Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 26th Jan 2011 22:24 UTC, submitted by fran
Installing software on Linux has gotten progressively easier over the years, down to being downright foolproof in Ubuntu's Application Center. However, there is still the problem of each distribution relying on its own frontends and backends, and this needs to be addressed. Members from all the major Linux distributions have held several talks, and have come up with a solution which is already being implemented.
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Latest Version of the App available
by shotsman on Thu 27th Jan 2011 07:15
in reply to "RE: attendees"
Member since:2005-07-22
And therein lies a problem.
The latest version will probably run on the latest version of Ubuntu but how will that play on a server distro like RHEL where everything is not at the latest cutting and dare I say it slightly unstable edge?
If I'm using a stable server distro (ie one where I just want patched and a few bits backported) I would need to see a range of versions of the app in the store with their OS dependencies so that I can install the one that will run on my Server System.
The last thing I want is to install an app that brings down with it versions of OS libs that don't play with the stuff I already have installed.
The sheer vision of trying to sort that mess out makes me want to steer well clear of this for some time to come.
Just because some crappy dev builds an app that requires the latest version of a lib that will go merrily stomping over your existing stuff is not what I want.
If however the apps were setup to be installed in a way similar to those on OSX where the app deps are kept well away from the system libs then I'd go for it.
There is a lot to sort out here...
RE: Latest Version of the App available
by phoenix on Thu 27th Jan 2011 17:14
in reply to "Latest Version of the App available"
Member since:2005-07-11
The last thing I want is to install an app that brings down with it versions of OS libs that don't play with the stuff I already have installed.
For userland, desktop-oriented apps, statically compiled binaries or "app bundles" work work so much nicer.
For server-oriented apps, dynamic linking is better and "more secure".
But for an "app store", bundles and/or static linking would be so much simpler, easier, nicer.
If however the apps were setup to be installed in a way similar to those on OSX where the app deps are kept well away from the system libs then I'd go for it.
There is a lot to sort out here...
There is a lot to sort out here...
Ah, see, we're all thinking along the same lines.
Member since:2006-06-21
A unified app store might even mean a unified app repository. Imagine that!
I don't think that will ever happen. Different distributions cater to different audiences and purposes. And each distribution has different branches, at the very least a "stable" and a "development" branch; most of them more than two.
The system they're proposing here is a wrapper that hides the different package managers under a common interface with features that appeal to end-users. It's great they're doing this wrapper but it's just a specialized app that caters to a niche audience. Do not expect major architectural changes to go with it.
It does not mean package managers will be unified, ever, or that distributions will give up their own goals and development process just for the sake of dumping everything into one big repository.
Furthermore, power users and developers will need to keep using the power tools of the package manager. They need the extra information, or to automate update and upgrade operations, or to fine-tune the way the manager works, be able to access it from the console etc.
Please remember that Linux is very flexible and is being used by lots of people in lots of different ways. "Grandma's desktop PC" is just a small part of it.
Member since:2005-07-11
The system they're proposing here is a wrapper that hides the different package managers under a common interface with features that appeal to end-users.
I haven't read the article yet, but isn't that what PackageKit does? I've use KPackageKit on Kubuntu (apt backend) and Arch (pacman backend) and it works just the way you say: unified front-end that's easy to use, but that queries the distro-specific repos.
Member since:2010-09-23
I see Linux being used in 3 places:
embedded OS (hardly ever gets updated, so no repository needed, let alone an appstore)
server OS (updates sometimes come from a repository but not always and an appstore is not needed)
"Grandma's Desktop OS" (or more commonly refered to as "Geek OS"/"No virus OS"/"Cheap OS" where this article is all about
Indeed a small part, but the only part relevant here
Member since:2009-07-22
A unified app store might even mean a unified app repository. Imagine that! These are huge distros we are talking about. You'd never have to compile anything from source. And there would always be latest version of your favourite app available for your distro.
Would be great. openSUSE build service goes pretty much in that direction and maybe other companies could join the effort so their devs could concentrate on other areas. Just saying, maybe in real world this doesn't make sense at all LoL.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:06 UTC
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 22:15 UTC, submitted by Tom
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 21:41 UTC
Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 17:04 UTC
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 13:17 UTC
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 12:06 UTC
"According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow.More News »
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Member since:
2009-05-23
Exactly! This is very good to see. I want to see more such collaboration between the major vendors. We already have them sharing technologies like RPM and apt-get. So why not develop applications that are common to all distributions?
A unified app store might even mean a unified app repository. Imagine that! These are huge distros we are talking about. You'd never have to compile anything from source. And there would always be latest version of your favourite app available for your distro.