We get complaints from Arch users that Discover is useless and doesn't return any search results, because Arch doesn't include the packagekit backend by default (it's an optional dependency, not required). I opened a ticket with the Arch folks asking them to make it required, but they said no: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/58524 So it's up to us if we want vanilla Arch users to have a good user experience. I recommend putting a button on the main page that will let users install the PackageKit backend. UI suggestion: "The PackageKit backend is required to search for and install apps." [install button] Alternatively, maybe we could show this as a pop-up on first run?
You can now install the PackageKit backend from the Settings page, but we should go the extra mile and also add an InlineMessage to the Featured page that offers the option so that people actually see it.
We can't install packagekit without packagekit. It's a packaging issue, IMO. We can add an annoying error message though.
Hah, that's true! Yes, I think an InlineMessage (not a passivenotification) saying something like, "Install <package> to search for and install apps"
Git commit bc3e18cb698f2f800837826da36ad4a29c8afca3 by Aleix Pol. Committed on 09/10/2018 at 09:14. Pushed by apol into branch 'master'. Show a big error message in case there are no backends installed Instead of a sad empty gray page. M +12 -0 discover/DiscoverObject.cpp https://commits.kde.org/discover/bc3e18cb698f2f800837826da36ad4a29c8afca3
We don't know the packagename
While nice, that's not enough to fix this bug, sorry. That new page only appears if there are *no* backends installed, but that isn't the problem here: the problem is that Arch ships with the KNS backend but not the PackageKit backend. What we need is a Kirigami InlineMessage displayed on the Featured page that says something like, "$DISTRO has chosen to package Discover without the ability to install find and install apps. To do so, please use your package manager to install the Discover PackageKit, Flatpak, and/or Snap backends"
Git commit b946520f6b3872d428781da0cc9bfc068d7501c1 by Aleix Pol. Committed on 15/10/2018 at 15:10. Pushed by apol into branch 'master'. Also complain if just kns backends are installed M +6 -2 discover/DiscoverObject.cpp M +5 -0 libdiscover/DiscoverBackendsFactory.cpp M +1 -0 libdiscover/DiscoverBackendsFactory.h https://commits.kde.org/discover/b946520f6b3872d428781da0cc9bfc068d7501c1