ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Nekhelesh Ramananthan <krnekhelesh@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey everyone,

During the sprint at Malta, we were given new designs for the clock app. It
introduces a new mode called the "*Night Mode*" where the user can use the
phone as a clock stand. In the Night Mode, the clock app will show a basic
clock with all other UI elements hidden and also use a dark background. It
is however important that the screen remains on all the time. I still need
to confirm with design, how long they want the screen to be on. As I
understand, currently it is not possible for an app to request the screen
to be on. I discussed this with Jamie Strandboge and Jim Hodapp. I was told
that the media-hub makes dbus calls to powerd to keep the screen on when a
video is being played on the phone. So I am hoping we can do something
similar for the clock app.

Jamie informed me that 3rd apps cannot make direct calls to powerd while
being confined. So there are some options that come to mind,

   - Let the clock app run unconfined to make direct calls to powerd. This
   was also done by the music-app until recently when they switched to
   music-hub. It is not the ideal situation as advised by Jamie.
   - Create a restricted policy group which allows making calls to powerd.
   - Implement a intermediary (power-hub) in between confined apps and
   powerd

The best temporary solution may be the restricted policy group in my
opinion. However I feel that the 3rd solution might be a better option in
the long run since 3rd apps might like to have that control as well.

Hopefully we can discuss here what other solution are available and come to
a resolution soon.

Cheers,
Nekhelesh