Add Popcorn Time 0.2.9

[mrcasals]

Adds Popcorn Time 0.2.9.

Official repo is here: https://github.com/popcorn-official/popcorn-app

[alebcay]

We've considered adding Popcorn Time in the past before in #3582, but due to the turbulent nature of the app's website and ownership, it is still pending as we wait for things to stabilize. Paging @vitorgalvao, @Anahkiasen, and @kevinoconnor7.

[Anahkiasen]

This just seem to be a new clone, I'm trusting this about who's in the lead.

[kevinoconnor7]

@alebcay I think it's still way to unstable. Heck, the one I linked to in the #3582 is dead, and the one linked from the repo is deleted.

I again have to agree with the maintainers that having the project in brew might end up being a worse experience than not having it at all.

[mrcasals]

Sorry, I did not check the closed issues for a Popcorn Time cask. The repo I linked is the most active fork of the original code, but they have changed the organization name quite a few times I don't really know why.

Anyway, why not merge it and update the cask if the repo URL changes? That's jut a PR away (and a brew update, obviously) :)

[kevinoconnor7]

@mrcasals It's more of an issue that sources are changing very rapidly so it's very likely that there will be broken links. It's also hard to determine a main source, I think it would be confusing if cask was changing between multiple forks as they pop up and disappear.

I just find it to be more of a headache than it's worth.

[mrcasals]

OK, I understand your reasons :) Just close this PR if you wish :) Let's hope they stabilize the repo name once and for all...

[vitorgalvao]

“Popcorn Time devs drop like flies, but no one will talk”.

This is still way too unstable, and (I bet) will be for quite some time. Merging this in now would mean providing a crappy experience for homebrew-cask users, and little else.

[samschooler]

get-popcorn.com is currently seen as the "official" team as of now. They are currently implementing TV Shows, and a code base overhaul to be released with 0.3.0 see: dev-0.3 branch. It could possibly be re-looked at after that.

[vitorgalvao]

The issue here isn’t about it being officially supported or not, it’s about it being stable for users to get. Code quality and features are irrelevant in this case; what it matters is if it will or not be a valuable addition that homebrew-cask users can reliably get.

[andreis]

0.3 beta has been officially launched and it's as "stable" as it can get. I think now's as good a time to add it as any.

http://blog.get-popcorn.com/popcorn-time-beta-3-is-here/
http://www.get-popcorn.com/

[rolandwalker]

I strongly oppose inclusion according to the following reasoning:

• Popcorn Time was subject to DMCA takedowns when hosted on GitHub
• DMCA takedowns are done on a per-account basis, not a per-commit basis
• I believe this single commit would violate the DMCA
• 100% of the homebrew-cask infrastructure would then be in jeopardy of takedown
• That is not worth the risk and inconvenience to the many users who do not use this app

We have an open system which supports alternative Taps. Anyone can create a "Homebrew-radical" Tap if they are willing to host this Cask. I'd support more documentation telling users how to find alternative Taps.

[vitorgalvao]

Since I believe levels of comfort on talking about this will vary, I’ll point out the opinions expressed in this comment are my own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of other homebrew-cask maintainers.

On principle, I do mind not including the cask out of fear of retaliation. These companies (and individuals) abuse their power to steal from others when it’s convenient to them, with complete disregard for the work of others. Not including it due to the aforementioned reason sends a message that only strengthens their position, and I’m not ideologically comfortable with that.

Having said that, these decisions should never be made in a vacuum, and I support @rolandwalker’s position, for one simple reason — github’s DMCA takedown policy. While it seems they claim they’ll make a “reasonable effort” to contact the infringer, and may remove only the relevant portions, they also reserve the right to nuke repos and user accounts (and that is mentioned before the other options). I do believe that if push came to shove, they’d throw us under the bus. Point being, to fight this (hypothetical) fight, we’d likely have to do it on another platform.

As pointed out, luckily we have a tap system, courtesy of homebrew, that lets us mitigate the whole issue without much effort.

[Anahkiasen]

The other Popcorn repositories weren't taken down by DMCA I believe but more by the owners being contacted by big people and being either offered something or forced to take the repository down by threats. The whole history is kind of in the shadows. But the application itself, ie. its code as this is what is being discussed here, isn't any more illegal than Bittorent's, it's just tying APIs together.

That being said as much as I would love seeing Popcorn on Cask I wouldn't risk it either, Github can be a little strong on taking down repositories so I vote for a separate tap too.

[kevinoconnor7]

Just to play devil's advocate, I would say that this program is just as sketchy on the DMCA front as SickBeard, which in Homebrew Cask already.

That being said, I agree with others that this should be in a separate tap.

[rolandwalker]

The new documentation proposed at #4608 is (hopefully) sufficient to close this issue.

I would add that we ought to publicize popular or interesting alternate Cask Taps, just as the Homebrew does at https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/wiki/Interesting-Taps-%26-Branches .

The only time that has come up in the past was when @alebcay was starting to Cask unofficial builds. We elected to invite him to our project, and created caskroom/homebrew-unofficial, which has worked out very well. However, it is just as easy to imagine that homebrew-unofficial could have been organized under Alehouse and publicized in our documentation.

[alebcay]

I think something like homebrew-sketchy would be somewhat useful for a Cask like Popcorn Time, but then, as mentioned before, there is the subjective question of "what counts as too sketchy for the main repo?"

Also, hosting such a repo under the Caskroom organization is probably not a good idea - sometimes, DMCA takedowns hit entire users/organizations instead of just a repo, and nobody would want to see all of Homebrew-cask go bye bye as a result of a single Cask.

[kevinoconnor7]

@alebcay Perhaps we create a new organization with a dummy user account and just have each repo be a separate app? Annoying in that you have to tap for each app but it should keep it decentralized.

[Anahkiasen]

Or you know, we could forget about Popcorn for now. I mean let's be honest what app would you put in your tap besides this one ? uTorrent is in caskroom already.

[vitorgalvao]

Perhaps we create a new organization with a dummy user account and just have each repo be a separate app? Annoying in that you have to tap for each app but it should keep it decentralized.

That’s a terrible idea. That’d be acting in bad faith — we’d be purposefully trying to find a loophole and exploiting it. It’s not like it’d be that hard to find the real owner of the account, and by linking it to someone in the project, it could be even worse than including it directly.

we could forget about Popcorn for now

We will. Anyone else can make the tap for it, though, we have no control over that.

I mean let's be honest what app would you put in your tap besides this one

It’s not uncommon to have a tap for a single app (mpv, massren).

Regarding bittorrent clients, there are plenty of legal and legitimate uses for bittorrent, including downloading media; it is not inherently illegal — someone’s particular usage might be, but that has nothing to do with the technology itself. As for the aforementioned SickBeard, the difference here, as I see it, is there haven’t been any (major?) legal issues regarding it (maybe not even against popcorn time itself, but definitely something happened). Being sketchy shouldn’t be enough for rejection; we need something to know it’s undesirable. For all we know, rights holders love it.

[kevinoconnor7]

@vitorgalvao Sorry, my suggestion wasn't meant to obscure who the owner of the project is. It was to preclude a DMCA notice from nuking someone's organization or personal account if a dispute arrises.

Anyway, is about time that this PR can be closed?

[vitorgalvao]

Apologies if my comment sounded harsh, it was meant to be assertive, nothing more. We all have the same intentions in this discussion, after all.

I agree with you that it’s about time we close this. Thank you all for sharing your views and participating in this decision.

[vitorgalvao]

If anyone is interested in said Tap, @casidiablo talked about it and has already done it. Interested parties might want to collaborate in that repo.

[rolandwalker]

Good to know. I'll document it.

[vitorgalvao]

For future reference, we now have confirmation of DMCA takedows.

[radeksimko]

I wish Github would allow adding some kind of popup/warning based on entered title which would prevent people from even sending the same issue again and again.

[vitorgalvao]

Perhaps we should add a “refused casks”¹ section to CONTRIBUTING.md, right at the top. It would be populated only by Popcorn Time, at the moment, but it’d come in handy occasionally, like with FirefoxDevelopEdition (it’s available on caskroom/versions but was being submitted to the main repo repeatedly).

---

¹ Needs a better name.

[kevinoconnor7]

I think #7489 suggested a good idea for precluding this. This solution would in turn be a duplicate of #5779.