|
Rationale
Many games feature the ability to play with other people. However, the first thing the game will check for is to see if it is currently up to date. When Ubuntu enters version freeze, the games fall out of date, and it can be harder to play them online without finding a 3rd party update or compiling it yourself (Freeciv, Scorched3D, and Battle for Wesnoth to name a few). This also creates issues when different distributions freeze at different times, so it can be hard to play with other Linux users.
Ubuntu should provide a repository for up to date games for games that will always need the latest version to play online.
|
|
Propose your solution
Attachments
Duplicates
Comments
|
|
|
Good idea. They should also make a rule which only allows FINISHED projects to be put in the new repo.
|
|
|
Absolutely. Projects on a rolling release, such as Wine and most video games, need to be updated as soon as new releases are finished. There is no point in keeping Ubuntu users in the dark for as much as 6 months waiting for the new release.
Please create a repository for frequently updated projects such as these!
|
|
|
|
I agree that this is a very big problem that needs to be resolved, though I don't think your solution is the correct one. I think the game developers themselves should maintain the repository, and upon installing the game, Ubuntu should add the appropriate repository for that game. This way the gamedevs can coordinate all of their releases themselves. I voted this up though, because your solution is at least far better than the current one.
|
|
|
|
As a gamer, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a solution like this.
|
|
|
Not just games. They should just have ONE sliding repository.
A repository that monitors upstream automatically and syncs using svn/bazaar/etc.
Certain select packages should be there. They should follow one of these criteria:
1- its not stable yet. sometimes there are new packages (think compiz/awn/etc.) that are not yet stable, and more recent update is always an improvement. Don't bother maintaining it yet, just auto-create packages from SVN.
2- games or tools that require compatibility with a server-side. these things will break when you don't sync an update. Think multiplayer FPS, or even the flash-plugin!
3- they are very high-profile and people just want to try the very latest and they are not likely to bork your system (ie. they are just desktop apps, like firefox, miro, gaim, etc.)
These packages should all have a upstream post-fix in their name. In the case of #1 and #2 they shouldn't even exist in the normal repo's, since stability can not, even by the community, be garantueed for a specific period of time. This repo should only exist for the most recent released LTS and normal version of Ubuntu. So, support the LTS version during the full time period of the LTS.
I think that setup is safe, solves a lot of problems (including the discussion about unstable packages in the repo's), the need for things like getdeb.net, etc.
|
|
|
Ralf, your "sliding repo" idea is a bit overkill for this "gaming repo" business, but it looks interesting. Some sort of "prototipe technology preview repo" where daredevil users could find the bleeding edge versions of their software.
Whould you kindly make a new post about it? Even if just a copy&paste.
|
|
adelie
wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 22:57
|
|
|
|
I think yet another repo is not the right solution. What i think needs to be in place is something more like the comment / review system used by winehq, but for native linux projects. Some place where we can know in a centralized way how far along projects are, what their release cycle is, and overall ratings comparing them to similar commercial and non-commercial projects. This star system that shows how many people downloaded something I do not find very useful. This should also look beyond games.
|
|
adelie
wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 22:59
|
|
|
|
one thing to add, I think idea #103 is a much better idea that would solve the same problem.
|
|
|
This sounds like -backports to me. Updated versions of applications that aren't going to harm the rest of the system.
I think backports needs to be utilized more.
|
|
|
More people helping on the backports team will address this issue.
Anyone is also free to create their own repo for this.
Not getting new packages in after a point is the way our system works.
Addressing how the system works would be a better solution IMO.
|
|
Kent88
wrote on the 3 Mar 08 at 09:35
|
|
|
Wow, gaming and more work on the repos, both good ideas.
Varying versions of games is a pain, for sure.
|
|
|
|
I think a Steam-like service (maybe based on dpkg - or nooot :P) would be a nice solution for that. Maybe even a Steam-like which is almost completely uncoupled from the usual system resources (eg. libraries - games tend to use different versions of libraries, creating lots of problems).
|
|
ka2
wrote on the 6 Mar 08 at 07:06
|
|
|
|
its called the backports repo :)
|
|
|
|
The major reasons that users do not use Linux is the lack of compatibility with the friendly games and multimedia, everything that comes to facilitate and not frustrate the user experience better.
|
|
psychcf
wrote on the 8 Mar 08 at 23:08
|
|
|
|
Games that have had new releases (like nexuiz 2.3->2.4) don't appear in the repo. Ubuntu users were asking in the nexuiz forums why they didn't get an update through the repos.99% of the users are going to upgrade anyway, so might as well un-freeze the games section of the repos.
|
|
tomatz
wrote on the 9 Mar 08 at 15:22
|
|
|
|
Sorry but as of yet i Haven't found a decent open source game (except open arena but thats built on an ex propitiatory engine). I think we should focus on proprietary games if we are to be taken seriously.
|
|
MilesTeg
wrote on the 10 Mar 08 at 17:27
|
|
|
I just realized that GetDeb (http://getdeb.net/) already tries to bring you the latest versions of the games via .deb packages.
IMHO it would be a good idea to support these guys.
|
|
|
Why doesn't getdeb.net have a repository? Maybe they'd rather you go browsing the website.
Any online game kept in the repositories should be kept up to date. Otherwise, it won't match server versions, and users cannot play them online.
|
|
Vadim P.
wrote on the 15 Mar 08 at 00:18
|
|
|
I think there was some issue with having a getdeb.net repository... I don't remember exactly, but I -think- it was because people wouldn't want to have their other programs updated, but selected ones.
Though, that doesn't apply to a games repository. I'll write them an email, see what they think about it.
|
|
jelly1
wrote on the 17 Mar 08 at 10:49
|
|
|
|
It would be nice if getdeb.net made a repository for ubuntu. And ubuntu added it as extra repository.
|
|
MilesTeg
wrote on the 17 Mar 08 at 15:47
|
|
|
about a GetDeb repository: the biggest problem seems to be the security concerns. From their pov it's understandable but for gamers (and their games) that isn't such a big concern because most of these games don't touch any inner parts of the system.
Vadim P.: keep us updated plz :)
|
|
adam0509
wrote on the 20 Mar 08 at 18:14
|
|
|
Maybe you should take a look about DJL :
http://www.jeuxlinux.fr/
It aims to be the STEAM-LIKE for linux.... sound's nice ! :)
|
|
Vadim P.
wrote on the 23 Mar 08 at 04:17
|
|
|
Here's what getdeb said:
well games have a major problem, -data package sizes are too big, most of our mirror hostings would not be able to support such big packages
we are working on that by providing a -data metapackage which actually will download the files from the games main mirrors
So, yeah. They can't add a games one because it'll either a) be as slow as a snail, or b) have the mirroring websites withdraw, and that wouldn't be nice.
Just need to wait until they finish that metapackage system which'll be able to download most of the content off the game sites themselves & set it up nicely.
|
|
keito
wrote on the 28 Apr 08 at 13:39
|
|
|
|
I wanna see this feature
|
|
|
thats the most necessaries thing we need in ubuntu
games & games & games ........... to win
because 50% of my work or many peoples work on the computer is with the games
|
|
Vadim P.
wrote on the 26 Jul 08 at 02:49
|
|
|
|
Would be nice if we could get developer feedback on this idea.
|
|
|
indeed this is needed...
and, as vadim said, it would be nice if a dev comments on this idea.
|
|
Pander
wrote on the 3 Jan 09 at 11:25
|
|
|
|
Use backports, just make the business case clear to the maintaineres.
|
Post your comment
|
Blueprint gamebuntu-repository:
Ubuntuforums.org thread #907426
