Handle parallel installation of apps
@aday
Submitted by Allan Day Link to original bug (#768729)
Description
It's possible to have multiple versions of the same application available for installation, either due to the fact that they come in different formats (eg. packages and Flatpaks), or because multiple Flatpaks of the same app could be available from different sources.
In user experience terms, there are a number of cases where this might occur:
- Someone might want to "upgrade" from a packaged version of an app to a Flatpaked version that is provided by another party.
- Someone might want to test an experimental build of an app, alongside a more stable version.
It's desirable to allow parallel installation where possible, however it does raise several issues:
- If the app has the same user visible name and icon, there is no way to differentiate them in the system.
- If the apps have the same DBus name, they can't be run in parallel and they end up "shadowing" one another.
To resolve these issues, I would suggest:
- If someone attempts to install an app that has the same name as one that is already installed, offer to either replace it or install it in parallel.
- If someone attempts to install an app that has the same DBus name as one that's already installed, require that installation replaces the existing app.
- If two apps are installed with the same user visible name, differentiate them by adding the source of the app to the end of its name, such as "Blender (blenderfoundation.org)"
Some tentative mockups for the confirmation part of this can be found here: