elementary OS

Will the publish in AppCenter that is in beta require strict Debian packaging?

Asked by 은성

Hi,

I have a question. I made a utility application, but it is impossible to package it. Running CMake compiles and installs it fine. Yet, the debian packaging is not possible as directory and file attributes during installation must be done which Debian provides no examples for and workaround examples in places like StackOverflow or forums don't work either. While in the end the packaging can be done locally and get a .deb file, the application will not work properly because the debian installer did not set the permissions of directories properly and always locks them as property of root. Rules for overriding are not working. On the other hand, launchpad always fails to build the package and the logs give no specific details on what went wrong.

The reason I ask is because I have spent more time trying to package while failing again and again than time I spent making the application. I was thinking that a way to attract developers to elementaryOS could be by making it easy for them to write applications and easily publish them without them having to go through a process which has always been cumbersome and requires a lot of knowledge from a packaging system which forces one to set up big configurations and be precise, but the packaging system itself is vague as to why it fails and deletes the very logs that contain the failing information as soon as it fails.

So the bottom line question is, will the feature of letting indie developers publish in AppCenter require strictly Debian packaging or is the elementaryOS team creating a better choice that is not debian packages for delivering applications to end users with the click of a button?

Thanks.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
elementary OS Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
은성
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Blake Kostner (btkostner) said : 		#1

I cannot answer the problem you are having with debian building. It looks rather complicated.

I can however tell you that elementary is working on a packaging / release system for applications code named Houston. As of right now, it works with GitHub and will give you a super simple, single click button to release your application for elementary. On the backend, it will still use debian packaging (at least for now), but we have been working to make it generate as much as possible so the developer doesn't have to worry about debian packaging files, and can instead work on developing their application.

Right now it's in closed beta. We have been testing it as we go making sure everything works and the user experience is supurb. You can join the wait list for the beta on our developer page.

Developer page: https://developer.elementary.io
Source code https://github.com/elementary/houston

Revision history for this message
은성 (eun-s) said : 		#2

I see. Thanks for taking the time to answer.

While I know that the work is hard and that anything can happen, I am a little excited to see how awesome it turns out. I'm looking forward to it in the future.

I'll try to publish as soon as I can my utility application in Github with adequate full documentation to join the wait list.

My question was answered, thank you.