Hello! My suggestion is that adding the package name to the description containing information such as Category, Version, Source etc. would make it easier to find a specific package through other sources. This is also the only package information missing on Discover, if I'm not mistaken. Additionally, the package name would remove ambiguities in localization once the user has seen it once or twice: for instance, searching for "Disks", as is the name of the application after installed, does not find gnome-disk-utility; it only works when using "disk", which is part of the package name, or searching for the localized name, in my case "discos" (Portuguese). If the user can remember anything about the package name, they can find it more easily.
Discover aspires to hide these kinds of details from the user. Though I suppose it's gotten fairly diluted since Discover can now show you an app's dependencies which is a pretty technical piece of information. Undecided on this.
*** Bug 422994 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 405031 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Seems like a bunch of people want this.
I'm astonished by difficulty I've had promoting this simple and practical request. My best efforts are in this duplicate: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=422994
There's still an open question of why this is needed though. Ideally, Discover removed the need for the user to care about underlying technical details such as the name of packages. Can you explain what your use case is for this?
1) Transparency - Allow the end user to know what package is being installed (and its source) 2) Building an apt install list. I personally document each package name I install into an alphabetical list that starts off "sudo apt install . . .". When I set up new computer, I enter one command and install every single package I've ever installed and wanted to keep. With Discover, I cannot document the package name as desired. 3) Building a snap install list. Like #2, I document each snap package I install and keep, so that upon a new installation I'm one snap install command away from installing everything I want, with no worry about forgetting anything. Here's how I currently use Discover: I use it to find a piece of software that I didn't know existed, but I never allow it to install the software it finds for me, because it will not reveal the package name it is installing and I therefore cannot document that information I need for automation! Instead I research the internet each time, or do some type of apt search command until I find out what the package name is. Then I install it using apt instead of discover. If Discover would simply reveal the package name, I'd let it do the installing and I'd copy and paste that package name into my documentation before doing so. Discover must know the source and package name before it can install a package! Why hide this from users like me that definitely want to see it every single time they install something? Users who don't want to see the package name won't even notice it is there. It is typically a fairly short string. It takes up very little space. It is important to some people. It is little bother to the people that don't find it important! This is a simple and practical request.
It seems like you're in the category of users who are comfortable using command-line tools, but appreciate and prefer GUI tools where possible. I understand completely and would consider myself in the group too. After reading your use case, I realize that I do the exact same thing, and sometimes also don't install something from Discover because I want to know the exact package name, so I go use the package manager instead.
Well said, Nate. You fully understand.
:) I'll see what I can do.
My instinct is to add a button marked "Detailed information" that opens an OverlaySheet showing both the package name and also the dependencies list, since that's already a list of package names. It would be logical to have them both in the same place. However the dependencies display functionality seems to be broken and needs to be fixed first.
Consolidating detailed information behind a "Package Details" button would satisfy me. If the "dependencies display functionality" is broken, I'd be happy with the button-click just producing a dialog that only showed "package name" and the package source (if that's easy to include). Heck, I'd settle for this if granted: https://i.imgur.com/3YaZblk.png
I'm working on it. :)
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/discover/-/merge_requests/106
Git commit 751cf482511f7da2367f218fa23713c3c80c2ee1 by Aleix Pol. Committed on 08/04/2021 at 23:49. Pushed by ngraham into branch 'master'. pk: Address "Show Dependencies" dialog title Show the package name instead of the application's. M +1 -1 libdiscover/backends/PackageKitBackend/qml/DependenciesButton.qml https://invent.kde.org/plasma/discover/commit/751cf482511f7da2367f218fa23713c3c80c2ee1
Was this feature added in a manner where I'd be able to copy and paste the package name from Discover into my notes? https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442295
No