KDE Bodega

"App" stores are all the rage these days, with everyone from Apple and Amazon to mobile phone carriers and free software projects trying their hand. KDE's Aaron Seigo recently announced Bodega, which is a platform for publishing and distributing digital content of various sorts. Bodega is initially targeted at Plasma Active, KDE's touch-device-friendly mobile user interface, but making it more widely applicable is definitely on the agenda. The first version of Bodega actually shipped with Plasma Active 3 in mid-October "and people are, indeed, using it", Seigo said.

Bodega goes beyond just serving up "apps", as it is meant to handle anything that can be delivered over the network, including books, music, artwork, services, and, yes, applications. Plasma Active's "Add Ons" application uses the Bodega client code, which is based on lots of KDE-specific libraries and frameworks. The server, on the other hand, doesn't use KDE or even Qt, but instead uses node.js, PostgreSQL, and Redis, none of which are particularly KDE-related. One would not normally expect to see a program like that as part of the KDE repository.

But the whole project—client and server—is being proposed for inclusion into the KDE project. Seigo addresses questions about the server side in a blog post. He notes that the recently adopted KDE Manifesto makes it easier to see why Bodega makes sense as a KDE project. In the past, it was more difficult:

But, using the Manifesto and the related Principles of a KDE Project, he makes a convincing case for bringing all of Bodega into KDE. "Now it is quite straight-forward; we simply have to ask, 'Does it push forward KDE's technical agenda, and does it meet KDE's documented principles and commitments?'"

Bodega is organized around storefronts, each of which can give a different view into a collective pile of content items, organized using tags. The example Seigo uses is the KDE project itself, which could run one Bodega instance that would allow each sub-project to have its own "catalog" (i.e. storefront view). That catalog could contain items from the common pool and items that are specific to the sub-project, along with content from elsewhere on the net (e.g. free e-books from Project Gutenberg).

Purchases are made using a points-based system, which is modeled on online video game stores. Those points can be earned in a variety of ways, or they can be purchased via credit card. Importantly, there is no requirement for pricing the items at all. Free (as in beer) Bodegas are definitely part of the plan.

The existing client integrates well with Plasma Workspaces, Seigo said, and an HTML 5 version is likely. Right now, the client can install applications (via PackageKit), Plasma packages, e-books, and wallpapers, but it can be extended to install other kinds of content.

In addition to putting Bodega out for review, and possible inclusion into KDE, Seigo is, of course, looking for more contributors. There is a fairly extensive, if rough, "to do" list on the home page, which is one place to start. He is also interested in feedback, naturally.

Since Bodega is free software, one of the first complaints heard was about the color name. In this case, though, the complaints may be somewhat more than just bikeshedding. Evidently, depending on one's location, "bodega" can mean anything from a small mini-market or grocery store (likely in a Spanish-speaking area) to a winery to a cheap place to drink and get drunk. The latter is an association some would rather avoid. While that meaning is used in several places in Europe, there was not any huge push to change the name—at least yet.

More substantively, Josef Spillner suggested two possibilities to add to Bodega: services and physical goods. Basically the idea would be that Bodega could streamline delivery and payment options for people to sell or share different kinds of physical goods. In addition, services like online storage or ownCloud synchronization accounts could be integrated into Bodega.

Both of those ideas seemed plausible to Seigo. In fact, work has already been done on integration with ownCloud. Physical goods have requirements like shipping and inventory management that certainly could be added, though they are likely to be further out, he said, "but i won't exclude it as an idea for the future".

Overall, Bodega is an interesting vision of a free software marketplace. It is clearly targeted at many different kinds of uses, for lots of different projects and, perhaps eventually, companies. While it ticks the "app store" checkbox for Plasma Active, it is aimed far beyond just that.