Ubuntu Software Center fails to categorize by Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Lubuntu

[Kenyon Karl]

Binary package hint: software-center

I am testing Ubuntu 9.10 RC as installed by Wubi.exe on a Windows XP partition on an Asus A2H (A2500H) laptop that also contains a partion for Ubunu 9.04.

In using the new Ubuntu Software Center, I am dismayed that the display fails to include options to merely list software that is appropriate for an Ubuntu (Gnome) system, Kubuntu (KDE) system, Xubuntu (Xcfe), Lubuntu (Lxfe), etc. Since I am currently running an Ubuntu (Gnome) system, I TRY to avoid choosing software that uses KDE, Xcfe, Lxfe libraries in an effort to keep the size of my system down (there may be other reasons as well). Note that some software such as Firefox doesn't use any of these libraries and thus are appropriate under every option.

I recognize that critics will classify this problem as a missing 'feature'. But note that the Add/Remove Software in previous releases of Ubuntu/Kubuntu always had an option to show just Gnome based software or just KDE based software. But that display failed to provide options for XCFE and the new LXFE. Furthermore when using those options, that display failed to show software like Firefox that is appropriate for any GUI.

While I am at it, why is Ubuntu Software Center listed at the bottom of the Applications menu and doesn't ask for my password before usage, whereas Synaptic Package Manager is listed in the Administration submenu of the System Menu and demands my password before entry?

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: 134dbefaa9beb106598c5597ba8bbd33
CheckboxSystem: edda5d4f616ca792bf437989cb597002
Date: Sun Oct 25 20:35:08 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release Candidate i386 (20091020.3)
Package: software-center 1.0.1
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: software-center
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686

[Andrew (and471)]

@mpt do we want this done and how?

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

I've long listed "How to prioritize toolkits" as an unresolved issue <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#Unresolved%20issues>, and I would like to solve it, but I'm not sure how.

Answers to these questions would help us design a fix.

* Where did "Add/Remove Software ... [have] an option to show just Gnome based software or just KDE based software"? I still have Add/Remove Applications installed for testing, and I don't see that option anywhere (though I see that it embeds inscrutable Gnome or KDE icons into the application description).

* What is the best way of telling, from its dependencies, that an application integrates with KDE? (For example, depending on libqt4-core probably isn't enough -- even Skype does that. But if depending on kdelibs* is the standard, Scribus doesn't count.)

* What is the best way of telling, from its dependencies, that an application integrates with XFCE?

* What is the best way of telling, from its dependencies, that an application integrates with LXDE?

Thanks.

[Robert Roth (evfool)]

In the freedesktop specification, there are additional categories for GNOME, KDE, QT, and some others, although there are none for LXDE and XFCE. Maybe these Additional Categories could be included in the freedesktop.org specs, but I think that could be long and hard, and as mentioned on http://blog.lxde.org/?p=361, LXDE and XFCE do not fully comply with the freedesktop.org specification.

After including LXDE and XFCE as additional categories in the freedesktop desktop entry specs, the answer for the last three questions would be to use the Categories from the Desktop entry. Although this still wouldn't eliminate the need for a design for showing applications categorized by toolkit.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Since this bug was reported, Ubuntu has started shipping the Qt libraries by default, because they are used by the Ubuntu One control panel.

So I think the first thing we need here is a decent set of use cases. For example:
* As someone looking for an image viewer, I want to be warned that "Preview" (preview.app) does not behave at all like most other Ubuntu applications.
* As a Lubuntu user, I want to be warned when an application will require downloading lots of dependencies. (Is this handled already by "Total size: ___ to download"?)
* ...What else?