side, the main pane on the trailing side, and the status bar at the bottom. The bar between the navigation pane and the main pane should be draggable to change their respective widths.

Navigation pane

The navigation pane should have a vertical scrollbar only when necessary, and should never have a horizontal scrollbar. Instead, each item inside it should be ellipsized at its trailing end whenever there is not enough room to show it completely.

The navigation pane should list the top-level sections that can be navigated to, each with a text-size icon and a label:

• “Get Free Software”

• “Installed Software”

• an 0.5-em gap

• “In Progress”.

In future versions the navigation pane will contain other items, such as currently-inserted CDs/DVDs, child items for free vs. paid software, and perhaps user-created collections.

Only one item in the navigation pane should be selected at a time. Single-clicking an item should select it and immediately change the visible section. Double-clicking should behave identically to single-clicking, and secondary-clicking or dragging should do nothing.

Navigating to a section should display, to the extent still applicable, the section exactly as it was when it was last viewed since the Store was launched: the same department, category, search results, scroll position, etc. This memory should not persist once the Store is closed.

Test case: In the “Get Free Software” section, navigate to the AbiWord application, and scroll to the bottom of the application panel. In the navigation pane click on “Installed Software”, then on “Get Free Software”. The Store should resume displaying the bottom of the AbiWord application panel.

Test case: In the “Installed Software” section, navigate to the Firefox application. Close the Store, then reopen it. Click on “Installed Software”. The Store should display the top level of the Installed Software section.

Test case: Begin installing an application. While it is installing, in the “Get Free Software” > “Internet” section, search for “chat”, and scroll through the results. Click on “In Progress”; the Store should show the installation progress. Now click on “Get Free Software”. The Store should return to the search results for “chat” within the “Get Free Software” > “Internet” department, in exactly the scroll position that you left it.

“Get Free Software” section

In the navigation pane, “Get Free Software” should have the same icon as the Software Store itself.

The “Get Free Software” section encompasses a “lobby” screen, screens for each “department”, and screens for individual applications.

Regardless of which screen is being displayed, the section should should have a location bar at the top containing a path button.

Lobby screen

The lobby is the entry point to the Store, so it is important that it be attractive and welcoming. (The term “lobby” should not appear anywhere in the interface or help text.)

Whenever the lobby screen is being displayed, the location bar should contain a search field. Whenever any text is entered in the search field, the home panel should be replaced by search results. Need to define what the search results look like.

The background of the lobby screen should be grey-blue 182,189,196 (#b6bdc4), and all text in that screen should be black 0,0,0 (#000000). The padding between the edges of the lobby and its contents should be 1 em, both horizontally and vertically.

The lobby currently has one section, “Departments”. The header should use a background... TBD The section should have a bottom margin of 2 em.

The lobby screen should use an application icon view to present its contents.

Perhaps we could use the logo that MadsRH designed for the whole store (the shopping bag) and add a few things that relates to each category sticking out of the top. I. E. pens and pencils for office, rulers and paintbrushes for paint, cards and balls for games and so on. These would just protrude out of the shopping bag. TylerJames

---

Whenever the lobby screen is being displayed, the status bar text should be of the form “2173 applications available”.

Searching from the lobby

While in the lobby section, entering any text in the search field should immediately switch the lobby screen to a search results view, showing all applications that match the search string.

Test case: Launch the Store. Type Ctrl F; the search field should be focused. Type “fire” (without quotes or pressing Enter); results should appear, with Firefox first. Press the down arrow key once; Firefox should be selected in the results. Press Enter; the Store should navigate to the application screen for Firefox.

“Departments” section

The “Departments” section of the lobby screen should list all the categories traditionally shown in Add/Remove Applications (see the menu spec registered categories). The departments should be listed in alphabetical order, except that “Programming” should be second-to-last, and “Other” should be last.

Department screen

Whenever the screen for an individual department is being displayed, the location bar should contain a search field. Whenever any text is entered in the search field, the department screen should be replaced by search results. Need to define what the search results look like.

Each item in both the icon view and the list view should produce the pointing-hand pointer when moused over, and single-clicking should navigate to that item.

Whenever the lobby screen is being displayed, the status bar text should be of the form “301 applications available”.

Searching from a department screen

Application screen

“Install” should be enabled whenever you are viewing an application screen for an application that is not currently installed, and “Remove” for an application that is currently installed.

When an individual application is being viewed, the location bar should not contain a search field.

The application panel itself should contain:

• The icon for the application, in an 8-em square
• The name of the application, in 1.2-em text of normal weight
• The application description, all in normal text
• The text “Price: Free”

• An “Install” button if the application is not currently installed, otherwise the text “<Application Name> is installed on this computer.” with a “Remove” button.

Whenever an application screen is being displayed, the status bar should contain no text.

“Installed Software” section

The “Installed Software” section has its own home screen, and screens for individual applications. It does not include screens for each department.

Regardless of which screen is being displayed, the section should should have a navigation panel at the top containing a path button.

In the navigation pane, “Installed Software” should have an icon of a computer.

Whenever the main “Installed Software” screen is being displayed, the status bar text should be of the form “204 applications installed”.

Whenever the home screen is being displayed, the location bar should contain a search field. Whenever any text is entered in the search field, the home panel should be replaced by search results. Need to define what the search results look like.

Application screen

Whenever an installed application screen is being displayed, the status bar should contain no text.

“In Progress” section

The “In Progress” section should be visible only when items are being installed or removed, or when the last installation or removal finished less than two seconds ago. If the section disappears while being displayed, the Store should return to the section that was previously being displayed.

In the navigation pane, the section should have an animated icon of two green semicircular arrows chasing each other clockwise. After the words “In Progress” should be, in brackets, the number of tasks yet to be completed.

Whenever the “In Progress” section is being displayed, the status bar text should be of the form “2 items remaining” or “All items completed”.

The section itself should list the items requested for installation or removal, earliest first. The items should be displayed similar to an application list view, except that:

• the second row of text is status text, rather than the application summary or package name;
• each row has a progress bar (which itself never contains any text);
• each row has a cancel button.

At the bottom of the “In Progress” section should be a panel of the same general appearance as the location bar, but containing only a “Cancel All” button.

The cancel button for an individual item should be sensitive only when the item has not yet started or is still downloading. The “Cancel All” button should be sensitive only when any items have not yet started or are still downloading.

If you try to close the Store while an item is installing or being removed:

1. All items in the navigation pane, other than “In Progress”, should become insensitive.
2. The Store should switch to displaying the “In Progress” section.
3. At the left end of the panel containing the “Cancel All” button, this text should be displayed: “The Store will close when these tasks finish.” (The “Cancel All” button should retain its usual sensitivity and effect.)
4. When installation is completed or cancelled, the Store should close.

Status bar

The status bar should contain status text, and, in the trailing corner, a resize handle.

The status text should be centered within the status bar, both horizontally (as if the resize handle was not present) and vertically.

Installing an application

When you request to install an application:

1. The “Install” button should be made insensitive for that application, and remain insensitive until the installation has been completed or cancelled.

2. The Store should, if necessary, ask for authentication details in a window-modal PolicyKit alert.

3. The Store should begin blocking session exit.
4. The item should appear in the “In Progress” section.

5. If (and only if) there were no other tasks in progress when the installation was requested, the Store should switch to displaying the “In Progress” section. In future versions of the Store, progress will also be shown within the application screen itself, eliminating the need to switch to the “In Progress” section.

6. If the item is queued waiting for other activities to complete, the status text for the item should be set to “Waiting”.

7. While the download is taking place, the status text should be set to “Downloaded of {Y}”.

8. While the installation script is running, the status text for the item should be set to the normal text issued by dpkg.

9. When installation completes, the Store should stop blocking session exit.
10. The “installed” emblem should be applied to the application icon, and the status text should be set to “Installation complete”.
11. Five seconds later, the item should disappear from the “In Progress” section.

For an item being installed, 50 % of the progress bar length should be allocated to the downloading process, and 50 % to running the installation script.

Removing an application

When you request to remove an application:

1. The “Remove” button should be made insensitive for that application, and remain insensitive until the removal has been completed or cancelled.

2. If you request to remove an application that is part of the ubuntu-desktop metapackage, the Store should put up a confirmation alert: “{application name} is a core application in Ubuntu. Uninstalling it may cause future upgrades to be incomplete. Are you sure you want to continue?” The alert should have “Cancel” and “Remove Anyway” buttons; neither button should be the default.

3. If you request to remove an application that is part of any other metapackage, the Store should put up a confirmation alert: ‘If you uninstall {application name}, future updates will not include new items in the “{metapackage name}” set. Are you sure you want to continue?’ Again, the alert should have “Cancel” and “Remove Anyway” buttons; neither button should be the default.

4. If you request to remove an application that is depended on by any other package, or that shares a binary package with any other application, the Store should put up a confirmation alert: “To remove {application name}, these items must be removed as well:”, with the affected applications or packages in an inset box, focused by default, that contains a package list view. The alert should have “Cancel” and “Remove All” buttons; neither button should be the default.
   
   

5. The Store should, if necessary, ask for authentication details in a window-modal PolicyKit alert.

6. The Store should begin blocking session exit.
7. The item should appear in the “In Progress” section.

8. If (and only if) there were no other tasks in progress when the installation was requested, the Store should switch to displaying the “In Progress” section. In future versions of the Store, progress will also be shown within the application screen itself, eliminating the need to switch to the “In Progress” section.

9. When removal completes, the Store should stop blocking session exit.

Help

About window

Elements not scheduled for 1.0

These are mini-specifications for elements and behaviors that are not required for version 1.0. If anyone wants to implement them, however, that would be awesome.

Minimum pane sizes

The minimum width of the navigation pane should be just enough to display the icons of the top-level sections listed within it. How much is this, exactly?

The minimum width of the main pane should be 8 em.

History

“Featured this week” section

“Where Is It?” button

In an application screen in the “Installed Software” section, there should be a “Where Is It?” button. Clicking the button should:

1. make a large fake pointer appear over the top of the real one

2. over two seconds, move the fake pointer linearly to the menu (e.g. “Applications”) in which the application resides

3. wait one second
4. open the menu
5. wait another second
6. over two seconds, move the fake pointer to the appropriate menu item or submenu
7. if the application is in a submenu, repeat steps 3~6 for the submenu
8. make the fake pointer disappear, but leave the menus open.

At any time from step 3 onwards, clicking a pointing device or pressing any key should cancel the process, close any opened menus, and make the fake pointer disappear.

Animation of the main pane

Whenever the user navigates from any item in the navigation pane to any other item in the navigation pane, over 0.5 seconds the contents of the main pane should slide out the top of the pane (if the new item is lower in the navigation pane) or out the bottom of the pane (if the new item is higher in the navigation pane), with the new section sliding from the opposite end to replace it.

Whenever the user navigates from within the lobby screen to a department screen, over 0.5 seconds the left and right halves of the lobby screen should split in two halves sliding out of the pane to the left and right — like a pair of lift/elevator doors opening — to reveal the department screen underneath.

When navigating from a department screen back to the lobby screen, the reverse should happen: over 0.5 seconds, the left and right halves of the lobby screen should slide in from their respective sides of the main pane, eventually covering the department screen.

Whenever the user navigates from within a department screen to an application screen, over 0.5 seconds, the icon of that application that was visible in the department screen should simultaneously zoom and move linearly to become the icon of the application visible in the application screen. At the same time, the rest of the contents of the department screen should linearly crossfade into the rest of the contents of the application screen. Both of these effects should also happen when navigating the reverse direction, from the application screen back to the department screen.

Roadmap

This roadmap is a draft.

October 2009

For October 2009, we have four major goals.

1. Include in Ubuntu 9.10 a simple and fun interface for finding, installing, and removing software. This will likely involve:
   • A new name.
   • A highly graphical “main entrance” or “front page”, that allows browsing software by category and subcategory, and perhaps includes featured and/or popular applications.
   • Fast and error-tolerant search.

   • Attractive, informative, and easy-to-understand presentation of individual software packages within the interface (with this presentation also being used for apt: URL links to graphical applications).

   • Interactive demonstration of how to launch the software you’ve just installed.
   • The ability to continue browsing available software, and queue up installation/removal requests, while other changes are being made.

   • Better security than the current installation mechanism (i.e. use of PolicyKit instead of gksudo).

2. Increase use of apt: links by Ubuntu enthusiasts, software projects, and ISVs, replacing terminal commands or standalone downloads. This will likely involve:

   • A redirector Web service (e.g. redirecting from http://apt.ubuntu.com/package-name to apt:package-name), with helpful handling of error cases, to better cater for people who are not running Ubuntu when they follow the link (and to better cater for forums and other CMSes that do not allow direct apt: links).

   • Prominent and highly understandable information on ubuntu.com about how to get your software (whether Free or non-Free) packaged for Ubuntu.

   • An apt: evangelism campaign for projects that already have their software packaged in the Ubuntu repositories.

3. Fine-tune the interface presented when software updates are available. This may involve:
   • When updates are presented automatically, collapsing the list of updates by default, concentrating instead on the existence of updates and the choice to install them now or later.

   • Presentation of the new better descriptions of security updates.

4. Establish a system within Launchpad for registered users to suggest a better description, category, keywords, and/or screenshot for a software package, and for the package maintainer to incorporate those changes into a new version of the package, so that end users can find the software more easily later.

April 2010

1. In Ubuntu 10.04, replace Synaptic, Software Sources, Gdebi, and (if appropriate) Update Manager with an expanded Ubuntu Software Store. This will likely involve:

   • The ability to see, install, and uninstall non-graphical software (programming utilities, fonts, database software, etc) within the Store if desired.

   • Opening the Store for all apt: links, not just those of graphical applications.

   • Handling of package conflicts and other error cases.
   • A collapsed view of the Store that shows only available updates, but is expandable to perform other tasks if desired.

2. Establish a system within Launchpad to store ratings and reviews of Ubuntu software (whether in official repositories or in participating PPAs), for use in a future version of the Store.

October 2010

1. Integrate the ratings and review mechanism from Launchpad into Ubuntu Software Store. This will likely involve:
   • An interface within the Store for rating and reviewing software that is installed now (or that has been installed recently).

   • A mechanism for reporting, and staff for moderating, inappropriate reviews (e.g. those that use offensive language).

2. Establish a mechanism for establishing and conveying a trust level for software in PPAs, and for easily adding PPAs within the Store.
3. Provide the ability to purchase software from within the Store.

April 2011

1. Improve sharing and tracking of software within the Store. For example:
   • Overviews of installed software by license, cost, or maintenance timetable.
   • Discovering software by what your friends have installed.
   • Downloading a package once for installing on many computers.

   • Incorporating AptOnCD.

   • A visible history of past installations/removals/purchases, including the ability to undo specific changes.
2. Investigate and, if appropriate, implement specialized interfaces for browsing and installing particular classes of package:
   • fonts
   • screensavers

   • Windows applications, etc.

Eventual scope

This is a laundry list of desired features, for the purpose of designing an interface for version 1.0 that will scale to include those features later. It is not a list of features scheduled for 1.0.

You should be able to:

• find software by: [idea 18315]

  • name

  • purpose (e.g. “wireframe” → Dia)

  • category and subcategory (e.g. Games: Card Games) [idea 14857]

  • name of competitor (e.g. “excel” → OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet, Gnumeric, KSpread)

  • misspelling (e.g. “pigeon” → Pidgin)

  • needed right now (by MIME type, codec, font, etc)
  • vendor?

  • class (debug vs. non-debug, applications vs. not [idea 3144], etc)

  • recommendation [Andrew Sayers]
    • alternatives to programs you used in Windows (via Migration Assistant)
    • software to make use of your custom hardware

    • results previously returned by command-not-found

    • habit (people who installed X also installed Y) (suggested by Enrico Zini)

  • suite (software for Java developers, software for film makers)

  • what’s new [idea 13762]

  • whether it was recently installed or removed [idea 16953]

• find software sources (Launchpad PPAs)
  • and know how trusted each PPA is
• get information about software
  • what it does

  • what people think of it (ratings and reviews) [UserReviewsInSynaptic] [idea 18729]

  • what it looks like (screenshots or short videos) [idea 15774]

  • what the current version number is [idea 13036]

  • whether it is installed by default in Ubuntu

  • whether it’s installed right now [idea 19068]

    • if it’s installed, how to launch it [idea 16216]

    • if it’s not installed, how much there is to download, including dependencies [idea 4613]

  • whether it’s localized into your native language
  • what it costs
  • what its license is
  • who provides updates for it, and for how long
  • who provides tech support for it, and for how long
  • how many of your friends have it installed already
  • whether you have it installed already (and if so, how to find it)
  • … all in your native language
• install software

  • purchasing commercial software [idea 18538]

  • quickly
    • unpack — and maybe even install — downloaded packages while downloading the rest

    • download a package only once when installing it over a LAN [idea 19265]

  • asynchronously (browse and select more stuff while other stuff is installing)

  • pausing if you need to use your bandwidth for something else [idea 16643]

  • downloading it once for multiple computers (subsuming APTonCD)
  • read about updates while they are installing

  • using PolicyKit to install/uninstall/etc, but not needing authorization to update package lists

• get an overview of installed software
  • how much is maintained for how long
  • how much receives tech support from whom, and for how long
  • how much is under which license

  • even applications you installed from a .deb or compiled yourself [idea 18408]

• upgrade to the next version of Ubuntu
  • know why you should upgrade
  • without breaking PPAs
  • insert an Ubuntu CD in Ubuntu and get an understandable result

User stories

• Joel wants to install Skype. He goes to skype.com, finds the "Download for Ubuntu" button, and clicks it. He doesn't know what a “package” is, let alone a “.deb” or a “repository”.

• Melatie runs an accounting business that is far too small to have its own IT manager. She has a support contract for the Ubuntu software on the office PCs, and she knows that this doesn’t cover all the available software, so she wants to keep track of exactly what software is installed that isn’t covered.
• Sam is a college student who has recently migrated from to Windows XP to Ubuntu because he was fed up with adult sites installing spyware on his computer. The reason he had so much trouble with spyware was that XP kept on popping up balloons in the corner of the screen to tell him about security updates, but he closed them because that was the easiest thing to do. A few weeks after he installs Ubuntu, there is an important security update to Firefox.

• Ladina works as a developer at a molecular biology lab where she is not a sysadmin. She is having a bit of trouble with Biopython, and wants an easy way of seeing which version of python-biopython is installed and where its files are.

• Helen is happily using Ubuntu 10.04 when it tells her that Ubuntu 10.10 has been released. Before she upgrades, she has some basic questions. What will the upgrade do? How long will it take? How much will it cost? Will she lose any of her files? What should she do if something goes wrong?

Similar efforts

• GetDeb.net

• Appnr

• AllMyApps

• PlayDeb.net

• Apperi

• Bodega

• Listaller

• Ubuntu Tweak

Unresolved issues

• codec search

• font search [idea 15333]

• Need to make clear which packages are currently subject to CVE vulnerabilities

• Linux's dirty little secret

• OpenPrinting: “To make installing printer drivers not provided by the Linux distributions easier for users, and to make providing printer drivers easier for the printer manufacturers, we have introduced a new concept of distribution-independent printer driver packages.”

• While installing, the window should be reducible (or perhaps reduce by default) to show only install progress.
• The “You need to restart the computer” alert could be merged into the main window.

• Need to explain the ramifications of removing ubuntu-desktop (or its future equivalent).

• How do distinguish security updates from other updates?
• Popularity measurements are skewed by default installs.
• How can we reduce/eliminate the lag between an update being published and its description being available?

• debtags for package categorization

• Warn about trying to install updates while running on battery?

• http://www.enricozini.org/2007/debtags/package-managers.html

• http://debtags.alioth.debian.org/ssearch.html

• Check for security updates every day. But check for non-security updates only (a) a week after the last check or (b) when security updates are available, whichever is earlier. [mac_v]

• http://www.finette.co.uk/blog/index.php/2009/04/on-rating-mechanisms/

• http://stevenf.tumblr.com/post/78115371/stars

• If you have Wine installed, there could be a separate department for “Installed Windows Programs”. However, it’s important to communicate that Windows programs are installed just for you, whereas all the other programs are installed for everyone on the system.

  • This could also apply to other applications installed only for you. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/6816/

  • Alternatively, the Store could also install wine programs globally to avoid installing the same programs locally multiple times
    • Wine doesn't yet support system-wide installation or multiple users using the same apps simultaneously, however.

• Whether an update will require restarting, or logging out, should be presented before you choose to install it.

• There should be a history of changes made recently.
• We should collect statistics on how many people install updates how quickly. [Oli Warner]
• Upstreams or other interested parties should be able to get an RSS feed of the reviews/ratings people publish about applications. [Lars Wirzenius]

• “Also a permalink on the description page, would be pretty nice. You want to suggest a package to someone? You just have to copy paste the (apt url) application link into your IM or blog post.” [Stefano Forenza]

• idea 19653: “Most users switching over from Windows associate "Add/Remove" only with removing software, and believe that new software needs to be purchased at a retailer ...”

• Idea #19882: Problem With Restricted Software Installation Warning

• Idea #16411: Do not rate the popularity of default apps

• Idea #17929: Its hard to know what are you installing

• Idea #14025: Better distinction between installed/uninstalled apps in Add/Remove Applications

• Martin Owens: apt-url and the whitelist

• “FooBar is not available for this version of Ubuntu, but it is available for version X.Y…”

• Smith Review Project: making package descriptions and debconf questions human-readable

• Maybe the Firefox start page could contain an "Ubuntu software" link, that opens the Store, alongside its "Ubuntu help" link? [Vincenzo Ciancia]

• Ubuntu Brainstorm: Most popular ideas for Add/Remove

• Ubuntu Brainstorm: Most popular ideas for Synaptic

• SummerOfUsability

• Installing software locally when the user doesn't have administrator rights.

• Ayatana/UpdateIssues

• http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3616&p=9

• If the user does not have admin rights then the program would offer to queue the program for the system admin. This is very useful when the user can just say check your install queue instead of remembering the exact packages that he needed. Especially when he is just clicking a link on the internet. Could also be useful for parents.
• need to define keyboard navigation order
• Replace the “These items must be removed as well” alert with a box embedded in the package screen when you click “Remove”?
• Multi-level undo.
• Updates are aggregated by source package, with packages hidden inside an expander.
• Recommendations and suggestions are shown as children of an item in the list (recommendations selected by default, suggestions not).

• Incorporate PackageMaintainednessPresentation, including its “Future work”

Metadata

<mpt> mvo: So we have available (1) package name [from Debian/Ubuntu packager], (2) application name [.desktop file via app-install-data-ubuntu], (3) Comment [.desktop file via app-install-data-ubuntu], (4) Summary [first line of Description: from Debian/Ubuntu maintainer, treated specially], and (5) Description [the rest of the Description: from Debian/Ubuntu maintainer]. Is that right?
<mvo> mpt: yes, correct
<mpt> Egads.
<mvo> mpt: and if we expand to non-apps we loose all the info from the desktop files of course
<mpt> sure
<mvo> mpt: and right now multiple applications can be in a single package
<mpt> yes
<mvo> mpt: (that is pretty common)
<mpt> e.g. gnome-games
<mvo> yeah