PBI Depreciation

[Beanpole]

I wanted to let you all know that I have been seeing a growing trend recently by application developers in the Linux world to start requiring more and more linux-centric application dependencies (such as the dbus integration talked about here[1]) that require the application to be integrated directly into the running system/desktop environment. This creates some problems for converting the applications to a PBI format, because the application makes assumptions about the runtime environment that are simply not always true.

As an example, while there have always been a number of programs that were designed for (or at least developed on) a specific desktop environment, we have historically been able to still package these applications as PBI's with some of the appropriate DE libraries and such that are listed as dependencies.
Recently however, these types of applications have been requiring that the particular DE actually be RUNNING, with specific processes that it hooks into. This creates a large problem for PBI's, because the new versions are essentially requiring full system integration with a particular DE, meaning that the new PBI's will no longer work without packaging/running the entire DE process tree from within the desired PBI. This is clearly not a viable option for us, so we will no longer be updating several PBI's that are currently available.

If you are saddened by this turn of events (as I am), I would recommend that you contact the development team(s) of the applications that you are interested in and urge them to begin making their applications DE-agnostic. This should be as simple as moving KDE applications to pure Qt, or GNOME applications to GTK2, but the more "independent" that application becomes, the easier it is to have cross-platform operability.

I am going to start listing the applications for which the PBI version will be depreciated in the posts following this. If a PBI currently exists for any of these programs in the AppCafe, it will not be removed until a (much) later date when it is necessary due to security concerns, but the application will not be receiving any further updates in a PBI form.

If you wish to use the newer forms of these applications, you will need to install them using FreeBSD ports/packages, and they will only work if you are running the appropriate desktop environment for that program (although some applications may only require that the DE be installed if it can start up the desired processes itself).


[1] http://forums.pcbsd.org/showthread.php?t=19148

[Beanpole]

2/5/2013
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PBI's currently available in the AppCafe that will no longer be receiving updates in PBI form. Updated versions of these PBI's have been tested and no longer work without integration into their respective desktop environments:

KDE Apps: Kile, Okular, Gwenview, Semantik, Tellico

XFCE Apps: Xfce4-Mixer

GNOME Apps: GPodder

------------------
New PBI's that have been pending for addition to the AppCafe, but were never officially approved due to error(s) of some kind. This should not impact the AppCafe in its present form, but will at least let you know if an application has been deemed "unfixable" for release in PBI form:

GNOME Apps: Ekiga, Empathy, g2ipmsg, gconf-editor, goobox

KDE Apps: kdemultimedia, Skrooge, SubtitleComposer, Waheela

General DBUS integration: gnome-user-share

[Tigersharke]

Will there be a tag in trac to indicate these defined issues for specific PBIs? Perhaps a tag via AppCafe would be helpful as well- that way it will be easily known that the PBI version available is limited due to infeasable or impossible conditions.

[Beanpole]

We will be considering this.
I think the current plan is to incorporate this kind of information into the pbidir.com website replacement, but I have had no new info recently from the guy who is creating the website.

[RyanBram]

Oh, no. It is a bad news.

In windows, when I want to instal Java or .Net based application, the message such as:

"Java is not installed. Please install java to run this application."
or
"This application need .Net Framework 4 to run."

will appear.

Is it possible in PC-BSD for implement something like these for application that relies upon specific desktop environment.

"This application needs KDElibs to run."
then let user to download Kdelibs.pbi to make all applications that is designed for KDE can run.

[Beanpole]

@RyanBram
It is just a bit more complicated than missing libraries.
PBI's already include all the required libraries (such as kdelibs), the main problem is that it requires the particular DE to be running on the system for it to connect to specific DE/system processes.

[Peter2121]

Beanpole,
What happens with this software installed from ports under another DE running? Does it work the same way as installed from PBI or it starts some DE specific services?

[Beanpole]

@Peter2121
As I mentioned at the end of the first post, some applications may only require that they be installed into the base system (with the appropriate DE dependencies) because they can then startup the necessary DE processes, while others may require that the particular DE actually be running. I think it will really depend on how many DE specific processes the program needs to connect to, and if the application has been written in such a way that it can start up any missing processes.

[Abdul]

The idea of software portability appears to be fading...which is very sad.

[monsee]

It is a bad new, but BSD philosophy is -in my opinion- a good way to explore and follow. So, the PBI project must be continued the same, in my opinion, because PC-BSD is a very good Operative System. Not all GNU programs can be translate in a PBI? Isn't a good new, but we can live the same without these programs, it's sure...