Posts: 216
Joined: Jun 2014
Reputation:
11
I'm on the latest Krypton RC, using the standard Estuary skin and wanted to remove addons I either don't use anymore or which have been installed as dependencies and are no longer required. The former part is easy, with the second I'm not sure: When I go into Settings / Addons / Manage Dependencies I see the full list of addons. Most have a checkmark. Fine, I understand they are installed and activated. I suppose this are also the ones which are still required by the addons I installed. Then there are those which are labeled with some kind of brush(?) symbol. They are apparently active. And from the above I assume(!) those are addons I can remove since they are no longer required. Is this understanding correct? And what is that brush (or whatever it is) actually supposed to symbolize?
Posts: 15,263
Joined: Jan 2009
Reputation:
727
ronie
Team-Kodi Member
Posts: 15,263
the brush means they're orphaned (not needed anymore) and can safely be removed.
i've no idea about the exclamation mark.
Posts: 216
Joined: Jun 2014
Reputation:
11
OK, thanks, Ronie. That helps already, but I guess my problem is broader. Let me try to state it more clearly.
From a dependency perspective I already see three possible categories one could label by a symbol:
- Dependencies to add-ons which have been installed and are activated (which you probably never want to remove)
- Dependencies to add-ons which have been installed and are deactivated (which you probably still don't want to remove or you would remove the originating add-on in the first place)
- Dependencies to add-ons which have been removed (which you probably always want to remove, at least I would as they just "clutter" the system)
Then of course there is the notion of
- Depending add-on activated
- Depending add-on deactivated
I'm able to "infer" what is meant through trial and error. E.g. if I take an active depending add-on with "brush" symbol (="orphaned") and deactivate it, the brush stays, meaning that it does not seem to matter whether the depending add-on in question is actually active or not.
If I take a "check-marked" depending add-on I get a notice indicating that this add-on is actually needed by others and cannot be de-activated.
I think the idea of managing dependencies is somewhat intuitive if you have been using linux, but I don't think the Kodi implementation in it's current state is clear: Why for instance do you need to list depending add-ons which you cannot remove anyways? And why could we not simply deinstall truely orphaning dependencies together with the add-on we removed in the first place? Not sure we would lose important functionality, but with that approach the whole "managing dependencies" section might actually become obsolete. No strong feelings whatsoever, just trying to make sense of it...
Posts: 216
Joined: Jun 2014
Reputation:
11
@Ronie: Any further thoughts on this? Or do you know who has been working on this feature and could shed any light on this?
Posts: 15,263
Joined: Jan 2009
Reputation:
727
ronie
Team-Kodi Member
Posts: 15,263
2017-01-28, 18:55
(This post was last modified: 2017-01-28, 18:56 by ronie.)
i did check the estuary code, but couldn't find any reference to a '!' symbol.
could you please provide a screenshot?
Posts: 216
Joined: Jun 2014
Reputation:
11
*LOL* The (!) was just to emphasize the preceeding verb and not referencing another symbol in that section.
No, the only symbols I have seen where "check-marks" and "brushes". Just too many ways of interpretation in light of all the different possible meanings outlined above.
Posts: 15,263
Joined: Jan 2009
Reputation:
727
ronie
Team-Kodi Member
Posts: 15,263
personally i think it would be better if you couldn't disable/uninstall a dependency of an addon that's currently disabled.
but all of that is indeed not taken into account in the dependencies section.
Posts: 216
Joined: Jun 2014
Reputation:
11
Good. Thanks. Then at least it's not just me.
What I'm wondering about is whether you could just...
* automatically deactivate depending add-ons once (all of) the originating add-on(s) are deactivated
* automatically deinstall depending add-ons once (all of) the originating add-on(s) are deinstalled
* eliminate the whole "Manage dependencies" GUI entry
The functionality you lose would be...
* Seeing which depending add-ons are installed (although you could do that via the log file if needed, a standard user doesn't need to know)
* Deacivating depending add-ons while an originating add-on is still actived (but I don't think that's a "use-case" beyond debugging)
* Having depending add-ons activated while the originating add-on is deactivated (which I think is "default" but actually just cluttering the system)
* Potentially play around with different versions of depending add-ons (which is probably a corner case)
* Whatever I'm missing?
I will leave it here for your consideration. Just wanted to share the thoughts.
