GNOME 40 Aims To Have A Better Extensions Experience

[uid313]

what are they gonna call it something similar to Mozilla's " webextension api "

The WebExtensions API is not something that belongs to Mozilla, it is a standard used by Mozilla and Google, so both Firefox and Chrome supports the WebExtensions API.

[agaman]

The gnome extensions web is full of broken extensions. And most of them is because of lack of maintenance. This will not fix that. And a CI doens't ensures everything works. We are talking about interactive things that mainupates an UI, they can probably run and all the APIs they use be working, but render a broken interface because UI chages in gnome-shell.

If an stable API is not an option, I think a better solution would be to enforce declaring the gnome versions your extension supports when uploading it, and require to update that list each gnome release. Making the developer manually udpate the extension specyfing it supports the new gnome version, it probably means it has tested the extension. And users will not be bothered with an infinite list of extensions where most of them doesn't works well or doesn't works at all.

[schmalzler]

schmalzler You are free to choose how you develop and deploy your extensions. GNOME’s GitLab is just the better option.

According to GNOMEs very own plan (see my quote above), you can't chose how you deploy your extension. It all will be done by GNOME. Development can be done wherever you want, but you need to also push to GNOME gitlab.

[Alexmitter]

The gnome extensions web is full of broken extensions. And most of them is because of lack of maintenance. This will not fix that. And a CI doens't ensures everything works. We are talking about interactive things that mainupates an UI, they can probably run and all the APIs they use be working, but render a broken interface because UI chages in gnome-shell.

If an stable API is not an option, I think a better solution would be to enforce declaring the gnome versions your extension supports when uploading it, and require to update that list each gnome release. Making the developer manually udpate the extension specyfing it supports the new gnome version, it probably means it has tested the extension. And users will not be bothered with an infinite list of extensions where most of them doesn't works well or doesn't works at all.

The gnome extensions website allows you to filter by extensions that support your current shell version.

[Alexmitter]

According to GNOMEs very own plan (see my quote above), you can't chose how you deploy your extension. It all will be done by GNOME. Development can be done wherever you want, but you need to also push to GNOME gitlab.

You need to push it to GNOME Gitlab... ...if you want to release the extension on extensions.gnome.org

No one forces you to release there, a makefile is enough to install the extension.

[mppix]

Instead of being nice he should just tell the truth: You have to at least commit (and fix) your extension on GNOME gitlab because otherwise your extension won't be part of gnome. Because it all reads like GNOME wants to own and release those extensions together with gnome and force devs into "being part of gnome".

"* Bring extensions as part of the GNOME release process and provide early warning to extension writers that their extension does not work on the latest release.
* Centralization of gnome-extensions to the GNOME Gitlab so that all extensions can be seen and tested. Developers are free to develop their extension on any platform, but must push to the GNOME gitlab service for submission.
* A set of policies and requirements that will hold extension writers accountable for maintaining their extensions including unit tests."

Sounds like the opposite of freedom to me...

I get where you are coming from but the current state is freedom in the sense of wild-west. There are a lot of extensions, many of them are broken, and you would not know that until you installed it, which could arbitrarily modify (=break) your DE.

[miskol]

Are there any ppa for ubuntu so we can try it right now?

[Klassic Six]

I hope this merges for 40.0

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/merge_requests/404

[skeevy420]

I hope this goes places. Long term extension support has always been my peeve with GNOME since I'm usually on a rolling release distribution.

My GNOME experience has damn-near universally been:

1. Install distribution
2. Find plugins to fill in desktop gaps
3. Update distribution a few weeks later
4. Remove 2/3s to all of Step 2's plugins because update breaks them
5. Wait a few weeks and see if plugins get updated
6. Another distribution update
7. Get tired of waiting on plugin updates and install a different desktop

[pal666]

My GNOME experience has damn-near universally been:

try this one isntead

1. Install distribution
2. Update distribution a few weeks later
3. Another distribution update