Instead of going through the hassle of making another repo, one could simply signal that the app is CL-only (in app description perhaps?). This would be mandatory, possibly auto-added
Then the user could choose

This apparently requires yet another registration. I am at work and can not spare any more time on this. Maybe this weekend if someone else does not do it first.

I use apt-get exclusively on my desktops and laptops instead of whatever GUI is provided by the platform. but on maemo devices, I want the convenience of app-manager.

Voting open: http://maemo.org/community/brainstor...ns_and_extras/

PS. Can one of the mods change the thread title.

Thank you, that is a far better job than I could have hoped to do.

how will the case of popular apps like mplayer work? Its a command-line application that everyone would want to install. I see the people, for whom things are being done to keep them away from harm, easily exposed to the CLI world.

@archebyte, there is a graphical launcher for mplayer (sib) that hides the CLI.
I have voted for making CLI-only apps available only through apt. My understanding is that, as soon as there is a graphical interface available, the dependency will be solved? E.g. when launcher for the mplayer (graphical) appears in Application Manager, it won't bother the user the go to the terminal and install mplayer separately.

I think that this approach is consistent with the future of the Maemo platform, that will be mainstream (need for consistent user experience) but open to those more advanced users at the same time (go and install from terminal if you want).

Done. Brainstorm link added to first post also.

With all due respect, I do not believe that it is necessary to punish CLI users to avoid harming or even offending GUI users.

Right now, app-manager is by far the most convenient way to browse for and install applications to Nokia nXXX. If the number of applications available ever explodes, I will probably go to apt-get.

Currently winning is A new category/switcher should be implemented in HAM: great, fantastic, wonderful. It's an excellent suggestion; we've even discussed it in the thread. Except who's going to do the coding? Will Nokia accept the patch? Which MU is it going to be scheduled for? When will it get into users' hands? What do we do in the meantime?

Second most popular is Add a new catalog for all CLI and library items. Two obvious problems with this:

1. It suggests putting codecs for gstreamer & other sorts of plugins in there too. Hang on, why? The use cases for command-line apps which require parameters and transparent enrichment of the Media Player are totally different.
2. How do we handle the QA process? Is it a duplication of -devel, -testing and Extras? Just the first two? What features in maemo.org/packages/ and elsewhere get delayed whilst Niels works on it?

Brainstorm rant:
This is the fundamental problem with Brainstorm: solutions don't have pros/cons stored against them. Solutions are presented as being equal. Positions can't change and people's opinions move; the debate never changes and there's no scope for consensus. The more we use it, the more I'm convinced it's a fundamentally flawed approach. Since when was the most popular technical solution the right one?

Selecting a technical solution is a case of experts and stakeholders getting together to discuss the issues and come out with a consensus, reflecting the technically possible; the pragmatic and the underlying requirements. Technical problem solving by committee and popular vote - show me an instance where this has ever worked. Please!

Apart from the outstanding questions about QA and workload (which are pretty big outstanding questions!) and my nit about it including user-friendly codecs and the like; this may still be the best approach for applications which don't have a daemon.

It doesn't answer the question about them being in /downloads/ (perhaps only if the author can be bothered to) or what section they appear in in that repository (presumably the standard set so they appear in HAM). If even some appear in Downloads, it's only a matter of time until someone accidentally gets the repo enabled and sees more stuff than they wanted.

Perhaps, even if solution #5 is selected, it should be combined with solution #4. I'm loathe to create a new solution as many votes have already been cast and will people re-vote?