Robert McQueen, GNOME Foundation's head, published a development plan for Flathub, a catalog and repository of standalone packages in Flatpak format. Flathub is positioned as an independent platform for building applications and directly distributing them to end users. Currently, the Flathub catalog features about 2000 applications, with over 1500 contributors involved in their maintenance. Approximately 700,000 application downloads are recorded daily, along with around 900 million site requests.
The key tasks for the project's further development include evolving Flathub from a build service into an application store catalog, forming an ecosystem for distributing Linux applications that considers the interests of various participants and projects. Significant attention is focused on increasing participant motivation and funding for published projects in the catalog, with plans to implement donation collection, application sales, and paid subscription systems (regular donations). According to Robert McQueen, the greatest obstacle to promoting and developing the Linux desktop is the economic factor, and the introduction of a donations system and application sales will stimulate ecosystem development.
Among the plans, there is also mention of creating a separate independent organization to support and legally accompany Flathub. Currently, the project is overseen by the GNOME Foundation, but continuing to work under its umbrella is considered to pose additional risks associated with application delivery services. Furthermore, the financing services created for Flathub do not align with the non-profit status of the GNOME Foundation. The new organization intends to adopt a management model with transparent decision-making. The governing board will include representatives from GNOME, KDE, and participants from the community.
GNOME Foundationi juhina osaleb Flathubi arenduses ka Neil McGovern, endine Debian projekti juht, ja Aleix Pol, KDE e.V. president. Flathubi arendamiseks on Endless Network eraldanud 100 000 dollarit ning 2023. aastaks prognoositakse kogufinantseeringu suuruseks 250 000 dollarit, mis võimaldab hoida kaht arendajat täiskohaga.
Praegustes või teostatavates töödes on välja toodud Flathubi uue veebisaidi kujunduse testimine, juurdepääsu ja autentimise süsteemi rakendamine, et kinnitada, et rakendused laaditakse üles otse nende arendajate poolt, kasutajate ja arendajate kontode lahutamine, kontrollitud ja tasuta rakenduste identifitseerimise süsteem, annetuste ja maksete töötlemine rahandusteenuse Stripe kaudu, tasuliste kasutajate juurdepääsu süsteem tasuliste allalaadimistele, otse allalaadimise ja rakenduste müümise võimaluse pakkumine ainult kontrollitud arendajatele, kellel on juurdepääs põhirepositooriumidele (mis võimaldab eristada kolmandatest osalistest, kes ei ole arendamisega seotud, kuid püüavad kasu saada populaarsete avatud programmide installatsioonide müügist).
Allikas: opennet.ru
