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Dash for iOS is now open source
- mthoms 10y agoRelevant HN threads: Apple Has Removed Dash from the App Store: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12646919 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12646919 Apple Responds to Dash Controversy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12680131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12680131
- duaneb 10y agoThank you. I've been missing this from my toolset after paying for it.
- kmf 10y agoPretty interesting - on the Dash blog in October[1], the developer said that open-source wouldn't be a great option because compiling iOS apps is difficult for most non-iOS developers. It's a shame, IMO, that iOS apps only have two wide-distribution models: paid, with Apple, on the App Store, or open-source and, by that nature, free. There's a lot of really great software on OS X that is distributed outside the Mac App Store. Clearly there's no plan for something similar to that on iOS. https://blog.kapeli.com/dear-dash-users/ https://blog.kapeli.com/dear-dash-users/
- petercooper 10y agoDoesn't this give the option for someone else to package it together, give it a new name, and then offer it for free on the App Store? If so, that could be a way around.
- icebraining 10y agoNo, because you can't distribute GPLv3 licensed apps on the iOS App Store (the Store imposes restrictions that the GPL doesn't let you impose).
- captainmuon 10y agoThis I never understood, GPL doesn't allow you to impose the restrictions the app store requires, right? Can't you just supply every user with a second copy of the software, which they are allowed to use under the GPL freedoms? Specifically, you get one copy from the app store that is restricted by Apple's license. You cannot install it on other devices, it doesn't give you the right to the source code, etc.. Apple is satisfied. Then you get another copy from the developer. It is compiled, but unsigned. You also get the source. You are free to install it on other devices [1]. GPL is satisfied because the person who recieved the first binary gets a binary they can run, and redistribute (although it is cumbersome and they have to sign it etc. to install - but again [1]). They also get the source. Wouldn't this work? [1] If this other devices allows it technically and legally - this restriction always applies. This is also the case if you have a GPL application that needs features from Windows Professional, but you only have a Home license. That doesn't mean you can't distribute the app under GPL.
- icebraining 10y agoYou can do that if you're the copyright owner of all the code (or have some kind of CLA granting your licensing rights). Then you can distribute the app under one license on the App Store and under the GPL somewhere else. But if you're the "someone else" who just got the code with the GPL license from the original devs, you can't redistribute it under any other license, hence the impossibility of putting it on the App Store.
- diggan 10y ago> that iOS apps only have two wide-distribution models: paid, with Apple, on the App Store, or open-source and, by that nature, free. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think that's true. Just because it's open source doesn't mean it's free, it just means that technical users could, if wanted, compile it from source. But, especially with iOS apps, this is not even true since you do need to have a developer license and a Mac to be able to compile and run it on an actual iPhone. So in reality, while this is open source, only developers who pay Apple, are able to install this application, even if it's open source.
- cocktailpeanuts 10y agoHere's the correction you asked for :) You don't need developer account to build XCode projects on your phone anymore, you can just sign in with your Apple account and sideload it.
- sushid 10y agoAnd resign it on your computer every 7 days? Not exactly a walk in the park.
- cocktailpeanuts 10y agoMaybe I'm missing something but what do you mean? As far as I know you don't have any restriction. The only restriction is that you can't submit the result to the app store.
- houli 10y agoFrom my experience apps only need to be re-signed once every 90 days. Not quite as much of a hassle but still one nonetheless
- rahimnathwani 10y agoIt used to be 90 days, but AFAIK it's now 7 days if you don't have a paid subscription (1 year if you do). Also there's a 10-app limit. I discovered this recently as I wanted to install Kodi on my iPad. I'm not an iOS developer, and can't bring myself to pay an annual subscription just so I can install open source software on my own device.
- LukaD 10y agoAnd for non mac users compiling iOS is not only difficult but also impossible without going through the pain of setting up a macOS vm. I guess I won't be updating dash on my iPhone anytime soon.
- mahyarm 10y agoI guess a brew cask package might be able to make it easy, along with ios-deploy
- hs86 10y agoI am not the author but here is a similar app for Android users. Previously it was a paid app but now it is free. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lovelyhq.android.lovelydocs https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lovelyhq.a...
- on_and_off 10y agoI have already tried this kind of app and I feel a bit stupid : I don't understand the use case. In which situation do people read documentation on their phone ?
- egwynn 10y agoIt's not well documented online, but if you use Dash on Mac, then you can set up an iOS device as a 'Remote', which lets you use your phone/tablet as a second screen for documentation, which you control from your Mac. I think that's the primary usage scenario.
- on_and_off 10y agoahhh I see, thank you ! It makes sense that way.. I was wondering why would anybody really need that much to look at documentation while on the go.
- dunham 10y agoI occasionally use it on my iPad as an extra screen. It's also useful while on a plane. The desktop version if coding, or iPad if I just want to browse docs to learn a new API or something. But, to be honest, I rarely use the iOS version.
- johansch 10y agoSo this is the Romanian guy who was called out for blaming his "family member" for spamming the app store with paid ratings of his apps, while using his bank account for the Apple Developer connection? ... All after pretending to be innocent and causing many, many developers to rally for him, without knowing he manipulated them? How about we just ignore him and don't continue to reward him with attention?
- 4ad 10y ago> So this is the Romanian guy What relevance does it have that he is Romanian?
- johansch 10y agoWhy is it an issue to mention someone's nationality? Do you have perhaps have any pre-conceived ideas around that particular nationality? (Edited out things that should not be offensive, but could be perceived as such.)
- heisenbit 10y agoWhat victims were there? My understanding is that there was some game playing with two accounts violating the terms of service. The affected relationship was developer - Apple and Apple has asserted itself here. There was also to the degree I know some misrepresentation of the conflict by the developer. Afaik. this has not gone to court and both developer and Apple seemed to want to stop talking about it. I believe we should respect this. As we also should respect the nationality and contribution of developers giving away something for free.
- johansch 10y agoAnyone who has used the Apple Appstore is fractionally speaking the loser/victim - he spammed it. Do you ever wonder what the appstore would be like without spam bullshit? How quality software studios could make money instead of some hack like this buying ratings from a third-party on cookie cutter apps?
- fbnlsr 10y agoDoes that mean that we could see an open source free alternative for MacOS too?
- ChrisLTD 10y agoWhy? Dash is still for sale on Mac through the web.
- nkjoep 10y agoI stopped using Dash long time ago. http://devdocs.io/ http://devdocs.io/ is enough for me.
- ihuman 10y agoIs there a way to open devdocs with a shortcut like Dash?
- nkjoep 10y agoThey suggest this plugins (http://devdocs.io/about http://devdocs.io/about): - Chrome web app - Sublime Text plugin - Atom plugin - Brackets extension - Emacs Package
- twodayslate 10y agoNeeds a PopClip plugin.
- nathancahill 10y agoPopClip is awesome. Doesn't get enough love on here. It has a lot of parallels to the new Touch Bar, will be cool to see if he can do anything to integrate with it.
- broderboy 10y agoCan't beat using Alfred to search Dash from anywhere
- Gabriel_Martin 10y agoSeconded, you can even build your own docs super easily
- KingMob 10y agoYup, just make a custom search for "http://devdocs.io/#q={query}" http://devdocs.io/#q={query}".
- ihuman 10y agoI'm happy to see that he was able to make it open source and under GPL3. I wonder if the developer will be responding to issues and pull requests, since those are open for this repo.
- urza 10y agoThis is not related to Dash cryptocurrency I suppose? https://www.dash.org/ https://www.dash.org/ Dash (the cryptocurrency) has an iOS app, that has not been approved by Apple[1].. I wonder if it is related because of the name. 1: https://dashpay.atlassian.net/wiki/display/DOC/Download+-+Install+-+Guide https://dashpay.atlassian.net/wiki/display/DOC/Download+-+In...
- AsyncAwait 10y agoNope, it's an offline API docs browser.
- wineisfine 10y agoNice that he did opensourced it. I personally never understood why this tool was so popular to start off with though. I often found myself using the original doc sites instead.
- AsyncAwait 10y agoIf you work with more than one language, going to all the sites constantly may be a problem. Also, dash let you search for i.e. the class and then within the class public interface with just a spacebar. Plus, it is a native app that you can launch quickly without having to search for the particular browser tab where you current docs is open.
- Aldo_MX 10y agoWhen you have a fast and stable internet connection you hardly appreciate how useful it is to read offline docs. When you don't, it is a godsend.
- ddrmaxgt37 10y agothis. I use it on the airplane with some libraries that have online only docs
- girvo 10y agoDefinitely. When I got the train from the Gold Coast to Brisbane (1 hour, with really spotty phone coverage) it was my life-saver!
- ssalazar 10y agoLoads instantly, + for Mac/iOS docs it is way more stable and usable than Xcode's docs browser.
- alexpersian 10y agoIt's enormously useful to have all your documentation available in a single place. Along with that, the sidebar makes finding relevant methods and properties very easy.
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- joeblau 10y agoI applaud him for doing this. I'm sure he's spent a lot of time building this product and to open source it is pretty awesome. I've seen lots of other products I like just disappear after they are taken down.
- fnord123 10y agoA similar program on Linux (or, I guess many platforms) is Zeal: https://zealdocs.org/ https://zealdocs.org/ It's alright.
- voltagex_ 10y agoI've used it on Windows - unfortunately it created so many files in one structure I was unable to remove the folder with Windows Explorer.
- partycoder 10y agoZeal can use Dash docsets automatically.
- gigatexal 10y agoReally unfortunate Apple got rid of such a useful app. Oh well it was saved by open source.
- wkoszek 10y agoI think it's an apology :) Regardless, I've happily paid for it and I'm a user.
- rsfinn 10y agoOh, lord, I hate to be That Guy, but it looks like Bogdan has included an older version of Gus Mueller's FMDB library <https://github.com/ccgus/fmdb> https://github.com/ccgus/fmdb> but has failed to include a copy of the MIT License that governs them. Probably just an oversight, but...
- heinz 10y agoYou obviously love to be That Guy, otherwise you would have notified Bogdan via an issue tracker or in private, wouldn't you.
- hobarrera 10y agoI'd never seen this before, but it sounds a lot like `zeal`, the desktop app https://zealdocs.org/ https://zealdocs.org/ Upside of Zeal, is that desktop is usually more comfortable for developers.