Re: Proposal for reducing the number of unremovable apps in GNOME Software

[Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net>]

On Mon, 2017-11-06 at 12:16 +0000, Allan Day wrote:
> Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net> wrote:
> ...
> > > > I don't see the relation between sandboxable and unremovable.
> > >
> > > On an image-based OS, wouldn't it be the case that anything
> > that's
> > > not a flatpak would be part of the image, and therefore
> > unremovable?
> > > I've been looking at this issue recently from a slightly
> > different
> > > perspective and wondered whether "part of the base OS" might be a
> > > simpler and more natural replacement for <mandatory_for_desktop>.
> >
> > Seems to me that the whole problem is that gnome-software keeps the
> > "package" uninstallable even if the same application is installed
> > via
> > Flatpak.
> >
> > Fix that, and you don't need to make any changes to the appdata
> > files.
>
> I'm thinking about a "pure" system that doesn't have any packages -
> it's just an ostree-based image with flatpaks installed on it. My
> understanding is that, in this situation, some apps would be shipped
> as part of the image, and that these apps wouldn't be removable.

I don't think that we should have applications in the base OS that can
be safely run in Flatpaks, and independently updated.

Say, Settings requires particular versions of the OS, and cannot be run
with arbitrary versions of BlueZ, PulseAudio, gnome-settings-daemon or
gnome-shell.

But, given a baseline in capabilities, a Flatpak of Photos, or
Documents should be able to be upgraded separately in a Flatpak.

That doesn't however mean that those applications should be removable,
or that they shouldn't be shipped as part of the "OS". To me, the OS is
the barebones desktop environment and all the applications necessary to
make it somewhat useful. It has a browser, a way to add applications,
and contains the applications that integrate well for the base
experience.

I don't think that applications such as Calendar, Contacts, or finding
and reminding apps should be removed from the requirements for a well-
rounded, default desktop. How they're installed is a technical question
that's not relevant to the fact that they're needed.