Is this required?

[piggz]

Just wondering, what is this required for? If chum is installed, the gui app is available. The gui app is also available from the chumrpm site, so, wondering what this adds?

[Olf0]

It will make the awkward "chumrpm site" superfluous and resolve sailfishos-chum-gui issue 96.

As a reference for "how and why", please take a look at harbour-storeman-installer issue 2.

[piggz]

But, how will it be distributed?

[Olf0]

Here (e.g., via the README), at OpenRepos, via a web-page at sailfishos-chum.github.io/main someone might create, and wherever else you want. The crucial point is: It is an noarch RPM, hence the awkward selection process (or any other user input) is going to be no longer required. IMO a direct link to an RPM is way better than a link to a web page in Rust where the user must select the correct RPM to download, which is infeasible if one does not know technical details as "CPU architecture" of ones SailfishOS device. Furthermore chumrpm.netlify.app is not at all a trustworthy web-page, out of the perspective of users it could be just as well distributing malware; while technically this also applies to GitHub or OpenRepos, these are well known sites to SailfishOS users.

Plus, we (@rinigus, you and me) cannot update the "chumrpm site", which equals to "it is unmaintained and unmaintainable": "Been there, seen that", see sailfishos-chum-web MR 4 (and its corresponding issue 3 there), which essentially means that Petr might unavailable for many weeks at any time.

[Olf0]

Another way to look at the sailfishos-chum-gui-installer is as an extension of the current "repository configuration RPM(s)", which additionally downloads and installs the GUI app without any further user interaction after triggering the installation of the installer RPM.

I could have done that in the sailfishos-chum/main source code repository, but as you can see at the Storeman Installer source code repository, it carries a shell script, some documentation etc. so it would clutter sailfishos-chum/main. I also would like to keep the structure of the current master branch of Storeman Installer to copy things over here as a start, hence IMO a new repository is appropriate.

BTW, I decided against cloning ("forking") Storeman Installer, because it has a long, convoluted history, which is not relevant here. Hence I intend to simply copy and adapt the essential files for this source code repository.

[Olf0]

BTW @piggz, a few related questions WRT history and motivation(s):

1. Were the "repository configuration RPM(s)" originally intended to bootstrap the SailfishOS:Chum GUI application? If so, I always misinterpreted their original purpose because the "chumrpm site" did already exist, when I first looked at the spec files of these RPMs.
2. OTOH I think they have lost that purpose (if it was one), because the "chumrpm site" superseded the "repository configuration RPM(s)" in this aspect. Still people who do not want to use the GUI app (for whatever reason) and prefer zypper (or even pkcon🤢) may use them (this was my interpretation of their purpose until today and how I documented their purpose), right?
3. If my assumptions in points 1 and 2 above are correct, then the Obsoletes: sailfishos-chum[-testing] statements in the spec file of the GUI app have become superfluous, correct? _{If so, this is still quite close to my original idea of them being misplaced.}

I am asking to determine, if I should resurrect these Obsoletes: statements in my "overhaul spec file" branch, and if they should be used in the SailfishOS:Chum GUI Installer's spec file.
An answer like "1, 2 & 3: Yes" is fully sufficient, I do not need prose (but feel free to write some, as I usually tend to write some; and background information is often helpful), but assurance or criticism.

Edit (2023-02-14): After 1,5 months without a reply I took the liberty to answer these questions to my liking: 1, 2 & 3 "No", 3 actually for technical reasons (think'o by me).

[Olf0]

With 679 downloads of the SailfishOS:Chum GUI Installer versions 0.2.1 and 0.3.0 between 2023-01-28 (the date v0.2.1 was uploaded at OpenRepos) and 2023-02-13 (today), the answer to your question is obviously "Yes".