Flathub related discussion

[user1-github]

@voidanix Since you were interested in seeing Blue Nebula released on Flathub, do you also want to make the Flatpak verified? There are some benefits to having it verified, like higher user trust and it not being hidden on some distros that only display verified Flatpaks by default, like Linux Mint. The Flatpak verification instructions are mainly found here, but I've asked the Flathub admins whether or how it's possible to do it before the Flatpak is published. Here is the submission PR if you want to follow its progress.

Also, should we add some sort of README about the proper way to launch the server and genkey binaries? If yes, is there a specific way they should be launched (like with some arguments, etc?) I'm not very familiar with how they work.

[TheAssassin]

Hi, we can probably add that to our website repository. I understand that it basically makes Flatpak tell people we approve the package?

I am not sure if the server needs to be exposed with Flatpak, to be honest. We already have an official Docker image (yet to be documented) that is likely easier to use and deploy. genkey might actually be needed.

Does Flatpak support the creation of CLI entrypoints?

We could document this (community) package's quirks either in a wiki or the README.

[user1-github]

It would probably be better to do that upstream, perhaps for the next release.

[TheAssassin]

Upstream it's probably going to stay as is, but what we could do is show you how to run CMake accordingly (i.e., which parameter to set). I'll have a look asap.

[user1-github]

Thanks, though if that involves a change in the cmake setup, that would probably still require a new release. (I personally don't mind how the binaries are named).

So, have you decided if it's worth guiding users about how to use the server and genkey binaries via the Flatpak?

[TheAssassin]

It's worth it, genkey is after all needed by regular users.

[user1-github]

Ok, if you want we can also figure this out after the Flatpak is published.

But are the server and genkey binaries supposed to be run separately (one at a time)? Because in case they also need to run both at the same time, then I'm not sure whether or not that would be possible in a Flatpak.

[TheAssassin]

Regarding org.blue_nebula.BlueNebula, first of all _ is not a legal DNS character and also not the same as blue-nebula.org. I suggest you change it. Regarding the BlueNebula part, how is it done with Red Eclipse? Personally, I would go for org.blue-nebula.blue-nebula, as upper case characters are also not supported by DNS and it would be consistent.

(Side note: the whole point of reverse DNS is that it's still DNS compatible...)

[user1-github]

The reason the middle part of the id has to be changed to an underscore is due to Flatpaks reliance on dbus (it doesn't allow using dashes in the individual elements of a bus name). From this page of Flathub documentation:
The domain portion must be in lowercase and must convert dash - to underscore _.
For example, see DosBox X Flatpak. This is the case with any Flatpak that has a dash in its domain.
If the id has issues / mistakes, the Flathub reviewers will tell you this in the submission pr.

The id of the main Red Eclipse Flatpak is net.redeclipse.RedEclipse. Almost all Flatpak apps use an upper case in the last component of the id.

Regarding the current Blue Nebula Flatpak id, I've had a discussion with voidanix about it and we agreed to use the current id.

[TheAssassin]

The original one is fine by me then, thanks for clarifying. Still weird, but fine.

[user1-github]

And it's published!

Now in order to make it verified, one of you must first have collaborator access to the Github repo of the Flatpak.

@TheAssassin @voidanix Which one of you would like to have it?
I'll then ask the Flathub admins to send an invite to one of you.

After you've accepted the invite, you must log into the Flathub website (you can login via your Github account) and follow the next steps that involve uploading a .txt file with a special token to Blue Nebula website. All the details are explained in this documentation.

[TheAssassin]

Do you know where to retrieve this token from? The docs do not mention this.

[TheAssassin]

Nevermind, found it on Flathub's page.

[TheAssassin]

Verification completed, see also blue-nebula/website@b6b4fd9.

[voidanix]

@TheAssassin @voidanix Which one of you would like to have it?

It would be best if we both get the invite (in case one of us is away).

@TheAssassin is the one managing the website right now, so if that is not possible, he is the best candidate.

[user1-github]

Added both of you.

[user1-github]

Btw, I can take care of all the Flatpak maintenance, but of course if you want, you can also take part. However you wish :)
It will mainly involve updating to new versions of the game and updating the Freedesktop runtime versions once a year.