FW: Software Map thoughts (was: RE: THIS-MODULE-IS-DEAD and po/THIS-MODULE-IS-DEAD)

["Chris Jones" <chris black-sun co uk>]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hi

> The software map needs a spring cleaning as well. There are a lot of

Agreed. I have a few ideas for it too (if anyone cares ;)

As more and more Linux (and hence GNOME) users are "newbies"
(especially as Linux moves more to the desktop), the "release early,
release often" principle develops a big problem - newbie users seeing
Acme Confumbubulator v0.0.0.0.alpha-pre1 in the software map may
download it and be confused/annoyed/etc by the fact that it doesnt
work or screws their data. A possible solution to this is to have two
branches of the Software Map which could be easily generated
automatically. Freshmeat lists the latest stable and devel versions of
each piece of software listed - submissions to the Map could be
handled in a way that the author puts this information in. That way,
newbies would can see the stable versions, while bleeding-edge users
can choose to see the devel tree.

Maybe it could also keep track of how long apps stay in the devel tree
without being updated or making stable releases. For example, if
someone adds the Acme Confumbubulator to the devel tree and then
doesn't make any updates to it for a few months, the Map will mail
them and ask them to update or remove their entry. If they don't, it
will remove it automatically. This should prevent entries getting
stale through development ceasing (obviously if an app has an entry in
the stable tree, the Map would leave them alone).

The Map also *BADLY* needs a search option.

All of this will mean some lucky sod gets to write a bunch of CGI, but
once done, the Map will be VERY low maintainance.

Just my $0.002-alpha-pre1 ;)

- ---
 _____ _         _       _____
| __  | |___ ___| |_ ___|   __|_ _ ___        Chris "Ng" Jones
| __ -| | .'|  _| '_|___|__   | | |   |  chris@black-sun.co.uk
|_____|_|__,|___|_,_|   |_____|___|_|_|    www.black-sun.co.uk
            S o f t w a r e

 "Linux is beating Windows" - David Cole, Microsoft Executive


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 5.5.3i for non-commercial use <http://www.pgpi.com>

iQA/AwUBN7oQ8ZhmBipjerS3EQLdjACfR5TRrteXWGM9rb+TzQRxktPn40AAoKGM
YWxQA4vhlYVdorfs6T6W3iPO
=EB7e
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----