GNOME Software, GNOME's App Store, Is Drawing Some Fresh Criticism

[justmy2cents]

No I don't think it should cover cli app. If that's what you want then you should be using the distros package manager. The app store is stupid anyway. Use the f-ing package manager.

stupid is a matter of viewpoint. in my case it is just nice addition to yumex and cli/yum. but, if i look at my friends who are not so deep in linux? in F21 they suddenly magically succeeded to find whole lot of software they always had available without even knowing it exists.

fedy+Software is godsend on Fedora for people like that. unlike previous releases, every single friend of mine set up whole OS without one single call to me how to do something. but, sad fact is that they ended with better end result since OS is set up as they want it, not how i imagine it should be

[dh04000]

This piece of software is useless for any distro that ships more than just the Gnome DE...... Why is Gnome so desperate to limit users to only discovering their DE and hiding others? Seems like a purposeful attack on other DE designed to harm distro's ability to provide useful ways for users to switch between DE's at will. Shame on Gnome.

[molecule-eye]

kawn;461588]I think if you're installing something with a CLI, then you probably know your way around a CLI, and you'll probably use the CLI to install stuff.

I, for one, find running sudo apt-get install foobar or sudo pacman -S foobar a lot easier than any GUI implementation (I still have nightmares about Ubuntu's Software Centre, ugh!).

GUIs for installing programs on Linux is for noobs, and they should be kept accessible and free from complications. If I'm searching for something like handbrake, I want to see just one instance, not handbrake and handbrake-cli, that's just confusing the type of people who use a GUI installers.[/QUOTE]

What if you don't know the name of the package you're looking for?

[doom_Oo7]

What if you don't know the name of the package you're looking for?

apt search

?

[plonoma]

Let the app store be a walled garden where I can direct non technical users towards.
But let me keep choice in installing anything I want through the package manager.

Have good search and tags worked out so the non-technical users can easily search and find their favourite software if it's in the app store.

Allow CLI apps in the app store, don't show them by default and show the view/search options somewhere in the screen. Add something to show that CLI apps are not shown. The user could simply choose to show them too.

Listing should prioritize software for the currently used desktop manager by default, not Gnome when Gnome isn't the running desktop environment.

Let people make an app store acount to sync their view/search preferences. Other uses can be done such as synchronizing lists of installed software over different computers.

These app store accounts could also be used to setup something similar to Ubuntu brainstorm.
Have users make feature requests and let other users up/downvote the requests + add comments, try to push discussion into a linked forum discussion.
Allowing prioritization of what software people want to have in the app store/walled garden.

The app store must not be the installer.
Keep app store separated from other aspects such as package management and software installation. Keep the app store in separate pieces of software.
The app store is supposed to be a place for browsing software with some assurance of quality control, before installing software.
The app store is suppose to be a place for noobs where they can choose to install software without understanding in a somewhat safe way.
An app store should be a walled garden. Allowing easy search and would ideally have some quality control of software.

[plonoma]

The response of the GNOME developers to comments like these have basically come down to "GNOME Software is the software application installer for GNOME", while the underlying issue generally expressed by users is that GNOME Software basically serves as the de facto GUI package manager of Fedora and other GNOME-aligned distributions with not having another (more universal) GUI package installer shipped as part of the distribution, compared to say the Ubuntu Software Center on Ubuntu.

Then only show Gnome packages.
Put it in the FAQ, help files and other information, documentation.
Let distributions decide what they want to include in the app store, what sources they use, etc...

The right response is for the other desktop environments to also make an app store.
The people who are building the distributions should be in charge what the app stores have as content, sources and if app store accounts are introduced, where accounts are managed.

[duby229]

I think it's an absolutely terrible idea to have all these different avenues to install software on a machine.

[kingu]

Cant you just show the less relevant results grayed out?

If you are advanced enough to use CLI-apps, then you can cope with that, problem solved.

[darkcoder]

And that's why Android suceed at the user market

I think if you're installing something with a CLI, then you probably know your way around a CLI, and you'll probably use the CLI to install stuff.

I, for one, find running sudo apt-get install foobar or sudo pacman -S foobar a lot easier than any GUI implementation (I still have nightmares about Ubuntu's Software Centre, ugh!).

GUIs for installing programs on Linux is for noobs, and they should be kept accessible and free from complications. If I'm searching for something like handbrake, I want to see just one instance, not handbrake and handbrake-cli, that's just confusing the type of people who use a GUI installers.

That's why Android have been such a hit. They took something that have a proven record that works (Linux), put an easy way to manage software on top of it.

There are some distributions like Fedora and Debian that break packages way too much in the name of allowing only needed components. That makes more difficult both the packaging, and the user interaction with the package.

[RoninDusette]

Let's be honest here; how many of us techs install apps, let alone just CLI tools, with a GUI? I know I don't. Just drop to a CLI and use the underlying package manager to get the goods, and let n00bs play with the software centre. Just a thought.