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Date: Wed, 10 May 2017 15:05:21 +0100
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To: Rowan Collins <rowan.collins@gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Snapping php
From: alan.pope@canonical.com (Alan Pope)

Hi Rowan,

Thanks for the prompt reply. Apologies if my mail comes over as an advert.

On 10 May 2017 at 14:04, Rowan Collins <rowan.collins@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry to sound negative, but my immediate reaction to this is "Oh good, yet another package management and sandboxing technology!"
>

:)

This one has existed for a while. Snaps evolved from our click
packaging on the phone which dates back a few years, but I get your
point.

> Are there particular challenges you're facing when packaging PHP specifically, or are you just hoping to recruit more volunteers to help you bootstrap your "store"?
>

Actually we're not seeing challenges packaging PHP at all. Some
developers have already packaged PHP as a 'part' [1] in their own
application. A notable example would be NextCloud, in which the snap
contains Apache, MySql, PHP and NextCloud itself. So packaging it
isn't the issue. It's also less about bootstrapping and more about
getting the word out and finding where the gaps are. We found that
developers didn't know snap existed as a technology, hence my mail.

For PHP specifically I think one killer feature of snaps is that you
can have a bleeding edge build of PHP landing in the 'edge' channel in
the store automatically, directly from your master branch on github.
Adventurous users, testers and developers can then "snap install php
--edge" and know they're getting the latest build, untainted, directly
from you, the way you want to ship it. Stable builds can be pushed to
the 'stable' channel in the store, and more conservative users can
install that. We also support multiple 'tracks', so users can "snap
install" the version they want want easily, and track that series for
its lifetime, not having to worry that the distro they're using either
isn't up to date or has gone ahead of what they need.

What we're really after though is feedback. We've got documentation
[3], tutorials [4] and a fourm [5] where the developers hang out.
We're keen to know where the rough edges are, and what we can do to
improve the experience for developers and users alike.


[1] https://github.com/nextcloud/nextcloud-snap/blob/master/snap/snapcraft.yaml#L149
[2] https://snapcraft.io/docs/reference/channels
[3] https://snapcraft.io/docs/
[4] https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/
[5] https://forum.snapcraft.io/

Best regards,
-- 
Alan Pope
Snap Advocate

Canonical - Ubuntu Engineering and Services
+44 (0) 7973 620 164
alan.pope@canonical.com
http://ubuntu.com/