Add custom application groups/sections to the Updates tab
Hi!
Feature
It would be really useful to have a "Critical Applications" section in the Updates tab, where we can add certain apps that are critical for work — and can be updated individually (Flatpaks, Snaps) — so that when an update is available for any of these apps, they are listed in this separate section and we don't have to update them right away with the other apps, we can wait a few days, weeks or even months, take our time reading the change logs, read up online to make sure the update is working for others before deciding to update them. And also without taking away our ability to update all of the other non-critical apps in one go.
Right now, we have to always carefully check the list of apps every time updates are available, to make sure no critical apps will be updated without careful consideration. And, if there are updates for critical apps, and we don't want to update these apps yet, we are forced to update all the other "regular" apps one by one, to avoid updating the critical apps.
With critical work apps, I'm talking about production apps (Blender, Kdenlive, Story Architect, Ardour, Gimp, backup utilities, etc.) or other apps critical for work in other fields, that we can't blindly update as a big update can have API or project format changes etc. that can break our projects, plugins, presets, workflows, etc. in the middle of a project. In these cases, you want to wait until you finish your current projects before updating, which could take weeks or months, so with the current Gnome Software it's months of having to update all the other apps one by one to avoid updating your "critical app".
It could look something like this (rough mock-up):
So this could be presented as a list that you can access through a "Critical Apps" menu option, where you can add or remove apps you consider critical to your workflow and need to be careful before updating. Or, the option could be called "Groups", to be more generic (read more in the "Generic Version" section further down).
And the distinction is:
- System Updates;
- Critical/Important apps updates. The ones we need to read the change log carefully and be very careful before updating;
- Other apps updates. The ones we don't need to think about before updating because we don't really lose anything if we get big updates with breaking changes.
Gnome Software already makes a distinction between "regular apps" updates, system updates/that require restart (and firmware updates?) in its "Updates" tab, so it can be about simply adding a new section.
Additional Feature (should I add this as a separate feature request?)
Even better if could, in the update preferences, individually set the update policy for each of the sections. Example:
- System: Automatic
- Critical Applications: Manual
- Other Applications: Automatic
Generic Version
A more generic and flexible version would be to let users create arbitrarily-named groups, where they can add apps that will show up in their own section in the "Updates". So, in the use case I presented earlier, I would create a group called "Work-Critical Applications" or "Important Applications" or "Watch List Apps" or similar, that would be shown in its own section/box in the Updates tab, and I would be able to update that group separately from the "Other Applications"/other groups.