Shutting down the GPS web service (and removing it from Subsurface apps)

[Jan Mulder]

On 9/8/18 5:46 PM, Dirk Hohndel wrote:
> 
> Clearly this isn't something we'll do overnight. But I think it's 
> something we should plan to phase out over the next few months.
> 
> - the companion apps are gone from the mobile stores, the mobile apps 
> have replaced them

Hmm. Just checked, and its still in the Google Play store, with remarks 
as legacy, not supported any more, replaced by, etc. Not sure about the 
Apple store.

> - uploading to the webservice from the mobile app is kinda weird, much 
> easier to just apply the fixes on device
> - our handling of the webservice ID is inconsistent, poorly designed, 
> and even more poorly documented. See 
> https://github.com/Subsurface-divelog/subsurface/issues/1648
> - still to this day people get confused with the GPS webservice and 
> cloud storage. At least once a month people send me password reset 
> requests and attach the webservice ID
> 
> So, here's what I'd like to do:
> 
> - remove support for downloading / applying GPS fixes from the 
> webservice in 4.8.2

4.8.2 seems a bit quick (depending on what the planning will be, but my 
impression is very soon). Ok, just removing the menu item, and the UI in 
the preferences (the magic webservice user ID) is easy to do, but a 
clean and full removal from the backend is likely to be more complex. 
So, I assume you are talking here (for 4.8.2) about UI mainly, right?

> - remove support for uploading to the webservice in future mobile apps

Seems fine to me.

> - announce that we're shutting this down
> - at the end of this year, turn off the server and archive the data

Yes, logical.

> 
> Comments, thoughts, suggestions?

Just a question, as I'm not familiar with Apple stuff in any way. GPS 
logging was a problem for our c/c++/Qt/QML based app on iOs. I assume 
this is fixed and something from the past?

And a thought. The future solution on mobile needs also to work without 
cloud account.

--jan