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New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

f-droid.org

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Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#141

Post by glenstein »

efreak wrote: post #138
glenstein wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I almost exclusively use FDroid, it's an amazing project. But I've never seen an app with so many issues I've used Fdroid for years, downloaded and updated apps hundreds of times across multiple devices and never encountered a single thing you described. Death, taxes, and people confidently generalizing from one-off cases of highly unusual experiences. >I didn't realize the app was still being worked on. By my count…

I don't encounter all the same bugs gp does, but I do encounter several on a regular basis. These issues show up regularly on both my tablet and my phone, and they showed up regularly on my previous phone and two tablets over a range of ~5 versions of Android (8-12) 1. Every so often I turn on my tablet or phone and see a notification that fdroid has crashed, asking me to submit the information (I used to, I don't an…

I'm just going to note that Hacker News seems to attract people in the 99th percentile of unusual use cases. And that's fine in and of itself, but there seems to be a lack of perspective that leads to people in generalizing from their unrepresentative use cases. I would be willing to bet anything that the vast majority of users are not people who have 10 repos. Do you disagree?

As for your numbered points, I would say that a occasionally experienced 1, and never experienced two, three, or four.

I've used F-Droid on a Moto G, a Moto G3, Moto Z 2 3 and 4, a Moto E, a Nexus 7, a Pixel C tablet, across numerous versions of Android and Lineage OS. I've installed and uninstalled F-Driod dozens of times and installed and uninstalled hundreds of apps over several years across somewhere between a half dozen and a dozen devices. I've probably used at most 3-4 repositories.

So, what does all of that mean? Well, nothing other than that I can't confidently generalize from a one-off anecdote. Even if I'm really really personally convinced that my anecdote is the most important anecdote to end all anecdotes.

The problem is that internet comment sections are driven by psychological forces that don't necessarily translate into data from which it's safe to draw broad generalizations.

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#142

Post by glenstein »

onli wrote: post #84
glenstein wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, and I have friends who use it who don't report these issues, and my subjective assessment of reviews is that this isn't the predominant experience being reported, despite your protestations to the contrary. The 'data' here is miscellaneous anecdotes from an internet comment section. But let's just observe the claim that F-droid supposedly isn't being updated. You can see that F-droid is being updated if you...…

F-droid updates haven't changed the ui or noticeable fixed ui bugs in years. There was one revamp, right? But it feels like nothing came after that. I'm sure they work on it in the background and the upgrades do something, but parents experience is still normal and correct.

That didn't answer my question. F-droid gives you a notification when apps are ready for updates. And it lists these updates in the updates section of the app.

One of the apps that F-droid updates, is F-droid itself. F-droid has been updated three times this year. When it is updated, these updates are listed both in the notifications and the update section. Someone who claims that F-droid is not being updated is therefore an unreliable narrator.

This clearly shows, to anyone paying attention, that F-droid is indeed being updated, and I don't understand how your comment is responsive to any of this. It's only an internet comment sections that parent commenters experience "is normal and correct" without acknowledging or responding to any of this. This is important because it highlights the respects in with your comment in the parents comment lack of fundamental connection to objective reality and therefore are not reliable diagnoses of what is or is not happening with F Droid.

If looking at notifications in the app is something you're going to dismiss as an unusual experience, then you just don't know what you're talking about, and you shouldn't be positioning yourself as reporting on the normal case of what everyday users experience.

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#143

Post by glenstein »

RussianCow wrote: post #82
glenstein wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just worked for me without issue on the first try. On both my phone and my tablet.

"Works on my machine" is not really a helpful response to someone sharing an issue they have. Are you implying that the parent is lying? If not, what constructive purpose does this comment have? (I write this as someone who has experienced nearly every bug mentioned in this thread.)

>Worked on my machine" is not really a helpful response to someone sharing an issue they have.

When they're attempting to present their experience as the typical or characteristic experience, it is indeed helpful to contrast it against other experiences.

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#144

Post by onli »

glenstein wrote: post #142
onli wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

F-droid updates haven't changed the ui or noticeable fixed ui bugs in years. There was one revamp, right? But it feels like nothing came after that. I'm sure they work on it in the background and the upgrades do something, but parents experience is still normal and correct.

That didn't answer my question. F-droid gives you a notification when apps are ready for updates. And it lists these updates in the updates section of the app. One of the apps that F-droid updates, is F-droid itself. F-droid has been updated three times this year. When it is updated, these updates are listed both in the notifications and the update section. Someone who claims that F-droid is not being updated is ther…

Sure it answered your questions. F-Droid gets updates, but since the bugs in the UI and the core workflow persist it feels as if it does not get updates. The "normal and correct" references the issues parent reported - since I tested F-Droid on way more phones than is usual I can with absolute confidence confirm that those bugs do exist; to experience them is normal, the report is correct.

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#145

Post by never_inline »

rakoo wrote: post #105
never_inline wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand having to download all app details at once takes many MBs, not always fast. You can instead cache details of some applications. I think homebrew moved away from repository approach too.

I usually update repos while on wifi, then search, then use wifi again to download. I like the flexibility of not having to be connected, my phone has more than enough storage space to store a few MBs of repo database

Yeah you have wifi. Not everyone has. In rural India, for example, mobile data is predominant way of getting internet.

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#146

Post by lucideer »

glenstein wrote: post #142
onli wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

F-droid updates haven't changed the ui or noticeable fixed ui bugs in years. There was one revamp, right? But it feels like nothing came after that. I'm sure they work on it in the background and the upgrades do something, but parents experience is still normal and correct.

That didn't answer my question. F-droid gives you a notification when apps are ready for updates. And it lists these updates in the updates section of the app. One of the apps that F-droid updates, is F-droid itself. F-droid has been updated three times this year. When it is updated, these updates are listed both in the notifications and the update section. Someone who claims that F-droid is not being updated is ther…

> That didn't answer my question.

> Someone who claims that F-droid is not being updated is therefore an unreliable narrator.

It seems like you're trying to invent arguments to get mad at as no-one made this claim. The original commenter said two things, neither of which amounted to "F-droid is not being updated". They said:

1. That they "didn't realize the app was still being worked on" - this is just referring to their own perception of updates, not making any hard claim about actual work being done.

2. That it has "been years since the UI update" - this is referring to one specific large update a number of years ago, not to the small incremental updates since.

There's nothing else in their comment claiming lack of updates.

The main claim in their comment is that it's buggy, which can easily be true of an app with frequent updates.

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