Snap info about publishers

snapd
1

While using snap find I usually get outputs like this:

snap find gnome
Name              Version          Developer     Notes  Summary
gnome-clocks      3.24.0           canonical     -      Simple GNOME app with stopwatch, timer, and world clock support
gnome-calculator  3.24.0           canonical     -      GNOME Calculator
gnome-sudoku      3.22.2           canonical     -      Test your logic skills in this number grid puzzle
gnome-dictionary  3.24.0           canonical     -      Check word definitions and spellings in an online dictionary
gnome-easytag     2.4.3-3          jz            -      Simple application for viewing and editing tags in audio files.
gnome-3-24        3.24             canonical     -      Shared GNOME 3.24 Ubuntu stack
tmx               1.2.3            caozhen       -      Terminal multiplexer with GUI-like user interface
bitticker         1.1.2            smithi        -      A live bitcoin-USDT ticker for your system tray
pac-vs            4.5.5.8-snap1    vs            -      PAC is a Perl/GTK Gnome replacement for SecureCRT/Putty/etc.
uefi-fw-tools     1.4.1-0.7.2+git  canonical     -      UEFI Firmware update tools
glade-attente     3.20.0           attente       -      Create or open user interface designs for GTK+ applications
gedit             3.22.0           canonical     -      Edit text files
corebird          1.5.1            snapcrafters  -      Corebird Twitter Client

I would like to install gnome-easytag and see that the Publisher (column developer in the snap find results, probably needs renaming) is jz, I could run snap info gnome-easytag and among the output I will see these fields that are relevant to the publisher:

publisher: jz
contact:   ppa@jzimm.net

But I want more :slight_smile: which is why I want to suggest snap publisher-info jz (proper command name required <verb>-<noun>) so that I can see something that contains (if provided in some cases):

  • The publisher’s name
  • The contact information for the publisher
  • Registration date
  • Is the publisher verified
  • A list of other snaps from the same publisher
1 Like
2

Being able to ask for details of a publisher sounds like a fine idea, and for that I’d suggest simply “snap publisher <account>”.

With that said, the workflow suggested above hints about something else. Anything relevant for installing a given snap should be available right into the snap info itself, rather than requiring yet another command.

From your list:

  • Publisher name – already there
  • Contact information – already there
  • Registration date – not relevant as we don’t want people to trust accounts because they are new or old
  • Publisher is verified - Should be right next to the publisher name
  • Other snaps - Could well be in info as well

So I would work on snap info itself before having another command.

2 Likes
3

This works for me :slight_smile:

4

That seems unnecessary to me, do most users want to have that info displayed? snap info can have a rather long output as it is.

What does that mean?

5

We’d certainly not list every snap from the publisher if the list has too many entries, whether that’s in snap publisher or in snap info. It would be a list of the most active snaps, and even then only if it has meaningful activity so that we exclude personal toys from that list.

Verified would mean someone checked that the name is actually held by a person or organization generally recognized with said name.

6

I suppose that makes sense…still seems somewhat unnecessary cruft to me.

E.g. output here

$ snap info lxd
name:      lxd
summary:   "System container manager and API"
publisher: canonical
contact:   https://github.com/lxc/lxd/issues
description: |
  LXD is a container manager for system containers.
  
  It offers a REST API to remotely manage containers over the network, using an
  image based workflow and with support for live migration.
  
  Images are available for all Ubuntu releases and architectures as well as for
  a wide number of other Linux distributions.
  
  LXD containers are lightweight, secure by default and a great alternative to
  virtual machines.
snap-id: J60k4JY0HppjwOjW8dZdYc8obXKxujRu
commands:
  - lxd.benchmark
  - lxd.check-kernel
  - lxd.lxc
  - lxd
tracking:        stable
installed:       2.17 (3675) 39MB -
refreshed:       2017-08-25 19:07:48 +0100 BST
channels:                           
  stable:        2.17        (3675) 39MB -
  candidate:     2.17        (3955) 41MB -
  beta:          ↑                       
  edge:          git-80de187 (3967) 41MB -
                                         
  2.0/stable:    2.0.10      (2943) 12MB -
  2.0/candidate: 2.0.10      (3841) 16MB -
  2.0/beta:      ↑                       
  2.0/edge:      git-79376d5 (3940) 18MB -

That’s a lot of output already, taking up over half of my 1600x900 display in GNOME Terminal.

Maybe that info should be available to an app like GNOME Software somehow but I’m not sure it should be displayed in snap info.

This thread is relevant for the verified developers thing and sounds like a useful feature since we don’t need to remove third-party snaps from the store as they are confined so should be safe in some senses, but having a way to mark the apps from official developers would be good!