Packaging a GTK app as an click package is possible, but I could only manage to do so by giving the app special permissions (so this is a workaround and will most likely not be excepted in the official app store). Here is an example that worked on my Nexus 4 with Mir as the display manager and will maybe also work on other devices:
Video of working app (a simple image editor):
https://libre.video/videos/watch/2f2c5304-d278-4b43-84e0-3c463d3a6432
Source Code:
https://gitlab.com/AdamSchrey/image_and_buttons

Some of the things done here will maybe not be necessary on some devices or in future versions of Ubuntu Touch.

I had to add this lines to the .desktop file:
X-Ubuntu-Touch=true
X-Ubuntu-XMir-Enable=true

I had to add this line to the .apparmor file:
"template": "unconfined",

Otherwise I would get this error:
** (process:26446): WARNING **: Unable to exec '/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ubuntu-app-launch/xmir-helper image-and-buttons_0.9.0 ut_session.sh' in '/opt/click.ubuntu.com/.click/users/phablet/image-and-buttons': Permission denied

I had to export this variable to get bigger buttons/text/entries...:
export GDK_SCALE=2

To get an on screen keyboard I installed this packages on my device:
maliit-inputcontext-gtk3 maliit-inputcontext-gtk2

...and exported this variable:
export GTK_IM_MODULE=maliitphablet

I reply to this old post, because when I searched for a solution, this was one of the first things that came up and I could not find any working examples my self.
Maybe someone will find this helpful or will tell me if my app and my solution also work on other devices.

Some of the things I did, were taken from this website:
http://kriscode.blogspot.com/2016/09/x-applications-on-ubuntu-phone.html

Update:
I removed the proof of concept web app from the OpenStore, because I have no time right now to regularly restart the server or to fix the stability problems. It would also not make much sense to improve something, that will not be used.

It is all available under GNU GPL3 at: https://gitlab.com/AdamSchrey/open-store-payment-poc
So if anyone wants to revisit the idea, he/she can do so.
I am also happy to answer any questions about it.

Thank you all for the feedback

Hello @Opolork , as Bolly already pointed out, you can contact the developers over their gitlab (or github) accounts.
For the spelling error, you could open an issue like this:
1)

2)

3)

Please describe what the issue is ("Hello, I saw following spelling error at the description of the app in the open store...") and when the developer has time for it, he will maybe correct it. You do not need to set up an SSH key for this.

For directly suggesting a change to the source code, you can start a merge request. The description of the app in the open store is not part of the source code, so it can not be changed with a merge request. But should you see any spelling errors inside an app, you can most likely correct them with a merge request.
For a merge request you need to fork (make a copy with your own changes) the project first. Should you click on a file (for example po/es.po to change the Spanish translation) in the gitlab repository and than click on Edit > Edit single file at the top right, gitlab will automatically ask you, if you want to fork the project. Than you can edit your fork and make a merge request to the original repository. I will not explain it further, because I do not think that this is what you want to do here.

Please be aware that the translation for the core apps is done over a translation dashboard, so you should not make translation merge requests for them (https://docs.ubports.com/no/latest/contribute/translations.html#how-to).

For using SSH functionalities of git, you can add an SSH key to your gitlab profile. I will also not explain it further, because I do not think that this is what you want to do here. I think it is not even necessary for making a merge request. And I think you should even be able to push and pull your own projects without an SSH key. Here is some gitlab specific documentation about it, should you be interested: https://docs.gitlab.com/user/ssh/

TL;DR: Just open an issue. You do not need to make a merge request or to set up an SSH key.

Hello,
I wrote an app to compare the performance of different devices and released it on the OpenStore: https://open-store.io/app/ut-sysbench-qt-gui
I hope the arm64 version works, because I can only test the armhf version.
It would be nice, if some of you could share your device's name together with the results you get, after clicking on "Multiple Benchmarks".
"Export and Compare" will copy the results to your clipboard and show you a bar chart with the performace of other devices.

Multiple results from different persons for the same model are also useful.

You are also free to share problems with my app. I know that the memory (RAM) test does not work on all devices.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Results of my LG Nexus 4 with Ubuntu 16.04 OTA-19:

sysbench --test=cpu --num-threads=2 --cpu-max-prime=20000 run
57 events per second

sysbench --test=cpu --num-threads=8 --cpu-max-prime=20000 run
113 events per second

sysbench --test=memory --num-threads=4 run
Operations performed: 0 ( 0.00 ops/sec)
0.00 MB transferred (0.00 MB/sec)

sysbench --test=mutex --num-threads=64 run
total time: 2.4057s

@theprivacydad said in Trying out UT on Pixel 3a XL for review article:

one question I have is that I see a terminal but don't know how far I should attempt to go with installing software the way I am used to

I think one of the most important things to understand for new UT users is, that the root file system is mounted read only and therefor it is not supported that the user just installs programs in the terminal with "sudo apt install ..." or makes changes to the system.
This restriction allows for OTA updates, so that everyone uses the same system packpackages. The individual applications on top of the system are not deeply integrated in the system and there are similar permission rules to android (for example camera and position permission). This should allow for more security.

If you still want to use classic terminal programs like htop or vim, you can use Libertine for this or use Snapz0r or experiment with installing LXD with Snapz0r. Some people were also experimenting with NIX packages for Ubuntu Touch, but I do not know, if this is still in development.

With Waydroid you are also able to install many Android apps and in my experience it works very well for things like Signal or Whatsapp, but it needs some time to start and I advice for WayFreezr from the OpenStore to save some battery.

@doniks I thought the icon could be improved and created a different icon:

This is a png file. The original file is a svg file. It seems like the forum does not like svg files, so I made a merge request.
I did not like the low resolution of the current icon, this should not be a problem with a svg file.
If you still prefer the current icon, that is no problem.

@MV I don't have a Volla X23, but the scaling probably works similar on most devices.
The steps in the question are maybe already the solution for you:

https://forums.ubports.com/topic/9317/how-can-i-change-scaling-on-20-04-focal-without-ut-tweak-tool-and-without-reboot

... These devices (and maybe other devices) set the scaling in /etc/deviceinfo/devices/halium.yaml.

In this file I changed "GridUnit" to a more convenient value (i.e. 28 on FP3 and 18 on Lenovo).

To make these changes take effect it is not sufficient to just restart Lomiri with systemctl --user restart lomiri-full-greeter.service. You'll have to reboot the device...

@Appointed
About UT and desktop apps:
The goal of Ubuntu Touch is to be an secure and open source mobile OS, that can optionally also turn into a Desktop OS, when you connect the mobile device to a bigger screen, mouse and keyboard.
When the user is in the desktop mode of UT, he maybe wants to use classic Desktop apps and this is what Libertine is for.
So it is not the goal of UT to make any desktop app work on a smaller formfactor and without a keyboard and mouse. Of cause you can still try to do so, but that it is not scaling correctly is no surprise. The real issue are the other errors (some programs not opening or not working correctly).

@Appointed said in Usable phone display:

responsible

Libertine is not working perfectly, but UT is a community driven project. You and me are as responsible to make things better as everyone else. The code is all on GitLab and GitHub. The UT core team is happy for everyone who can help.

For a lot of people it was way more important to get Android apps working on UT and move to focal and this was accomplished. So Libertine not working perfectly is a result of prioritizement and lack of contributors and not because of responsibility.

@derbaertigefrytz I do not think, that you are missing anything. Libertine and Snaps do not work great for many graphical programs right now (this will probably improve in the future with changes to the desktop environment and underlying software). They are maybe more useful for terminal programs right now. You can often improve things by tinkering around a little bit, but it is certainly not ideal.

For a FireFox like browser, you could check out uWolf in the OpenStore.

Maybe this has not been decided jet, but I would like to hear what would be the most likely scenario for the future:

Will the OpenStore support mobile friendly snap packages in the future?
Or will we have the OpenStore and the SnapStore preinstalled in future releases of UT?
Or will the SnapStore completely replace the OpenStore?

@fihex123 Please follow the steps for the installation as descripted by arubislander.
You could also take a look at this step by step description: https://forums.ubports.com/post/43884
If you have no success, try a different USB cable and a different USB port. If you are using the Windows Installer, you could also check if it works better under Linux.
Sometimes the installation does not work the first time.

@derbaertigefrytz I do not think, that you are missing anything. Libertine and Snaps do not work great for many graphical programs right now (this will probably improve in the future with changes to the desktop environment and underlying software). They are maybe more useful for terminal programs right now. You can often improve things by tinkering around a little bit, but it is certainly not ideal.

For a FireFox like browser, you could check out uWolf in the OpenStore.

Hello @Opolork , as Bolly already pointed out, you can contact the developers over their gitlab (or github) accounts.
For the spelling error, you could open an issue like this:
1)

2)

3)

Please describe what the issue is ("Hello, I saw following spelling error at the description of the app in the open store...") and when the developer has time for it, he will maybe correct it. You do not need to set up an SSH key for this.

For directly suggesting a change to the source code, you can start a merge request. The description of the app in the open store is not part of the source code, so it can not be changed with a merge request. But should you see any spelling errors inside an app, you can most likely correct them with a merge request.
For a merge request you need to fork (make a copy with your own changes) the project first. Should you click on a file (for example po/es.po to change the Spanish translation) in the gitlab repository and than click on Edit > Edit single file at the top right, gitlab will automatically ask you, if you want to fork the project. Than you can edit your fork and make a merge request to the original repository. I will not explain it further, because I do not think that this is what you want to do here.

Please be aware that the translation for the core apps is done over a translation dashboard, so you should not make translation merge requests for them (https://docs.ubports.com/no/latest/contribute/translations.html#how-to).

For using SSH functionalities of git, you can add an SSH key to your gitlab profile. I will also not explain it further, because I do not think that this is what you want to do here. I think it is not even necessary for making a merge request. And I think you should even be able to push and pull your own projects without an SSH key. Here is some gitlab specific documentation about it, should you be interested: https://docs.gitlab.com/user/ssh/

TL;DR: Just open an issue. You do not need to make a merge request or to set up an SSH key.

@ma Maybe you could check, if you installed the stable image under System Settings > System information > OS > OS update channel.
I know that the installer wanted to install the daily build for me by default and that can cause all kinds of problems, so I had to manually select the stable build.

@arubislander @Keneda OK, good to know

@arubislander Do you maybe mean uWolf or is there now also uFireFox?

@RJDan said in How can i install pip on ubuntu touch:

Detected apt

You are not supposed to directly install things with apt on Ubuntu Touch. But programs that you would usually install in Ubuntu with apt (or other package managers like pip) can maybe be installed in a container under Ubuntu Touch. This is especially useful for non graphical programs.

One container solution to do this is Libertine: https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/dailyuse/libertine.html

@techwryte said in using Ubuntu Touch as o/s for IoT devices with RPi/Rockchip:

Currently Debian with XFCE works, but it is clumsy to use.

@techwryte said in using Ubuntu Touch as o/s for IoT devices with RPi/Rockchip:

Debian+Mobile DE would be ideal - unfortunately not that literate to know how to go about it in a way that we can create and deploy in production and maintain/update it in a consistent way

So if Debian works, but the desktop environment (XFCE) is to clumsy, it would maybe be the easiest and quickest solution to try out Debian+Gnome, before porting Ubuntu Touch or going for Ubuntu+Miriway (even if porting Ubuntu Touch or choosing Ubuntu+Miriway sounds much more exciting).

It should be no problem to install Gnome onto your existing Debian system. You can also start Gnome in X11 mode, if Wayland is not suitable for your software. Additionally "touchegg" is often recommended online, for touch gestures under X11, but I never have tried it out.
With the Gnome software center, you would also get graphical update notifications like you would get under Ubuntu, if you mean this with "maintain/update it in a consistent way".
For automatic installation of security updates, you could also check out "unattended-upgrades".

A specific mobile DE, you could also look into, is Phosh. But it will probably not work with your remote access software.

@kristatos I got my warning as a notification message and in the SMS app. I am under 20.04 and use a Pixel 3a. So it could also be a problem with some network providers.

@oldpaint said in gcc 9.4 compiler in docker images:

I thought I would start with the Botan library so I ran the command 'clickable build --libs --verbose' and that provoked a download of the correct docker container for my phone, arm64. I can't seem to provoke a download for the desktop docker container, amd64. I tried 'clickable desktop ...' but no joy.

You could try 'CLICKABLE_ARCH=amd64 clickable build --libs --verbose' or 'clickable build --arch amd64 --libs --verbose' in order to specify the architecture.

Your architecture should also be defined in your manifest.json file. (The app template should provide a manifest.json file by default. It is maybe under data/. You can read about it here: https://clickable-ut.dev/en/latest/usage.html )
The architecture will probably be whatever architecture is specified when executing clickable (likely arm64 by default).