What are the reasons you don't submit your addon to official repo?
#1
We would like to know why some of you won't submit you addons to the XBMC official repo?
Some of you only supply a .zip link to install it from, others supply their own repo.

We are just curious why that is and what we can do or need to change to get more contributions to our addon system.
(some are obvious though like piracy content or copyrighted fonts)

Is it the guidelines/rules, submission process, it's just easier for you like you have it now?


I hope you will let us know the reason Smile
thx
This thread is for skin discussion. See python section for scripts

Overview list of reasons:
*No copyrighted material allowed (images/fonts)
*No in skin scripts
*High quality level of already available skins can be daunting
*Coding of some required sections
*No mods of other skins allowed
*don't want to submit unfinished skin
*skinning takes a long time and your almost never finished (too much dialogs and so on)
*no beta / testing repo
*not clear what requirements are
*easier code/requirement validation
*usage stats/rating

Suggestion:
*reduce the amount of dialogs drasticly
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#2
Copyrighted fonts, as mentioned.
The use of in-skin scripts.
Having to use SVN/GIT may also put people off.
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#3
A person has control of their own repo/download link & submitting something for approval can be daunting.
Noli illegitimi carborundum


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#4
(2013-02-14, 19:04)Hitcher Wrote: Copyrighted fonts, as mentioned.
The use of in-skin scripts.
Having to use SVN/GIT may also put people off.

thanx for the feedback Hitcher!

copyrighted fonts is indeed a big no-go for our addon-repo.
i'm open to a discussion on this subject, but frankly, i don't
see any way we could (or would) change this requirement.

in-skin scripts should not have to be a problem...
if your skin needs a script, you can submit it separately to the addon repo.
you'll get extra bonus points if you code the script in such a way
that it can also be used (or would be useful) for other skins as well.

svn/git is preferred as it makes things easier to maintain on our end,
but we do accept .zip files as well.


please keep your feedback coming.
we would like to have a lot more skins in our add-on repo
and if there's anything we can do to make it easier, let us know.

keep in mind a large majority of xbmc users may never visit our forum,
so they won't even know your skin exists unless it shows up in the xbmc addon repo ;-)
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#5
(2013-02-14, 19:18)Mudislander Wrote: A person has control of their own repo/download link & submitting something for approval can be daunting.

True that you have control over your own.
Tell us what the daunting part holds? Why is that?
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#6
My opinion of when something is finished. Which is never.
But i can't really say anything about this because mine is not finished yet...
The bar also feels pretty high due to the quality of other skins in the official repo.
Also, you probably have your own repo before the project is finished / while you are in WIP for people who help you test.
Image [RELEASE] Metroid
Image [RELEASE] IrcChat
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#7
Basically I think a fear of the unknown & making a stuff up in front of thousands of users. Previously I've had to quickly correct a 3rd party repo before someone collects an update. However now having submitted a skin, can I mention that - yes, obviously it has to conform to standards but the checks are common sense & conducted in a friendly way and if an addon works from a private repo, the chances are it'll be easy to get through XBMC requirements.
Noli illegitimi carborundum


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#8
(2013-02-14, 19:58)Mudislander Wrote: Basically I think a fear of the unknown & making a stuff up in front of thousands of users.
More like million(s) Wink
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#9
(2013-02-14, 20:11)Martijn Wrote:
(2013-02-14, 19:58)Mudislander Wrote: Basically I think a fear of the unknown & making a stuff up in front of thousands of users.
More like million(s) Wink

Yeh - that really helps!! Thanks Big Grin
Noli illegitimi carborundum


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#10
I'm actually in the middle of subitting a skin. The submitting process itself is fine. Submit skin, get feedback like remove xxx.xml, fix these non localized strings, etc... Address those issues and resubmit.

Making a skin and coding all those sections you don't care about is the big hurdle. Like firefox/Opera themes must be easy or the approval process is easy because when I look for themes like 90% are just trash like they were created with MS Paint. So by having skins be a big endeavor sort of weeds out the half ass projects, which is a good thing..
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Check out The Carmichael - A Skin For XBMC

Check out Night - A Skin For XBMC

Check out Unfinished - A Skin For XBMC
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#11
skin diffuse is on the way, just have to finish some little annoying stuff first Smile
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#12
The main reason was the font I was using. But I've changed it eventually to an open source font (Open Sans with some modifications). The other reason is that I'm using two little python scripts in my skin to achieve some features like moving a group list with a button or getting a bounce effect at the end of a list. Those scripts are so small that it doesn't make sense to add them as an extra add-on. So if you allow small in-skin scripts, I can soon submit my skin to the official repo.

Another reason is that XBMC is constantly evolving, you need to keep up as a skinner to support all the features and you don't want to submit unfinished skins. It's hard work to have something fully ready and tested... it's easier to set up an own repo and deliver beta versions. Smile
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#13
(2013-02-14, 20:40)`Black Wrote: Another reason is that XBMC is constantly evolving, you need to keep up as a skinner to support all the features and you don't want to submit unfinished skins. It's hard work to have something fully ready and tested... it's easier to set up an own repo and deliver beta versions. Smile

Out of curiosity, would support for beta tagging solve this fear? So users could see your skin in a quick browse through, but also see maybe a little beta badge attached, allowing them to know it's a WIP to some degree?
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#14
Yes that would help if it's absolutely clear to the user that he is going to install a beta skin which could have bugs and missing skin areas.
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#15
why dont you just create two or more "official repos"? official stable ... official beta ... and so on
cu
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What are the reasons you don't submit your addon to official repo?0