Re: Gnome 3 Extensions/Themes Website?

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

Option 1:

 We don't control the situation:

  - People package up extensions in distributions
  - There's no version mechanism or update mechanism, so when you
    update the shell, your extensions get out of sync, and start
    causing your shell to misbehave
  - People have no idea what extensions they have installed, and file
    bugs against GNOME Shell complaining about these bugs
  - There's no review mechanism and people get into the habit of
    installing code from random places that can do anything.
  - Extensions work their way into default install sets of distributions

 This is happening currently.

Option 2:

 We have an extensions website

  - Extension installation is in the hands of the user
  - Normal users get a clean, designed experience
  - If you go to the website, you get the message (through text, design,
    art, etc) that you are hacking up your GNOME experience.
  - We strongly discourage distribution packaging of extensions.

 An extension website *potentially* allows us to influence what changes 
 an extension can make by guidelines, requirements to be listed as
 "featured", etc, though that's something we have to be very careful
 about, because the whole idea of extensions is that they allow people
 to try arbitrary things.

The extension website was in the plans for the extension system from the
beginning, and the extension system Simple Does Not Make Sense without
its.

In terms of themes - the reason that themes belong on the extension
website is:

 - They are using unsupported APIs
 - They are hacks of the GNOME Shell experience and need messaging
   as such
 - They need to be automatically disabled when they are out of sync
   with the GNOME Shell.

Can we declare that GNOME Shell doesn't have themes, and prevent people
from posting screenshots of GNOME Shell with a modified theme or with a
modified top panel? I don't see how to achieve that other than some
draconian enforcement of the GNOME trademark that would be inconsistent
with the principles of the GNOME project.

- Owen