Policy for including click packages in Ubuntu Touch images by default

Registered by Steve Langasek

Discussions around Ubuntu Touch for 13.10 suggest that we want to include certain (Free) community apps, packaged as click packages, in the official Ubuntu Touch images. Since these packages do not live in the Ubuntu archive today, we need to make sure we have a sane policy around how these are managed. Have an open discussion about this issue, with an eye towards making a recommendation to the TB and/or CC about this.

Blueprint information

Status:
Not started
Approver:
Jono Bacon
Priority:
Undefined
Drafter:
Steve Langasek
Direction:
Needs approval
Assignee:
Steve Langasek
Definition:
Discussion
Series goal:
None
Implementation:
Unknown
Milestone target:
None

Related branches

Sprints

Whiteboard

 - <lool> I think we at least need to be able to upload the app like, in case it's horribly broken or has security issues or something if it has any issue, it's part of an ubuntu image so we need to be able to fix it so we need some shared ownership for preinstalled apps
 - <asomething> if they'll be installed by default, it seems like there should be some kind of MIR-like check
 - We need some kind of shared place for uploading these
 - Also need some quality checks on the apps
 - click packages should not be a way to work around communnity processes, they should follow the same standards but are just delivered through a different mechanism
 - we are talking about 10-20 packages max.
 - requirements:
   - continuous integration?
   - license?
   - same name space? com.ubuntu namespace (not com.ubuntu.developer.<...>)
   - MIR like process?
 - question: when do we gate-keep? just when an app gets into the com.ubuntu namespace or also when they update?
 - if apps get on the main image, there might be freezes involved - where app delivery and image creation might conflict
 - click packages are partially about empowering upstream, how does that fit with the update process for apps included on the default image?
 - apps on the default image should include autopilot tests that must pass before an upgrade
 - Could either use special com.ubuntu.* namespace for clicks that may go in image or flag apps in the appstore as "included in the imaeg" to implement special handling
 - A good option seems to be to maintain two databases of Click packages:
   - preinstalled
   - user-installed
   => this would allow users to upgrade to newer versions or revert back to factory provided version; could even have a remote uninstall feature to revert this back
 - Do we allow upstream developers to push an update to all Ubuntu systems? without review?
 - Perhaps we delegate this trust once and have means to revert any bad things

(?)

Work Items

Work items:
[jonobacon] Define requirements for inclusion in tbe name image and collect requirements (talk to core apps folks, CC <email address hidden>): TODO
[beuno] Grow MyApps to allow shared namespaces: TODO