SoftwareCenter

Revision 96 as of 2009-08-24 00:36:49

Clear message

This specification is a work in progress. Your feedback is welcome at AppCenter/Comments.

  • 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, synaptic, update-manager

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 likely be based on Add/Remove Applications (gnome-app-install), but may use PackageKit for some components.

Contents

  1. Rationale
  2. AppCenter 1.0
    1. System nomenclature
    2. Invocation
    3. Menus
    4. “Available Software” section
      1. Home panel
        1. Searching from the Home panel
        2. “Categories” section
        3. “Featured this week” section
      2. Category panel
      3. Application panel
    5. “In Progress” panel
  3. Specifications for features not planned for 1.0
    1. History
  4. Roadmap
    1. October 2009
    2. April 2010
    3. October 2010
    4. April 2011
  5. Eventual scope
  6. User stories
  7. Design scratchpad
    1. Access
    2. Initial appearance
  8. Implementation
    1. Code
    2. Data preservation and migration
  9. Similar efforts
  10. Unresolved issues

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 grandmother 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 AppCenter, instead of command-line installation instructions.

If Linux has an Achilles heel, from the point of view of a Windows user, it's installing new software. Be prepared to enter a new world in which Windows Update is a model of simplicity by comparison, and in which you may feel as if you need a Ph.D. in physics merely to install new applications or updates.

— Preston Gralla, “Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows”, Computerworld

First there is the Add/Remove Applications program, which is designed to allow you to Add and Remove Applications. Second, there is the Synaptic Package Manager, which allows you to Manage Packages (in a manner that is uniquely synaptic, apparently) or Applications as some might call them, by allowing you to Add and Remove them. Finally there is Software Sources, which, if Wine’s installation instructions are any indication, provides Sources of Software, filling a glaring gap in Ubuntu Linux by allowing you to Add and Remove Applications.

— Ash Pringle, “The New Year Linux resolution: Day 5”, zMogo

AppCenter 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 = 24 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.

System nomenclature

TBD

Invocation

default window size and placement TBD

When opened manually, AppCenter should by default display the home panel of the “Available Software” section, scrolled to the top. The search field should be empty. Default focus should be on the home panel, so that arrow keys scroll through the panel, but none of the items in the panel should be focused by default. 

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

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

_Edit
=====
  _Copy                       Ctrl C
  Copy _Web Link        Shift Ctrl C
-------------------------------------
  Searc_h...                  Ctrl F
-------------------------------------
  _Software Sources...

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

_Help
=====
  _Help Using AppCenter
------------------------
  _About This Version

“Available Software” section

The “Available Software” section includes a home panel, panels for each category, and panels for individual applications.

Home panel

The home panel is the entry point to the world of available software for Ubuntu, so it is important that it be attractive and welcoming.

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

The home panel has multiple sections, each beginning with a header. The header should use a background... TBD Each section, including the last, should have a bottom margin of 2 em.

Each item (category or package) in the home panel should have 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 0.8-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 the home panel should produce the pointing-hand pointer when moused over, and single-clicking should navigate to that item.

Searching from the Home panel

Each item in the search results should produce the pointing-hand pointer when moused over, and single-clicking should navigate to that item.

“Categories” section

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

Category panel

Erratum: The arrow buttons shown for each application should not be present.

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.

Application panel

When an individual application is being viewed, the search function should be disabled — both the search field and the “Search” menu item.

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.

“In Progress” panel

Specifications for features not planned for 1.0

History

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 AppCenter. This will likely involve:

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

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

    • Handling of package conflicts and other error cases.

    • A collapsed view of AppCenter 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 AppCenter.

October 2010

  1. Integrate the ratings and review mechanism from Launchpad into AppCenter. This will likely involve:

    • An interface within AppCenter 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 AppCenter.

  3. Provide the ability to purchase software from within AppCenter.

April 2011

  1. Improve sharing and tracking of software within AppCenter. 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?

Design scratchpad

Access

Initial appearance

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

  • 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.

  • Incorporate PackageMaintainednessPresentation, including its “Future work” maintenance-graph.jpg

Implementation

Code

Data preservation and migration

Similar efforts

Unresolved issues