snap connect myapp:camera out-of-the-box

[Jamie Strandboge]

On Tue, 2017-02-21 at 13:23 -0300, Gustavo Niemeyer wrote:
> Actually, we do have a mechanism that enables the automatic connections in
> those cases, and we can enable it in sensible cases, even for the camera.
> 
> The question we should ask here is this: what is the snap purpose?  Is it
> clear from the snap name and description that this is using a camera?
> 
> If the answer yes, then I think it's fine to auto-connect.
> 
> In this particular case, the snap name is called "webcam-webui". IMO, it'd
> be fine to auto-connect it.  Jamie?
> 

In general, I agree with what you described for special cases where it is
obvious what the snap is and its functionality can be deduced. Personally, I
think that where it is obvious should be the snap name, not the description,
because people tend to only see the snap name and the description can change at
a later date to not meet our review criteria.

While the bug refers to 'webcam-webui', I spoke with the 'Dev Dev' on irc and
the snap in question is actually 'Bayam' and the description in the store is
"Bayam, jeux, découvertes et activités pour enfants" which google translate
tells me is "Bayam, games, discoveries and activities for children". Nothing in
that would give me the expectation that the snap would have access to the
camera. I then explained how interfaces work and why and did not grant the snap
declaration. I then advised the conversation should be taken here in part to ask
"What are the plans for making snap connections easier for cli, snapweb and
gnome-software installs and what is the timeline of that work?"

> On Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 1:15 PM, Oliver Grawert <ogra at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > hi,
> > Am Dienstag, den 21.02.2017, 11:03 -0500 schrieb Dev Dev:
> > > 
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > Anyone can give me more information (ETA, how it will works) about
> > > the
> > > connection to camera. Right now, I need to ask my users who installed
> > > myapp via the Software Center to open a terminal and run:
> > > sudo snap connect myapp:camera
> > > 
> > > It needs to be automagically connected.
> > if that was the case, what would keep me from creating "myapp-so-much-
> > more-shiny" that then quietly and constantly streams the camera pic to
> > some website without the user knowing ? (and also since i used the
> > myapp name in my snap your company might even get the blame for the
> > spying as well as the bad press around it)
> > 
> > the manual connection of some risky interfaces is exactly what keeps
> > the users safe from bad stuff happening, we would not need interfaces
> > if we connected all of them automatically.
> > 
> > i agree that having a more interactive way is the way to go here ...
> > i.e. if you install a gui app it should ask for the connection on first
> > access (and only on first) ... or when installing from cmdline it might
> > offer the connection at install time, but such potentially security
> > critical interfaces should really not auto-connect.
> > 
> > ciao
> >         oli
> > --
> > Snapcraft mailing list
> > Snapcraft at lists.snapcraft.io
> > Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/
> > mailman/listinfo/snapcraft
> > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Snapcraft mailing list
> Snapcraft at lists.snapcraft.io
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/s
> napcraft
-- 
Jamie Strandboge             | http://www.canonical.com

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 819 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/snapcraft/attachments/20170221/6354f7ba/attachment.sig>