Limited number of Nextcloud apps available

[provokateurin]

Issue description

The available Nextcloud apps are restricted by https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/servers/nextcloud/packages/nextcloud-apps.json and

nixpkgs/pkgs/servers/nextcloud/packages/generate.sh

Line 11 in eec16b4

APPS=`cat nextcloud-apps.json | jq -r 'keys|.[]' | sed -z 's/\n/,/g;s/,$/\n/'`

, but I fail to understand the reason why.

Only making a few apps available makes it a lot harder to install apps outside of those.

If it is for the licenses, then those could be automatically translated from the licenses available in https://github.com/helsinki-systems/nc4nix/blob/main/29.json (I'd be willing to help with that).

CC @dotlambda @Ma27 @pyrox0

[dotlambda]

There's also the issue that some apps need to be patched to work on NixOS, e.g. #211631.

[provokateurin]

I see, but that probably concerns the fewest of apps, no? Maybe then the better way is to remove apps that need to be patched (so basically invert the list).

[Ma27]

There's another issue with Nextcloud apps: you have to manually find out which license they use. Yes, there's a metadata field in the appinfo.xml, but it's worthless for us, because most app authors fail to differentiate between *Only and *Later (that's a common theme for the GPL family of licenses).

Also, I don't consider this too critical since there are at least three ways of installing apps into Nextcloud:

• use fetchNextcloudAPp yourself
• do it imperatively via the appstore (or whatever else it's called)
• I think the upstream nc4nix automatically generates all of the apps

Finally, nobody has stepped up to do that (and maintain the stuff!).

[provokateurin]

I get your point, but I still think it would be more convenient to have more apps available this way.

As for the license only vs. later the problem is that the allowed values are limited in https://github.com/nextcloud/appstore/blob/0681b16dc3fc6ac4bcce53a6c6ec1084a9f6c1d0/nextcloudappstore/api/v1/release/info.xsd#L368 and there is no way to differentiate them. It's not really the individual app developers that are failing to provide this information.
The reason for this is unclear to me, it seems the code was written a long time ago by an now ex-employee. This was probably an oversight the author didn't think about.

Another problem I see: It is possible to have an app with multiple licenses (not sure if that means dual-license or just parts with different licenses) and I don't think it is possible to provide multiple licenses in nix?

[SuperSandro2000]

I get your point, but I still think it would be more convenient to have more apps available this way.

New apps can always be added via a PR. We are not limiting ourselves to those.

The reason for this is unclear to me, it seems the code was written a long time ago by an now ex-employee. This was probably an oversight the author didn't think about.

Sure but getting that into shape for all apps is probably a lengthy effort.

Another problem I see: It is possible to have an app with multiple licenses (not sure if that means dual-license or just parts with different licenses) and I don't think it is possible to provide multiple licenses in nix?

#335595

[provokateurin]

Regarding automated license mapping there is also nextcloud/appstore#1274 and it seems like everyone is fine with transitioning to SPDX identifiers. It will just take the app authors some time to do that (and unmaintained apps are not going to get updated :/ )