after closing it does not show the name of the app in the queue

[Federico Vera]

Binary package hint: software-center

Add several Apps to the install queue, then close software-center, when you access it again, the queue is there, applications are being installed, but no name is shown.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Oct 2 02:29:27 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: software-center 0.4.3
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=es_AR.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.36-generic
SourcePackage: software-center
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic i686

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

It would be nice to be able to attach some information more permanently to a transaction (like the icon name) or to get the list of packages getting installed. Alternatively we can stop it from closing while transactions are running.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

The spec says:

If you try to close the Center while an item is installing or being removed:

   1. All items in the navigation pane, other than “In Progress”, should become insensitive.
   2. The Center should switch to displaying the “In Progress” section.
   3. When installation is completed or cancelled, the Center should close.

I think it is not ideal to make everything insensitive because the user may change his mind - unless the user can open a second copy of the store.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

I subscribed mpt for input

[Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor)]

I am not sure if it is a good idea allowing to attach generic data to a root running service.

But perhaps we won't have any other possibilty to share the data between users.

So perhaps a "Data" string property which can be writtin by the inital user only. Software-store could use a CSV: "sotware-sources:icon:blabla:apps:xterm,firefox".

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

@Sebastian: Thanks, maybe a generic data field is too much, a easy way to figure out what packages where affected in the given transaction would already help I think. AFAICS this can not right now be extracted from the transaction.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

It's a good point that making everything insensitive would leave you unable to change your mind about closing without cancelling all the current tasks. And even if that was implemented, exactly the same issue occurs with Update Manager: if you begin installing updates, then open the Ubuntu Software Center, the "In Progress" section appears with one nameless item, and (apart from the namelessness problem) that might not be such a bad idea.

Please excuse me if my logic is wobbly here, but I think the next version of Update Manager should be able to represent application updates with the application icons and friendly names, rather than as multiple obscure packages, just like the Center does. And in an ideally-translated world, those application names and summaries will often differ by localization, and therefore possibly even differ between user accounts on the same computer.

So, I think there should be a library function that, given a package name and a repository, calculates its friendly name, summary, icon, etc for your localization. The Ubuntu Software Center should use this function throughout, and so should Update Manager. So aptdaemon itself doesn't need to know what the application name or icon are; it just needs to track packages and repositories, and be able to tell any client what it's doing with those packages. Does that make sense?

[Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor)]

If the affected packages are enough for you, this should be easy to
add.

It could be a little bit difficult for the CommitPackages transaction.
Should we just ignore the kind of change which will be done? So only
having a TouchedPackages property?

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Sorry, I don't know what "the CommitPackages transaction" is.

Are you saying that aptdaemon currently can't tell a client whether it's installing vs. updating vs. removing a package? If so, I think probably that should be changed. For example, if Update Manager is currently updating package A, and then in the Center you request to install package B that Conflicts with A, the Center needs to ask you about removing A. But if another aptdaemon client is *removing* A when in the Center you request to install B, the Center doesn't need to ask you anything, it can just go ahead and queue up B for installation. So, the Center needs to know whether A is being updated, installed, or removed, even if it's not the Center doing it. Does that make sense?

[Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor)]

I want to add a new property to the transaction which allows to tell the user the affected packages: which packages will be installed, removed, etc. Software-Center would have to convert these packages into applications again.

[Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor)]

Fixed in the glatzor branch of software-center and latest aptdaemon.