Add Popcorn-Time.app v2.7

[kevinoconnor7]

That is their homepage url, their site currently seems to be down. Official releases are here.

[alebcay]

Based on the sketchy uses of the app, I don't know what the policy on such apps is. Asked @rolandwalker on IRC, but no reply yet. The webpage is down due to a DMCA takedown order. The build links also aren't working...possibly also DMCA takedown? I would consider hosting this at alehouse, but it's just a bit too shady for me.

[vitorgalvao]

I don’t think we have a policy on this type of software. Regardless, searching around I found it seems that they’re abandoning it anyway, and this article even states

Even if you downloaded Popcorn Time already, it will no longer function.

So we won’t even have to make this decision. Thank for your contribution nonetheless, @kevinoconnor7. I’ll go ahead and close this.

[kevinoconnor7]

@vitorgalvao This is a fork a project that is mentioned in the articles, but now under the new maintainers. It is now being maintained by the the group that runs the API that the original project heavily depended on.

This is might be a tricky cask to maintain simply because determining the official provider will be difficult (many forks are likely to pop up). Since it's being maintained by the group that provides the main API behind it, I find them to be a bit of an authoritative source for the software. The other challenge will be that the downloads links might be DMCA'd fairly often.

It might still be worth it to determine the policies on this type of software.

[vitorgalvao]

Thank you for the clarification. Opened again for discussion.

Before we get into the legal talk, policies, and whatnot, we should consider the experience for the user. I vote we at least don’t merge this just yet, and either close it again, or wait a while to see how everything plays out. If the page is already down due to a DMCA takedown order and the build links aren’t working, that doesn’t bode well; not only for the future of the project, but (and this is the point I think we should focus on first) the experience of anyone trying to get this app via homebrew-cask. If the download link will be down (what will probably be) a considerable chunk of the time (it is down now, just tested), then should we really include it? I believe not.

Still, having a bit more input on the matter won’t hurt. @alebcay, is your vote also “no”? Also pinging @phinze, @rolandwalker, @nanoxd, and @fanquake.

[kevinoconnor7]

For what it's worth, I agree that it might be best to let this sit for a bit to see how things settle down. I'll update my commit with a fixed download link if the official release links are changed. If it's way too unstable then I agree that it'll be best to exclude this just from the poor user experience.

[vitorgalvao]

I do have some thoughts on the issue (policy wise), but I’ve intentionally refrained from sharing them, due to the fact that I do not want to put anyone on the spot. Not many apps are so blatantly in legal shady ground as this one, so that is not a pressing matter. Some may not feel at ease discussing this, as opinions on this subject might be interpreted as sending a specific statement, and I have absolutely no idea on what the thoughts of the other collaborators are on this, including their comfort level in sharing said thoughts.

Let’s try to deliberate first on the value of including this in the project in regards to experience, and get to policy later if anyone else thinks it’d be worth discussing.

[kevinoconnor7]

As a small update, the links are working again without any changes to my commit. According the the developer they were under a DDoS attack.

[alebcay]

The new website has popped up: http://popcorn.cdnjd.com/

[tamird]

this cask is out of date. please take a look at https://github.com/phinze/homebrew-cask/pull/3603/files

[kevinoconnor7]

I updated my PR to reflect the current download links on their releases page. I haven't squashed yet for the sake of discussion in this PR.

Speaking of version, they have a bit of inconsistent version numbering on this app. Their github release and the in-app version say 0.2.7, but their website says 2.7. I changed it to reflect what is on the website for the sake of user experience, but it's something we should decide on as well.

[alebcay]

We've been discussing whether to include this cask or not at the IRC channel (chat.freenode.net, room #homebrew-cask).

[Anahkiasen]

Isn't latest version 0.2.8 not 2.7 ? Where does 2.7 come from ?

[vitorgalvao]

@Anahkiasen That was addressed earlier in the issue.

[Anahkiasen]

Oh sorry, missed that commented.

[kevinoconnor7]

@Anahkiasen was correct, this was now out of date. I have updated the PR again. I have also gone back to the 0.2.8 version formatting since that's what they use in the filenames and in-app. That's probably a better way to represent internally in the Cask.

Again, I haven't squashed so all the commits can be seen separately for the discussion.

Also, this has been open for 2 weeks now and things seem pretty calm in terms of stable download links. Other than the quick change at the first release the only other change has been a legitimate version update.

[vitorgalvao]

Came to check on this issue right now, and the timing appears to be good. Not only did it spawn at least one clone (as techcrunch called it), it’s now served on yet another domain, and even the gihub page is in another location. Things look far from being stable.

[Anahkiasen]

They bought a domain for what was before just a Github page, how is that a sign of instability, I'd consider it the opposite no ?

[kevinoconnor7]

I'm going to have to agree with @vitorgalvao. At this point, those that want the app probably already have it. Furthermore, this app just seems like it'll be more of a headache than it's worth. We have already spent more time on it than it deserves. As such I will be closing this PR.

[vitorgalvao]

@Anahkiasen Since this pull requested has been submitted, 18 days ago, this is the third different domain they’re using, and with each one, a different download link. That is not stable at all.

@kevinoconnor7 If you’d rather leave the PR open but not update it, doing so only when (if) all these changes stop, that would not be a problem.

[Anahkiasen]

Allright fair enough. Let's hope it stabilizes at one point.

[cabbarb]

if you want an up to date version of tap use this. there is an automatic updater under the hood to make it work.