FallingBlocks app can't be reviewed

[Michael Terry]

If I install FallingBlocks from the app store, and then long press on its icon in my app scope, I don't see any of its metadata like I would expect. No reviews, no author info, no version info, no screenshots.

If I then go back to its store page, the store thinks it isn't even installed. I only see the Install button, no Uninstall or Open buttons. I am not offered the opportunity to review it.

This is because (as dobey notes below) the store app id is com.ubuntu.developer.labsin.fallingblocks and it installs as labsin.fallingblocks.

Presumably this is a state we no longer allow apps to be in, but FallingBlocks was grandfathered into this broken state.

Can we rename the app in the store to be labsin.fallingblocks?

current build number: 20
device name: mako
channel: ubuntu-touch/stable/bq-aquaris.en
last update: 2015-06-15 15:28:53
version version: 20
version ubuntu: 20150611.3
version device: 20150210
version custom: 20150611

[dobey (dobey)]

I don't think there's anything we can do in the scope itself to deal with these types of packages. I've added CPI to the list, as there may be something doable on the server. This will present a problem for updating of apps that are currently using the old namespacing and then switch to the new namespace declaration at some point.

The problem with falling blocks in particular is that the package name in the store is still "com.ubuntu.developer.labsin.fallingblocks" while the package actually installs as "labsin.fallingblocks" to the system. This means that the scope is not able to associate the installed package with one in the store, as there is no "labsin.fallingblocks" entry in the store database.

I'm not sure if the developer of the app can fix this in the dev portal, or not.

[Michael Terry (mterry)]

Poke. I would like to argue that this is an actual problem. It's basically an (unintentional) attack on the rating system. Falling Blocks sits at 4.9, near the top of the Games list. But it can never be reviewed, and thus never lowered.

I imagine a future store years down the line listing Angry Birds below a 14.10-frameworked Falling Blocks that no one can review.

Is there a way for other app developers to also install under a different package name? Or was this accidental fallout from the naming scheme change? Because if other app developers can do this maliciously, that could be a real problem.