GNOME Software, GNOME's App Store, Is Drawing Some Fresh Criticism

Shouldn't the GNOME Software "app store" include non-GUI (CLI) packages? That's one of the questions being asked yet again by users.

Starting in December and continuing into January are various Fedora development threads of users questioning various GNOME motives with their GNOME Software program. In particular, right now, the GNOME Software application center doesn't like CLI-only packages for installation but only those with a GUI. Additionally, GNOME Software is limited in showing packages for non-GNOME desktop environments unless certain parameters are set.

The explanation for why non-GUI programs aren't shown in GNOME Software is that the GNOME developers don't consider CLI tools to be "applications", per this Fedora devel thread.

In a separate but recent thread, other ramblings and questions were posed. Applications for other desktop environments like Xfce and MATE aren't shown by default within the GNOME Software application unless setting a user environment variable or setting. With the environment variable set and even running an alternative desktop environment, GNOME Software always prioritizes showing GNOME's applications first in its listings.

The response of the GNOME developers to comments like these have basically come down to "GNOME Software is the software application installer for GNOME", while the underlying issue generally expressed by users is that GNOME Software basically serves as the de facto GUI package manager of Fedora and other GNOME-aligned distributions with not having another (more universal) GUI package installer shipped as part of the distribution, compared to say the Ubuntu Software Center on Ubuntu.

What's your thoughts on the situation or on GNOME Software itself? Let us know by commenting on this article.