AptFirefoxFileHandler
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| * Alfonso ask a question on Guadalinex forums. A support technician from Guadalinex team founds that his problem can be resolved by installing a single package. He post an answer with a link to apt://unrar, and the user only have to click on it to solve his problem. * Guadalinex team needs to provide his users with an up-to-date list of "extra-software" which doesnt fit on the CD. The developers add a menu entry in the stable version of the distro that opens a webpage hosted in Guadalinex servers that can be easily updated, with links to apt://name_of_package |
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| * Alfonso posts a question on Guadalinex forums. A support technician finds that his problem can be solved by installing a single package. He post an answer with a link to apt://unrar, and the user only needs to click on it to fix his problem. * Guadalinex team needs to provide his users with an up-to-date list of "extra-software" which doesn't fit on the CD. Developers add a gnome panel menu entry of the distro that opens a webpage hosted in Guadalinex servers that can be easily updated, with links to apt://name_of_package |
Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.
Launchpad Entry: apt-firefox-archive-handler
Packages affected:
Summary
Installing sofware from a website must be as easy as it is in Windows. This APT method respects dependencies avoiding to break system integrity.
Rationale
People use to install software just clicking on a URL. Softonic, Tucows and others, list lots of applications that users can easily add to their Windows boxes. The linux way is not that easy.
An Ubuntu distribution has got a defined repository with loads of software, but users need to use a specific software installer (gnome-app-install, synaptic) to add more software.
Use Cases
Pepe, an Ubuntu enthusiast, wants to write a beryl-howto in his weblog. He easily adds links to the referred software with "apt://name-of-package" url.
Alfonso posts a question on Guadalinex forums. A support technician finds that his problem can be solved by installing a single package. He post an answer with a link to apt://unrar, and the user only needs to click on it to fix his problem.
Guadalinex team needs to provide his users with an up-to-date list of "extra-software" which doesn't fit on the CD. Developers add a gnome panel menu entry of the distro that opens a webpage hosted in Guadalinex servers that can be easily updated, with links to apt://name_of_package
Scope
Design
The default internet browser will call a external application whenever an apt://package_name url is clicked. It adds the complete url as an argument to that external application. The external application will do something like an apt-get install package_name
This new url will be formated:
You are not linking a .deb file, just giving the name of the package to an external application.
Implementation
* First at all, Firefox (or default browser) must be tweaked to recognize a new (invented) apt:// protocol. * When an apt:// url is clicked a piece of software must be triggered. Browser will pass the url to this application. * The application will call synaptic with a few parameters to download and install the package, including dependencies (/usr/sbin/synaptic --hide-main-window --non-interactive --set-selections-file /tmp/apt-packagename.tmp)
Outstanding Issues
BoF agenda and discussion
AptFirefoxFileHandler (last edited 2009-07-22 05:47:36 by 66)