new Downloads portlet should show latest stable release as well as latest

Bug #419733 reported by Martin Pool
42
This bug affects 6 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Launchpad itself
Triaged
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

For Bazaar we expect most users will want either the latest stable release or the latest release candidate. I think this is pretty standard, and is what we do on eg http://bazaar-vcs.org/Downloads

The new Launchpad downloads widget in <https://edge.launchpad.net/bzr> while very nice in many ways only shows the latest release, which is bad in two ways:

 * it gives too much emphasis to the rc
 * if a release has only source and no Windows installers yet, people may get confused, when they'd be better off running the last release that does have Windows installers

Also it might be nice if the big "Downloads" text was a link, and if there was a link to the release announcement from the "18 hours ago" text.

The underlying issue here is that there is tension between two groups of users. Those that want to show the newest version, and those that want to show the latest uploaded releases. The latest releases and +downloads page needs redesign because the use cases are not clear and are often contradictory.

Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
Changed in launchpad-registry:
status: New → Triaged
importance: Undecided → Low
Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
Changed in launchpad-registry:
milestone: none → 3.1.10
Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
Changed in launchpad-registry:
milestone: 3.1.10 → none
Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
tags: added: prf
tags: added: downloads
Revision history for this message
Umang Varma (umang) wrote :

Any progress?

To extend what I posted on lp:490945, it would be great if any one (or all) of the following options are present for project owners:

(a) Always show latest release and latest stable release side-by-side so that users can choose
(b) Allow owner to choose which series' downloads are to be displayed on the project homepage
(c) Only show downloads of the latest stable (latest if there is no stable) and provide a link to a newer release if there is one

Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

This issue is low; it will is not scheduled to be fix. It will be fixed opportunistically.

There is a fundemental problem that make a fix for this bug ellusive. Who needs release files?

User want packages from the OS's repo, developers was source code. Launchpad handled the "get this software" problem baddly because it fails to understand the kinds of users who visit the project and need software. Most users who see the file for downloads may use it, but they really want to get the package or code from some place that launchpad has hidden from them I suspect this feature is best suited to packagers who want the tarball, or are willing to accept a pre-build package...in which case I think they want all releases :/

Revision history for this message
edA-qa (eda-qa) wrote :

While that may be true of "core" packages, there is a lot of software hosted on launchpad that is simply not contained in any OS release. People can stumble across packages in many fashions, thus it makes sense to have some control over what files are presented on the main page.

Revision history for this message
Umang Varma (umang) wrote :

> Launchpad handled the "get this software" problem baddly because it fails to
> understand the kinds of users who visit the project and need software.

But that's the point isn't it? Launchpad was not meant to be used as a bug tracker. It is supposed to be a suite that caters to developers AND users. Why are there "FAQs"? Why is there an "Answers" section? Why has Canonical taken such great pains to make a site that is intuitive, rather than use existing sophisticated software like Debian's BTS?

It is not meant for users is not an excuse. Not for Launchpad at least.

Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

That is a good point. I am still doubtful of confuring that slot. It is intended to be a fast access to a page that helps the user get the projects releases. Since many projects are not released in an OS, the project may need to configure that page, and the portlet on the front page reflects those settings.

Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
tags: added: releases
tags: added: product-release-finder
removed: prf releases
tags: added: releases
removed: downloads
Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
description: updated
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