AppImageLauncher
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TheAssassin
Automatically install desktop integration bits when first run, and don't ask to relocate app
Right now, when you first run an AppImage, AppImage Launcher pops up a dialog asking the user if they want to install the desktop integration bits and if they want to install it in the applications folder.
This presents some issues. First of all, casual Linux users of the type targeted by the AppImage project have no idea what desktop integration means and have no conception that this is something that could even ever not happen automatically. Linux users are accustomed to this happening automatically.
Therefore: AppImage should conform to that expectation and automatically install the dekstop file, mimetype handlers, etc when the AppImage is first run. Don't even ask. They should likewise be removed automatically when the AppImage is deleted, which already happens, at least in Plasma. :)
Second, asking to move the AppImage to the applications folder is not really very useful because there is no distinct and user-visible "applications folder" on Linux-based operating systems the way there is on macOS for example (/usr/bin doesn't count since it's an implementation detail and not intended to be used directly by the casual user). Creating ~/Applications and then putting it there is therefore not expected or useful, and presents the possibility of confusion: the user opens an AppImage, reflexively clicks "Yes" in the dialog box without reading it, closes the app, and sees that it's disappeared! This is not ideal.
Therefore: don't offer to move it to the "applications folder". AppImages should be installed in an appropriate location automatically by the app store app like Discover; users who download AppImages from random websites off the internet should be expected to manage this themselves.
agree except for the ended user should be told that the appimage they are installing will be being moved to the applications folder once integration is done. still think need a option to allowed the move, disallow the move, and to simply copy the appimage to applications not moving it from where the enduser has it.
agree except for the ended user should be told that the appimage they are installing will be being moved to the applications folder once integration is done. still think need a option to allowed the move, disallow the move, and to simply copy the appimage to applications not moving it from where the enduser has it.
The problem is that there is no applications folder. AIL creates one, but then this is confusing because it's just a folder in the user's homedir that has between one and a few AppImages in it. It's most definitely not "the applications folder" in the user's mind because it doesn't have all the applications in it. The only operating system that really and truly does have an "applications folder" is macOS because all GUI applications actually do live there. On the platforms that AppImage is targeting, there is no "applications folder" and the very concept of this is confusing. As far as Linux users are concerned, the equivant of an "application folder" is the launcher UI: Plasma's Kicker or Kickoff; GNOME's Application Overview; etc. That's why it's so important to install the desktop integration bits automatically.
maybe sometime in the near future after gibing endusers a good period of warning that the appimage storage folder will change to something else. say like appimage applications instead of just applications.
We are in the process of developing a new "plan" for AppImage integration. AppImageLauncher with its current UX will remain as-is, since there is a userbase which like it (I am one of these people).
@Pointedstick's suggestions are very welcome and appreciated, and they will be covered by components of that "plan". Please allow us some days to prepare everything and discuss it internally, I'll keep this post updated.
@Pointedstick just as an update, we've greatly improved that bit of the UX, but on the other end (that is, allowing to disable the dialog completely, or being asked by the app). We don't have any sort of "auto integrate without asking at all" feature yet, but with our new settings dialog etc., I could imagine adding such a feature now. I mean, now users can simply change that again if they don't like it.
@TheAssassin, would it get accepted if I start working on it? It may include changes in the ask_to_move setting, but I'll try to retain backward compatibility.
In my use case where I have and electron ERP system which receives updates constantly, sometimes the end user does not press the button to integrate, doing the auto integration possible would be awsome.
