Goal proposal: KDE is All About the Apps
KDE has over 200 applications and countless addons, plugins and Plasmoids. We offer useful services to them as projects such as Git hosting, teams of translators, teams of artists and designers, some release management if they are part of KDE Applications. But much of the support we offer has fallen short, until recently there wasn't even an up to date website listing them all. There is no method of taking decisions on how these support services are provided and proposed changes often stall such as when the kde.org/applications did for a year.
With new packaging formats we will now be able to release apps directly to users on Linux, our main target platform. This means we need to review our processes and up our game many areas because no more will we be able to rely on 3rd parties to finish off our software and make it useful and attractive to users, we need to do that ourselves.
Some ideas for "what it will take"
- Improve kde.org to better display all the KDE apps
- Improve kde.org/applications to display non-Application projects such as KDE Connect or KIO GDrive, these projects are just as valid as standalone apps, but they receive even fewer services from KDE
- Improve kde.org/applications for more meta data such as maintainer names, matrix rooms, release versions and dates, windows and mac store URLs
- Improve the Appstream metadata to get more download from various Linux stores (Discover, Flathub, Appimagehub, Snap store, ...)
- README.md files are used by Gitlab and Github to describe a project, but they often don't exist, script creating these from Appstream files where they don't exist
- Make use of our project Mission and Visions in our promo material such as websites. The Plasma Vision was written but is currently not used anywhere.
- Improve Flatpak, Snap and AppImage packaging to support all the KDE apps
- Archived or improve some app websites (ex: yakuake.kde.org, utils.kde.org) See T10827
- Renaming KDE Applications to something else. The name is confusing. But there is no way to build consensus around a new name.
- Unify the version numbers of KDE Applications apps where the maintainers do not want to use their own version and increment them at releases
- Add version numbers to appstream files as part of KDE Apps release and display that on kde.org/applications
- Have a procedure for making bugfix and security updates which is clear to users and results in them getting the updates through their preferred packaging method
- Document best practice and encourage app projects to use proprietary platform stores such as Steam and Windows Store
- Some KDE apps are already in Windows, but the user needs to search the download link in binary factory. Display a link to the windows store/direct download directly in kde.org/applications
- Create a process for app projects to take in money which is administered in the interests of that project and KDE
- Make the forums half decent by changing to Discourse and link to them from kde.org/applications
- Update the Manifesto to include modern advantages of being in KDE such as CI, binary factory, neon builds etc
- Make moving to unmaintained easy. Just now the barrier is too high because it loses translations so translators do not want stuff moved to unmaintained unless they really are never coming back. Fix that to make it easier.
- Update repo-metadata categories so they use current terms and categorisations. These are not publically visible but they can be confusing to devs how they don't match reality.
- Update translations so they easier follow repo-metadata changes. Currently, this is a massive manual task for no good reason, make it automated or unnecessary.
- Ensure Incubation process is welcoming in its docs and info on how to approach KDE and become part of KDE, ensure it does not get blocked during its process
Project Org
- Either use the existing Apps workboard or make a new one https://phabricator.kde.org/project/board/196/
- Set up Discourse forum/list for async discussion
- Make a blog?
- Use existing chat channels?
How we know we succeeded
- More users of application made by the KDE community that aren't Plasma users (e.g. GNOME, i3, Windows and MacOS users)
- People stop saying that they don't use Krita/Dolphin/... because they don't use Plasma
- App projects will want to join KDE rather than use their own infrastructure or Github
Relevant links
- https://dot.kde.org/2019/07/31/linux-application-summit-coming-barcelona-november - Promote the idea that KDE apps can be used outside Plasma
- https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/bx1utu/updated_kde_applications_site_now_contains/
I am willing to put work into this
- Carl Schwan @ognarb (promotional websites, packaging help, patch)
- Jonathan Riddell (@jriddell)
- Nate Graham (@ngraham)
- Scarlett Moore (@scarlettmoore)