The idea of one universal package format for all distributions has been around for years. Newly introduced Apple App store service accelerates the unified Linux package discussions and we hope that this will give highly effective innovations in Linux infrastructure. With other words, Linux users are not more interested in libraries, dependencies, compatibility, and other technical details. They want to choose application and install it with a single click. But is that possible on Linux? Yes it is; Linux invents the package installer long time ago, while Apple improved it and designed it in high attractive one place App installer and again has technical advantage from the original Linux invention. Microsoft will do the same soon and we hope that Linux will finish the job before Microsoft does. It’s another missed opportunity by the Linux community to capitalize on what end users want most – a user-friendly operating system.

Now – the reality. Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse and other distros already have centralized App installers. Ubuntu improve the solution, it looks nice and it is easy to use, also they try to do a regular apps updates. So, what’s the problem? The problem is that all distros have different versions of package installers, they all packed the same app differently for all distros, app developers do the same thing for every distro, wasting time all over again. But that is going to be changed now.

Developers from RedHat, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Mandriva and Mageia got together last week at the SUSE office in Nürnberg to discuss how they might implement a universal application installer as an Application Store. The idea is to define and write a tool to find and install applications.

AppStream is build on the idea introduced by the Bretzn Project, which will do the packaging for various architectures and distributions after the developer sends up the code, publish the package, and send out release announcements.

The AppStream team think the Ubuntu Software Center is the right user interface and plans are to port it to PackageKit. They plan to use Xapian servers to provide search results for users and use Open Collaboration Services to allow user ratings and reviews. Metadata will be stored on a central server for all apps (package information, icon location, repository type and location..) A compose server will extract the package information from the .desktop file (which participating distributions will need to provide for each package) and output all the information to a common XML file. The AppStream user interface will be the front-end for PackageKit, which then will instruct the distribution’s package management system to install the desired application. Quite messy? No, for us end users, it will be one click-install.

Tags | App Store, Application, Linux, Ubuntu