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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: Adopting AppData in KDE?
From:       Yuri Chornoivan <yurchor () ukr ! net>
Date:       2013-11-02 11:00:49
Message-ID: 1383389168.483446917.4r5btadm () frv45 ! ukr ! net
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> Hi,
> 
> I've been asked by Richard Hughes from Gnome and Fedora to raise the
> profile of using AppData metadata within KDE.  I know very little
> about this area myself, but thought it was worthwhile raising on the
> list for discussion.  If you have any questions about AppData then
> Richard would be happy to answer them, so please cc him on replies.

Hi,

1. AppData files are tailored for intltool/its-tool processing (tags with \
underscores). What do you think about adding untranslatable by design appdata files \
like it was done for Audacity [1]? 2. AppData in GNOME packages is filled with \
translations while compiling/packaging the application. Can it be somehow aligned \
with KDE idea of storing translations in separate repo? 3. Is it technically possible \
to have appdata.xml in repo translated by scripty based on KDE desktop- POs (just \
like KDE .desktop files)? 4. What is planned to do with Debian/Ubuntu DDTP \
translations [2, 3]? Is there any plans to adopt it for Canonical Software \
Centre/Muon with some kind of backend? Is it yet another almost-standard for \
RPM/GNOME distributions?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Best regards,
Yuri

[1] https://code.google.com/p/audacity/source/browse/audacity-src/trunk#trunk%2Fhelp
[2] https://translations.launchpad.net/ddtp-ubuntu/+translations
[3] http://www.debian.org/international/l10n/ddtp

> 
> The AppData justification, file format and tools are documented at
> [1].  AppData and AppStream are slowly being adopted by various
> distros for use in their software installers and app stores.  The
> AppData metadata file supplements the .desktop file by having a long
> description of an app, links to some screenshots, and the app home
> page, which get dispalyed in the app installer.  The description can
> also be localized.  While distro's could generate and maintain this
> data for themselves, to do so would be very time consuming for them,
> may not present the app in the best way possible, and would quickly
> get outdated.  It makes a lot of sense for apps to create and maintain
> this metadata for themselves, presenting themselves in the best way
> possible, which all the distros can then reuse in their installer
> applications.
> 
> As far as I'm aware, AppData and/or AppStream is either used or
> scheduled to be used by default in Gnome Software Centre, Apper,
> Fedora, and OpenSuse, and optionally in several other distros, so is
> not a distro specific intiative.  I think there's even OBS integration
> happening.  If anyone knows more or thinks differently please let us
> know.
> 
> Some recent developments make this a fairly high priority for apps
> that wish to target a cross-desktop audience.  The new Gnome Software
> Centre in Gnome 3.12 which uses AppData will become the default
> installer in Fedora 20 for Gnome (Fedora KDE will use Apper).
> Currently apps that don't provide AppData are ranked lower in search
> results in Gnome Software, but from Gnome 3.14 such apps will not be
> listed at all [2].  This means that without an AppData file KDE apps
> will eventually not be visible to Gnome users in their default app
> installer.  Currently Gnome has 50% of apps covered and is
> coordinating an effort for full coverage [3], but KDE has only 1%.
> 
> Obviously individual apps are free to add these files [4], but from a
> KDE-wide perspective we need to discuss if we want to officially adopt
> this as a requirement, and if we want to provide a more coordinated
> and standardized solution.  What do people think?
> 
> If we do adopt it, the two obvious issues to me are localization and
> screenshots.  Ideally scripty would be hooked up to generate the
> translation files, but as they are an XML format it may need a bit of
> work.  Scripty would also need the AppData file to be in a standard
> location in each repo.  The screenshots need to be hosted by the app
> (at least initially, Fedora copy the screenshots to their own server
> later to save load), so we may want to have somewhere common on the
> KDE infrastructure for that.  I'd also suggest defining a file naming
> standard including the app name and version number in the screenshot
> name.
> 
> Taking a slight step-back, I wonder if there is a need for a more
> generic KDE metadata file in each KDE repo that describes even more
> useful info, like module, maintainer, reviewboard, bugzilla, last
> stable release number, frameworks tier, forums, irc channel, userbase,
> mailing list, etc, that AppData and projects.xml and inqlude and any
> other required metadata files could all be automatically generated
> from?
> 
> One obvious question is how this might relate to Bodega if KDE chooses
> to switch to that?  What does Gnome shipping their own official "App
> Store" mean for cross-distro/cross-desktop app store efforts and do we
> need to start working on our own now, or will Bodega fill that need
> for us?
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> John.
> 
> [1] http://people.freedesktop.org/~hughsient/appdata/
> [2] http://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/
> [3] https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeGoals/AppDataGnomeSoftware
> [4] https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/113531/


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