[Martijn]

I dont care too much for a beta/wip repo. Users who want that sort of stuff already know their way to the forum. It will only open up the way for users who dont know what they are doing to easily download and install stuff that can break overnight.
Allowing skins without PVR is a big +1 from my side. If I ever make a new skin I couldn't be bothered with adding PVR, I wont use it and never will and I think there are many users out there who feel the same.

Both Ronie and Martijn have said PVR is not a requirement, recommended but not a requirement. Even when I submitted my skin a week ago Ronie confirmed that...

I'm in same boat, PVR being a requirement would definably turn me away...

well problem is that there's no warning system yet that PVR is missing. This was brought up at our last meeting however it was too short to implement.
A big fat warning on the information page and making sure no bad things happen if PVR part is missing would indeed suffice imo.
Best would be to leave out any menu mentioning PVR.

@ronie
So can we officially claim PVR is optional if some requirements are met like it's clearly stated that it's not included?
I mean how could we make PVR a requirement while our "official" Touched skin by Jezz_X hasn't got PVR (no offence meant Jezz_X because we know what job it is to add it).

[Ned Scott]

I wouldn't mind us having some kind of skin mod repo, or a section of the XBMC.org repo for skin mods. I totally understand why we don't allow them in the main repo, but very often someone needs something like, the look of default Confluence, but with custom home items.

[ronie]

As requested, here's a list of things i check when you submit your skin to the XBMC addon repo:

Basic file checks:

• all .xml files must pass xml validation
  
• all .xml/.txt must have unix style EOL's
  
• don't use a BOM at the start of your files
  
• file permissions: files should not be marked as executable
  
• filenames must have correct encoding (check your studio logos for corrupt filenames)
  

Things that must be included:

• addon.xml must contain correct and valid info / versioning
  
• LICENCE.txt must be present
  
• icon.png must be present (256x256)
  
• fanart.jpg must be present (1280x720 or 1920x1080)
  
• _screenshots folder must be present, containing max. 10 .jpg screenshots (1280x720)
  

Things that can't be included:

• no .xbt files
  
• no scripts included
  
• don't include unneeded files (.pdf, .doc, thumbs.db, etc...)
  
• no licensed fonts / background images / anything
  

Code checks:

• all labels must be localized
  
• code should be case-sensitive
  
• skins should not create warning/errors in the logfile, this can be a lot of things:
  - invalid includes
  - undefined actions
  - unable to evaluate condition
  - undefined vars
  - can't focus 'id'
  

apart from using phil65's 'skin xml converter', i don't use any automated scripts.
a large part of it is just manual labor using a variety of cli commands on linux.
the average time it takes me to validate a skin is 2 to 3 hours . ;-)


my advice... before you submit your skin, do two things:

1. use phil65's 'skin xml converter'. this tool can perform a lot of checks on your skin.
   
2. just run your skin...take some time to browse to each corner of it and search the logfile for errors afterwards
   

[`Black]

I can't even include a script which does nothing more than

PHP Code:

HOME = xbmcgui.Window(10000)

HOME.setProperty(sys.argv[1],'1')
xbmc.sleep(300)
HOME.clearProperty(sys.argv[1]) 


I mean I can create an extra add-on but I think it's kind of silly to do that.

[ronie]

while we would like to encourage every skinner out there to submit skins that are 100% feature complete
(we can add pvr support to xbmc, but if no skinner is interested in adding support for it... we may as well remove it)
i'm ok with making some functionality optional (and some things were already optional):

• mouse support
  
• touchscreen support
  
• karaoke dialogs
  
• peripheral dialogs
  
• pvr support
  

[ronie]

I can't even include a script which does nothing more than

PHP Code:

HOME = xbmcgui.Window(10000)

HOME.setProperty(sys.argv[1],'1')
xbmc.sleep(300)
HOME.clearProperty(sys.argv[1]) 


I mean I can create an extra add-on but I think it's kind of silly to do that.

it would really be a pity if it would keep you from submitting your skin :-(

i'd like to share my thoughts on why scripts shouldn't be included (although some may be mood):
- it somehow goes against as to what a skin is. it's just a gui, a look and feel, a dumb interface.
it should not contain executable code (or run arbitrary commands) by itself.
- if the script contains a bug, it would require an entire skin update to correct it
- if we should allow it, where to draw the line...5 lines of code, 10, 50?


as mentioned before, it's perfectly fine to submit it as a separate addon.
and if you extend the functionality a bit, it might be quite useful for other skins as well:
- make the window id configurable
- make the sleep time configurable
- make the property name (already is) and property value configurable
- optionally add a 'loop' setting. that way it can for instance be used to continuously display two alternating items on a screen.


one other thought (thinking out loud) is to collect a number of such skin specific script into one addon.

[Jezz_X]

Fanart.jpg must be present (1280x720 or 1920x1080)

umm since when has that been a requirment and not an option? and I also though that we limited them to 720p when people chose to submit it to save on server bandwidth

[Yohan]

I'm also in favour of adding a "Skins (no PVR)" section to the repo. (or better: a "Skins (PVR)" section).
Another bummer is the localisation of all strings, i.m.o. this keeps a lot of skinners away from the repo.
So skins are just released on the board "as is". However, beta testing should be done on the board i.m.o.

Copyrighted fonts can't be an issue as nearly all official fonts have open source versions.

[ronie]

Another bummer is the localisation of all strings, i.m.o. this keeps a lot of skinners away from the repo.

yup, that's something you'll have to keep in mind right from the beginning when you start coding a new skin.
fixing it afterwards can be a major pita. :-)

i hope the reasons for localization are obvious... a very large part of our userbase
prefers to run xbmc in their native language or may not even speak english at all.

[pecinko]

Copyrighted fonts can't be an issue as nearly all official fonts have open source versions.

You can't be more off base here.

[phil65]

Another bummer is the localisation of all strings, i.m.o. this keeps a lot of skinners away from the repo.

qute easy when using regex (--> <label>[^0-9$] for example)
if that´s too much I can check if it is possible to automate that in a nice way and add it as a feature for my tool. (will be hard to get it 100% though because there are some labels in most skins which shouldn´t get converted)

[wyrm]

Martijn,

Good start on the stickied thread on how to get skin into main repo, BUT, maybe you could also include details on how to submit language files to transfix. The other thing that may be of use to aspiring skinning superstars is to provide links to some of the more useful external software. For example, phil65's skin converter, and maybe a link to a BOM checker etc.

Wyrm (xTV-SAF)

[ronie]

Martijn,

Good start on the stickied thread on how to get skin into main repo, BUT, maybe you could also include details on how to submit language files to transfix. The other thing that may be of use to aspiring skinning superstars is to provide links to some of the more useful external software. For example, phil65's skin converter, and maybe a link to a BOM checker etc.

Wyrm (xTV-SAF)

most of that can be found in the 'skinning for beginners' sticky:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94438
if anything is missing, i'm sure Hitcher wouldn't mind adding it.

there's a sticky for the transifex procedure as well,
if any info is missing there, just gimme a heads-up and i'll add it.

[wyrm]

most of that can be found in the 'skinning for beginners' sticky:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94438
if anything is missing, i'm sure Hitcher wouldn't mind adding it.

there's a sticky for the transifex procedure as well,
if any info is missing there, just gimme a heads-up and i'll add it.

Ronie,

Yep, i realise that but I think the point of the sticky should be to have everything linked in the post so the skinner can go thru a checklist of steps. Could also make note that for each skin submitted to the repo, the skinner gets a puppy

Wyrm (xTV-SAF)

[MassIV]

Another bummer is the localisation of all strings, i.m.o. this keeps a lot of skinners away from the repo.

qute easy when using regex (--> <label>[^0-9$] for example)
if that´s too much I can check if it is possible to automate that in a nice way and add it as a feature for my tool. (will be hard to get it 100% though because there are some labels in most skins which shouldn´t get converted)

Think you misquoted. It was Yohan that said that.
But we did talk about the same subject a while back.

I do feel that localised strings should not be something mandatory for a beta repo.