Duplicate of T1876

No duplicate because T1876 is Mattermost server app

Any update about this app ? ty

Required for anyone who leverages enterprise Mattermost solution. (i.e. for someone who works at a company that uses Mattermost as their internal Engineering message/channel system for technical discussions) - the is _the_ most popular Slack alternative for it's internal server capabilities.

@fermulator This hasn't been accepted for inclusion yet.

In T4138#97745, @JoshStrobl wrote:

@fermulator This hasn't been accepted for inclusion yet.

ok . fail documentation? :(
as a new contributor, how am I to have known this?
(should I or should I not invest time right now on this then?)

@fermulator Because the task indicates "Needs Triage" instead of being a particular priority and in the Accepted for Inclusion column of the Software tag.

What is the value add of this over just opening up a browser? Excluding notifications, which can already be "native". As per our Package Inclusion Policy.

In T4138#97748, @JoshStrobl wrote:

@fermulator Because the task indicates "Needs Triage" instead of being a particular priority and in the Accepted for Inclusion column of the Software tag.

What is the value add of this over just opening up a browser? Excluding notifications, which can already be "native". As per our Package Inclusion Policy.

I see here now: https://solus-project.com/articles/packaging/package-inclusion-policy/en/

This requires analysis then.

Here follows my analysis for the Mattermost desktop application into Solus, as per the above-mentioned package inclusion policy:

2-Distro Waiver:

• N/A - FAIL
• As per https://github.com/mattermost/desktop/releases/tag/v3.7.1, the mattermost-client is not included in any major distributions, and is only supplied via .deb and .tgz from the application provider.

Software Age:

• PASS
• Software project is not dead (still active), and has a standard vMAJ.MIN.BUILD type versioning scheme for releases
• See https://github.com/mattermost/desktop/tags

Value Add:

• INCONCLUSIVE
• As per the policy, having a standalone application is apparently not a valid reason for inclusion. I personally disagree here; a communication tool such as this demands its own separate application icon/shortcut/task within the operating system. Having such a tool buried in a web browser, SOMEWHERE in the mess of open tabs, and open workspaces, is NOT usable.
• Further Items which I can comment on value add for the Solus-GNOME variant:
  1. the "always visible on workspace" is a key functional improvement
  2. GNOME has an extension called "switcher", which allows a user to immediately jump to the application (regardless which workspace...)
• Finally; precedent has been set, from SLACK: https://solus-project.com/articles/software/third-party/en/
• I suspect this is highly debatable between various users...

REDISTRIBUTABLE RIGHTS:

• TBD
• https://github.com/mattermost/desktop/blob/master/LICENSE.txt#L92
• https://github.com/mattermost/desktop/blob/master/NOTICE.txt
• (a quick read appears fine to me... however I am not a legal/license expert, and cannot conclude definitively)

SERVER SOFTWARE:

• PASS - this request is for the desktop application
• (NOTE: T1876 was stated as being for the server application)

STACK COMPLEXITY:

• TBD
• I don't think we can know the answer here until someone attempts to incorporate the package.

You know you just need to provide the value add part right? The Triage Team is competent enough to look at the rest.

(left a message on IRC)
I am confused as the result of this task's triage. if T1876 isn't for the server side component of Mattermost, and we have T4138 ... one is clearly a duplicate of the other. We are seemingly left with a contradiction if we close T4138 as "no value add", yet T1876 is accepted.

@fermulator I have responded to and closed T1876: Mattermost, which was specifically for the server component.

Regarding the inclusion of the mattermost desktop client and the following comment:

• As per the policy, having a standalone application is apparently not a valid reason for inclusion. I personally disagree here; a communication tool such as this demands its own separate application icon/shortcut/task within the operating system. Having such a tool buried in a web browser, SOMEWHERE in the mess of open tabs, and open workspaces, is NOT usable.

1. You are welcome to disagree with the policy. Feel free to engage in discussion with us on the Forums, IRC, or email.
2. Wrapper style applications like this end up being a trade-off between the convenience of menu items and panel task entries in exchange for one or more potentially less secure (ie. outdated) versions of Chromium. We have decided to mitigate this risk in Solus by allowing for third-party installation of Snap packages which, when run in confinement, are isolated from the rest of the system and pose little-to-no threat to users.
3. We explicitly disallow these kinds of electron-based applications because of the lack of value-added functionality to balance out their potential risk. This isn't like Discord that offers global "Push-to-Talk" or has a streaming mode that is enabled if you have screen-capture software running. It's a thin wrapper around the standard browser interface with browser notification forwarding turned on by default.

Thanks for following up (and cleaning up the other ticket); I can understand the reasoning.

Note that I think we have a list of "value-add" components that counter-balance the risks ... for someone who desires the Mattermost application.

Re-iterating:

1. auto-start capability
2. Solus-GNOME "always visible on workspace"
3. Solus-GNOME "switcher extension"

But given the pressure to NOT include it, this isn't worth my time to argue :)

Solus-GNOME "always visible on workspace"

This isn't anything that can't already be done with GNOME itself, don't really see why it needs to be packed in with the Mattermost application

In T4138#97776, @JoshStrobl wrote:

Solus-GNOME "always visible on workspace"

This isn't anything that can't already be done with GNOME itself, don't really see why it needs to be packed in with the Mattermost application

right - it's a GNOME functionality; but it can't cleanly be done if the application is running inside a web browser tab
I can't comment on if/how such functionality exists in the KDE or MATE variants.

I know a decision has been taken, but I am using the Mattermost client since more than 2 years now and would not use it in a browser at all.

The browser version simply does not fit with my multi-monitor use: I do not want to sacrifice my main monitor, where the browser always is, for monitoring the chat, even temporarily just to check what was said and to reply. The client allows having a small window on a secondary screen and keeping an eye on it, or even minimizing it to tray when screen estate or discretion are needed. Having two distinct windows of my browser to do the same (with one dedicated to Mattermost on a secondary monitor) is not a solution because it would screw up the "restore last session" functionality of many browsers, and there is no way to minimize to tray the web version.

This might sound like a detail, but in fact it really changes the way I use Mattermost. Simply put, I wouldn't use Mattermost if I only had the web version. Perhaps this is a corner case, and I'm fine with downloading the application myself to update it every once in a while, but in the end I am probably more exposed to security risks using an Electron application that is not automatically updated because I have to do it myself and may become aware of security updates only months later.

Also, it was stated above that it is not available in any major distribution, but I believe I saw Mattermost desktop in Ubuntu default repositories. [Edit] Maybe it was a snap?

[Edit] The other limitation described before was an issue with the test account I was using.
[Edit 2] I see that Mattermost is now available as snap, I'll give it a try to get automatic updates. I think this is the perfect solution is there is no consensus for Shannon repository!
[Edit 3] The "minimize to tray" option is disabled in the snap version.
[Edit 4] The snap version doesn't use the system theme, even the pointer changes theme when hovering over the window; it is terribly integrated unfortunately. Perhaps this is the reason:

sudo snap install mattermost-desktop
Download snap "mattermost-desktop" (76) from channel "stabl…  92%  699kB/s 15.4serror: cannot perform the following tasks:
- Download snap "gtk-common-themes" (319) from channel "stable" (rename /var/lib/snapd/snaps/gtk-common-themes_319.snap.partial /var/lib/snapd/snaps/gtk-common-themes_319.snap: no such file or directory)
- Download snap "gtk-common-themes" (319) from channel "stable" (rename /var/lib/snapd/snaps/gtk-common-themes_319.snap.partial /var/lib/snapd/snaps/gtk-common-themes_319.snap: no such file or directory)

There seems to be significant limitations with the snap version, that is sad because it would have been perfect.

Hello

Can we please re open this Request. Its urgent as need it for work

The application has been improved since last inspection.

Mattermost is a flexible, open source messaging platform
that enables secure team collaboration

Is it Open Source (yes)

Link for Linux file: https://releases.mattermost.com/desktop/4.4.0/mattermost-desktop-4.4.0-linux-x64.tar.gz

https://mattermost.com/download/

In T4138#168046, @frendznet wrote:

Hello

Can we please re open this Request. Its urgent as need it for work

There's a Snap package if you need it now.

In T4138#168047, @frendznet wrote:

The application has been improved since last inspection.

Regardless, it still doesn't offer sufficient value-add over the web browser client. The original decision to reject this stands.

In T4138#168048, @DataDrake wrote:

In T4138#168046, @frendznet wrote:

Hello

Can we please re open this Request. Its urgent as need it for work

There's a Snap package if you need it now.

yes please send it.

@frendznet ... You install snap packages yourself, on your own system. There's nothing for us to send.

The AppImage version doesn't offer easy updates as snap packages do, but I would recommend it if you care about features like minimize to tray and theme consistency across your system. I didn't check the snap package lately, but it was nos as polished as the AppImage version on these two aspects the last time I tried it (see my message above). However if you try the latest version and don't notice these issues, please report back.