[maemo-developers] Too many categories in Application Manager

[From: Marius Gedminas]

On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 10:51:01AM +0100, Andrew Flegg wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 9:59 PM, Ryan Abel <rabelg5 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > "[RFC] Maemo package guidelines: mandatory categories" here:
> > http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/maemo/developers/36089
> 
> Did we ever come to a consensus on whether command-line packages
> should be in user/, and - if so - what suffix?

I've personally decided that yes, they should (I don't want to have to
gain root just so that I could install ping, less or vim).

I don't know about the suffix.  Something like "Terminal Applications"
or "Applications for Terminal" might look good in the Application
manager and by referring to the built-in Terminal app hopefully give the
right impression to users not familiar with Linux.

> I've uploaded vim to diablo-extras-builder (building now) -

Yay!  Good!

> but
> there's no GUI. Probably for something like that it should try opening
> a terminal running vim, I suppose.

Vim is a special case: there's a GUI version (only it wasn't ported for Maemo)
that would make perfect sense for a menu item.

But what about something like ping or less?  Having these in the
task navigator menu makes no sense whatsoever, while having them in an
advanced corner of non-root-requiring installable packages makes perfect
sense.

> But what about other stuff, like bsdgames? Leave out of user so
> "normal" users don't get confused?

I wouldn't mind an option '[ ] Show command-line applications' in the
app manger.  I don't think red-pill is that option: I never want to see
libraries and other supporting packages in the app manager's list.  In
other words, having that option would mean a change in the packaging
infrastructure (is "user/cmdline/foo" a valid section name?)

> TBH, I think this is symptomatic of design flaws in App Manager: I
> almost always use "all" - which gives a lot of noise, but at least it
> means I can see what packages are available.

I don't think the flaw is in the App Manager as much as it's a flaw in
the packages, or perhaps the Maemo packaging guidelines.  I remember
looking at the list of the "official" categories and not finding
anything that fit my purposes.

Marius Gedminas
-- 
> I'm not sure what makes a given poem 'modern'...

Well, one characteristic sometimes found is... to put it politely...
creative typography.  Very creative typography.
	-- Henry Spencer on the chores of typesetting modern poetry
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