Flathub, a web catalog and repository of self-contained packages in Flatpak format, has begun testing changes developed in collaboration with Codethink aimed at providing main developers and maintainers of applications distributed through Flathub with monetization options for their projects. The evolving features can be evaluated on the test site beta.flathub.org.
Among the already available changes for testing is the support for connecting Flathub developers using GitHub, GitLab, and Google accounts, as well as a donation mechanism using transfers through Stripe. In addition to accepting donations, work is being done to create infrastructure for selling packages and linking tags to verified applications.
The changes also include an overall modernization of the Flathub site design and a redesign of the backend, conducted to facilitate the installation of paid applications and the verification of sources. Verification entails developers confirming their association with main projects by checking their access to repositories on GitHub or GitLab.
It is implied that only participants of main projects with access to the repositories will be able to post donation buttons and sell finished packages. This restriction will protect users from fraud and third parties who have no relation to development but are trying to profit from selling builds of popular open-source software.
Source: opennet.ru
