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Re: RFC: Proposal for official screenshot repo



On Thu, Jan 04, 2007 at 08:46:40PM +0000, Luis Matos wrote:
> Maybe in the /debian package, there could be a package.png that is the 
> screenshot and make them available in the mirrors (pool).
> maybe creating a file such as Packages.gz or an extension to it, 
> informing that it has the screenshot available.
> 
This presents a few problems that I can see:

- Bloat of package source or .diff.gz which would also require monkeying
  around with things like uuencode/uudecode (trust me, I've had to ship
  images in the debian/ directory before).
- How would we handle miltuple screenshots?
- Requiring a new package upload just for screenshots (If we want to
  allow user contributed screenshots, the updates to the screenshots
  really need to be able to happen independently of the package uploads.
- Someone else aready suggested a way which not require any changes to
  the control file format (which would probably be necessary under your
  suggestion).

> then the user could access the pool ... or ... use some kind of client 
> that uses the apt-get database to search for screenshots.
> 
I am guessing that due to the nature of screenshots, the most likely
access method will be through some sort of package browser, like
aptitude or synaptic.  I'm not saying that others are not possible, just
that I think that those are the most likely.

> For example, a simple gtk window with a combo box with the packages' 
> names who has screenshots, and the user could:
> 1 - select the package
>  1.1 - application downloads it
> 2 - view in the application window
> 3 - full screen ( maybe using eog?)
> 
Does there exist a debian alternative for image-viewer or something
similar?  That would allow the user to use eog, kview or whatever other
image viewing application they prefer.

> i think it is simple.
> 
> Although ... the package will see it's source size increased and... 1 MB 
> for 10% of debian's packages is +/- 2 Gb more of disk space in the mirrors.
> 
Yes.  That is a concern, but I think that it is an excellent usability
aid.  I've installed lots of programs only to run them and see how ugly
or unintuitive the UI looked to only immediately purge them.  A few
screenshots would have helped me make up my mind.

> The screenshots can also use a similar process but use a package of 
> their own.
> 
> With the same process described, a package_0.3-1.dscr will have a bunch 
> of screenshots of package.
> 
I'm not sure this is a great idea.

Regards,

-Roberto

-- 
Roberto C. Sanchez
http://people.connexer.com/~roberto
http://www.connexer.com

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