Ubuntu Wiki

• Launchpad entry: software-library

• Created: 2005-08-29 by MatthewPaulThomas

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

Summary

There will be a single graphical interface for package management in Ubuntu, currently codenamed AppCenter. (The final name, like much of the design, will be partly dependent on user testing.) This will combine the human-readable approach of Add/Remove Applications, the power of Synaptic, and the ease of use of 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 implementation will be based on Add/Remove Applications (gnome-app-install).

Rationale

In Ubuntu there are at least four graphical tools promoted for software management. For installing and uninstalling programs that have a .desktop file, you can use synaptic or gnome-app-install, though the latter warns you to use Synaptic instead "for more complicated needs". For installing and uninstalling programs that don't have a .desktop file, you must use synaptic. For installing downloaded .deb packages, you use gdebi. For installing updates, you can use synaptic or update-manager, but the latter instructs you to run synaptic if it encounters conflicts. For removing no-longer-needed software, you use computer-janitor-gtk. This redundancy causes people to encounter multiple interfaces for the same tasks, wastes space on the Ubuntu CD, and divides development effort. And having multiple sanctioned graphical methods of installing software makes people more likely to think that unsanctioned methods (such as Ultamatix or third-party Web sites) are also safe, when they are not. Instead, there should be one awesome tool for general software management, with an obvious name and an interface your grandmother can use.

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)

  • habit (people who installed X also installed Y (previously 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

  • how big it is [idea 12118]

  • 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 repository is.

• 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 10.10 is released, and she’s not confident about upgrading. What will the upgrade do, she wonders. How much will it cost? Will she lose any of her files?

Roadmap

This roadmap is a rough draft only.

Version 1.0: Be awesome enough to replace Add/Remove Applications, and to be promoted as a primary feature of Ubuntu.

Version 1.1: Subsume Synaptic.

Version 2.0: Subsume Update Manager. Incorporate ratings and reviews.

Version 3.0: Allow purchase of commercial software.

Version 4.0: Subsume gdebi and system-cleaner.

Version 5.0: Subsume aptoncd.

Design

• Incorporate PackageMaintainednessPresentation, including its “Future work”

Access

• Idea #12193: Add/Remove and Synaptic should be strongly displayed to new users

• direct

  • "Add/Remove..." is currently at the bottom of the "Applications" menu in Ubuntu, and in the "Accessories" category in Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

• apt: links
• codec search

• font search [idea 15333]

Initial appearance

• Idea #17431: Add/Remove Applications is ugly and confusing

Window layout

Software Library should have three panes, like an e-mail program: the sources pane, the package/program list, and the package/program pane. There should also be a menu bar, a bar at the top containing filter/search controls, and a bar at the bottom containing summary info and an action button.

...

Menus

Braindump

• Dynamically filtered view of programs or packages:

  Show: [Programs installable    :^]    Containing: [______________]

• Menu choices are:
  • Programs available (default when invoked manually)
  • Programs already installed
  • Packages available
  • Packages installed
  • Security updates (search field replaced by "Updates available" text)
  • All updates
  • Changes to be made
• Items in the list have iconic pull-down menus that look like menus, not checkboxes.
• Recommendations and suggestions are shown as children of an item in the list (recommendations selected by default, suggestions not).
• Multi-level undo.
• Updates are aggregated by source package, with packages hidden inside an expander.

Implementation

Code

Data preservation and migration

Unresolved issues

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

• Linux's dirty little secret

• Appnr

• allmyapps

• 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 category 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.

• Whether an update will require a restart 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]
• Should the two classes of update, security vs. other, be reconsidered? Maybe critical vs. non-critical. [mac_v]

• Trying to open an .exe file should, if Wine is not installed, invite you to open AppCenter to find equivalent software instead.

• 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

• Ubuntu Brainstorm: Most popular ideas for Add/Remove

• Ubuntu Brainstorm: Most popular ideas for Synaptic