Adopting AppData in KDE?

[Matthias Klumpp]

2013/11/2 Aaron J. Seigo <aseigo at kde.org>:
> On Saturday, November 2, 2013 09:27:18 John Layt wrote:
>> One obvious question is how this might relate to Bodega if KDE chooses
>> to switch to that?
>
> The same files could be used to generate asset descriptions for use with
> Bodega.
>
>>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?
>
> This is an area of understandable confusion, but Bodega and AppStream do
> rather very different things.
>
> AppStream is a way to present a more modern interface to packages in the OS
> vendor’s repositories. (Theoretically, 3rd party repos too.) It is rather
> unhelpful for non-package-manager-packages, for non-application content types
> or for use as an in-app system.
>
> Last I looked, AppStream has as a goal utilizing OCS for user interface.
> [...]
>
> OCS is, generally, horribly designed. I am even hesitant to use the word
> ‘design’ in combination with OCS. It is really that bad, and why we did not
> use it for Bodega.
I agree with that, and this is the reason why I currently question the
use of OCS for AppStream. This still needs to be discussed with the
others, but I would rather like to use an improved OCS or a completely
new API for the AppStream Ratings&Review features (as well for maybe
payments, but that's a different issue).


> AppStream is very focused on the needs of desktop Linux. There is *nothing*
> wrong about that in the least, but it leaves mobile, embedded and server use
> cases (not to mention more general web based ones) unserviced.
Can you please clarify what AppStream is missing for mobile?

> Bodega addresses all of the above.
>
> There are a variety of potential collaboration points for Bodega and
> AppStream, including (and probably not limited to):
>
> * Bodega being able to process AppStream data files as a way to import
> applications as assets in the warehouse. This would be similar to how we
> handle Project Gutenberg’s book catalog, for instance.
>
> * AppStream could use Bodega as a way to provide the user participation side
> of things: ratings, comments, user submissions, etc.
>
> If Bodega and AppStream do continue on without collaborating, which is a valid
> option, there really will be very little in the way of overlap between the two
> and I hope over time we can make it clear that they are really not comparable
> systems.
I like collaboration ;-) I still need to learn about Bodega, but e.g.
AppStream could adopt the ratings & reviews parts. The only thing
which AppStream always needs to care of is being distro- and
desktop-agnostic.
Speaking of which: Would a libappstream-qt be helpful? The current
AppStream library uses GObject/GLib, which can be used without
problems from any Qt app - I didn't create a Qt wrapper library,
because I didn't find it useful. However, it might be something we
want for KDE, if more projects start to make use of AppStream (right
now, Apper is the only thing using it)

On topic: I wanted to create a Wiki page about AppData in KDE and the
propose to adopt it ;-) It might still be worth to create one to
clarify the questions raised above.
Cheers,
    Matthias