Yep, a love letter, really.
I think the Jolla Store and Harbour deserve more love. From @jolla, and from us, the community.
Right now, we’ve become very good at working around it. Something doesn’t seem likely to pass Harbour validation? Use OpenRepos or Chum. The Store version is limited or outdated? Tell users to install the “real” one somewhere else or send them to the terminal to install packages manually.
To be clear: I love that these options exist. I want developer mode, Storeman, Chum and all of that to remain possible. That openness is part of what makes Sailfish OS interesting. They just shouldn’t be entrance criteria.
For a normal user, the boring, default route should be: open Store, search, install, done. No developer mode, no ‘allow untrusted sources’, no command line, no first-launch message saying “for full functionality, install this other version from somewhere else”.
On iOS - golden cage, arbitrary rulings, and all - I can still choose between multiple good SSH clients, VPN clients, Python IDEs, and even package capture tools… from the App Store. I’m not saying that because I want Sailfish OS to turn into iOS. I’m saying this because this platform can offer that too, while keeping the freedom and openness that make it different.
And if we are serious about building a viable European ![]()
alternative with more than a niche appeal, I think this is exactly the sort of thing worth investing in: making the official path good enough so that developers actually want to use it for most if not all of their use cases. So that users can easily find and use the software they need.
That means some work for both sides, but I think this community has proven plenty of sisu in the past. ![]()
@jolla: the Store and Harbour need active investment. Modern use cases need to be possible. Rules and APIs need to evolve. Developers need more direct channels and clear answers when they run into limitations. And, yes, I think paid applications eventually need to become possible. If somebody spends hundreds of hours building and maintaining a good app long-term, they need a monetisation model. (I can imagine the red-tape around this being a nightmare, but it is worth it!)
Us: we should try harder to ship through Harbour. If something fails validation, and if the rule makes sense, adapt. If the rule is outdated or too restrictive, nag Jolla. Politely, persistently, constructively. If an API is missing, make the case for it. If packaging rules block a perfectly reasonable application architecture, document the use case and push for improvement. Because every time we do that, we help make the official platform a little better for the next developer.
I’d love to see us make the Jolla Store the default again: the place where developers aim to publish first, where users expect to find current software, and where Jolla gets direct feedback whenever the platform gets in the way.
Love, muhnschein ![]()
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p.s. Whoever’s the first to point out that I should have posted this in another category gets a cookie ![]()