Categories in Ubuntu Software don't work

[dmiller309]

I'm a developer on the Polarr team for Linux, and users should be able to find the Polarr app under the Photography category of the Ubuntu Software store.

I attached a screenshot of the Photography category in the Ubuntu 16.04 Software store. The other categories are similarly non-functional.

As you can see, there are only ellipses where there should be icons and descriptive text for each of the photography applications. Clicking on the items doesn't do anything.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: ubuntu-software 3.20.5-0ubuntu0.16.04.7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.10.0-42.46~16.04.1-generic 4.10.17
Uname: Linux 4.10.0-42-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.15
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Thu Jan 4 10:41:25 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-12-19 (16 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
SourcePackage: gnome-software
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

Is Polarr a Snap? Snaps don't currently work with categories (https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/mapping-snap-store-sections-to-xdg-sections)

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

See also bug 1665126

[dmiller309 (dmiller309)]

Polarr is a Snap, but the bug I intended to report here is that on 16.04, none of the items in the category list display or are clickable. The screenshot attached to the original bug report illustrates the problem. I couldn't say for sure whether Polarr is in the list or not because each of the apps display as a box with an ellipsis inside: no icon or text. One weird thing I when switching between categories is that none of the items in the list for each category render or are clickable, but there are different amounts of items in each category. I know I had an internet connection because I was on a video call.

During a demo of the new Polarr Snap I was asked whether the Polarr Snap is in the Software Store and if it showed up under the Graphics category. I could bring up Polarr by searching for it directly. It was kind of embarrassing though when none of the categories in the store worked. We link our existing users to our snapcraft.io/polarr page, but we're not featured, the categories were broken on 16.04, and we don't show up under categories on 17.10, so there is currently no way for new users to find Polarr in the Software Store.

Thanks for your patience, I know that y'all have a lot of work to do with all the new Snaps coming out. I've seen categories in the Software Store work before and maybe this is just a temporary regression; I just wanted to share this in case you weren't aware of the problem.

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

Thanks for the clarification!

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report. I can't confirm that on a xenial uptodate system here. Does it happen on a fresh login or only after some steps (maybe interacting with a snap in some way)?

[dmiller309 (dmiller309)]

It happened on a fresh login for all categories in the software store on 16.04. I upgraded my 16.04 machine to 17.10, but I could wipe the OS partition and reinstall 16.04 this weekend to test if the software store still has the same problem with displaying categories.