On 27/12/16 15:58, Nathan of Guardian wrote: > Google Play Services essentially works this way today, where you are > prompted to install or upgrade based on if you have it or not. While > there is no defined dependency specification, it is clear that Google > considers this an acceptable user experience to require of the masses.
Nnnn... I'm not sure. Google considers it an acceptable user experience for a central part of the OS which is in a very privileged place already (see also all the complaints re AOSP that Play Services is basically required as an OS component because everyone writes their code to it). It's also usually a hard or near-hard dependency, so the path forward requires zero bits of cognitive input. (Last I checked, at least.) Orbot is certainly a nice case for things like optdepends, since it's basically a specialized VPN which apps probably have deeper integration with than just "send and receive packets". But if "optional dependencies" as a generic mechanism ever actually _catches on_ without rather more advanced support for guiding a user in which parts they need, and having a good set of automatic stock configurations for cognitive crunches, it can become more an Arch Linux sort of thing pretty quick. (Especially if the optdepends are allowed to chain!) \RTT _______________________________________________ List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/guardian-dev To unsubscribe, email: [email protected]
