Summary

I believe it's very important to integrate Klik and Ubuntu as much as possible. Klik offers a way of installing applications in GNU/Linux without actually using a repository. It's based on the "Appdirs" specifications.

Rationale

Use cases

Scope

Design

Currently, the klik installer installs invisible scripts in ~. We don't want this behaviour. Instead, these scripts should be made system-wide and installed in /usr/bin.

Klik uses cramfs. Currently, the installer adds dirty mounting points in /etc/fstab. FUSE could handle mounting cramfs without having these entries in /etc/fstab. The recent kernels shipped with Ubuntu have FUSE support. We need to find a way to activate the FUSE module cleanly. fuseiso and fusecram are then required to use klik with FUSE support. These packages are already in Dapper. The klik scripts have to be reimplemented to use FUSE. KANOTIX has done so lately.

The tricky part would be the creation of an applet that checks that each registered application is indeed up-to-date. This is much trickier, but still not impossible to achieve.

Implementation

The coding involved would be:

Also see http://klik.atekon.de/wiki/index.php/Dapper

Discussion

Daniel-Goldsmith says:

It seems to me that system-level Klik integration may be more trouble than it is worth. This occurs for three reasons:

  1. Incompatibility of Klik-patching with standard ubuntu patches in libraries. This would result in Klik'd libraries failing to function with ubuntu patched programs installed at a later time from repositories.
  2. Incompatibility of Klik with apt system. This would perforce lead to difficulties in supporting users who had klik'd their systems by installation of items with compatibility issues, thus preventing ubuntu achieving enterprise usage.
  3. Already there are a multiplicity of Ubuntu upgade/installation systems. Just on a quick memory count the user can apply dpkg, apt-get, aptitide, synaptic, adept and Ubuntu's own 'Add Application. Do we need a further method, particularly one over which Ubuntu has little or no control?

Tony Mobily says:

I don't think point 1) is valid, but I am not 100% sure. Points 2) and 3) are definitely valid.

However, do you have a counter-proposal for a system which:

...? I see these two things as crucial. Mac got it right. Linux... not quite :-|

Klik is the closed thing there is to a "solution". The points (2) is very true. However, I think (3) Is the real problem: it doesn't have *much* to do with Ubuntu. However, Klik is there and it works...

KillerKiwi says

Allo says

Robert says

http://klik.atekon.de/wiki/index.php/Dapper

Code

Outstanding issues

BoF agenda and discussion


CategorySpec

KlikIntegration (last edited 2008-08-06 16:34:38 by localhost)