Publishing Open Source via Cocoapods.org

Using Swift
1

If some one could point me in the right direction I'd be really happy ...

I guess my question is two-fold:

  1. When publishing an open source swift framework, are the respective documentation + stats of the pod on cocoapods.org still relevant? Does anybody still discover cocoapods via their site or do you typically find new pods/frameworks via github anyway?

  2. The different stats of my pod on cocoapods.org are non-existent (like those from cocoadocs) or totally outdated. CocoaDocs is dead and Cocoapods has 166 open issues, now I don't even know where to start: Whom can I ask how to fix the stats and where?

I appreciate any hint or guiding remark :slight_smile:

2

CocoaPods is still my first destination when searching for new libraries. Google may help find things on GitHub but CocoaPods is very specific.

If you think your stats are incorrect, report an issue, that’s the only way to fix it.

1 Like
3

If you think your stats are incorrect, report an issue, that’s the only way to fix it.

Mh, that seems reasonable but also doesn't quite fit into the picture that I see:

I found many similar issues on at least 3 repos in the cocoapods organization, but i'm not entrenched deeply enough to understand what's what. Overall, it seems to me that filing issue number 167 in the main cocoapods repo won't do much...

These stats are the main reason for me to visit cocoapods.org since they allow to compare frameworks in more ways than github. But since this basic feature is broken for many users and repos since at least one year, I get the impression that either I missed out on some essential parts of the story or cocoapods is dropping off (or mis-directing efforts?).

I guess I have to patiently come to terms with the fact that there is no simple fix ;)

4

Usage stats are the least useful bit of info CocoaPods provides, since the same info is generally represented as GitHub stars or whatnot. I find their quality ratings and summary project info (last release date) far more useful.

But in any event, I’m not sure what you expect here. CocoaPods is a massive undertaking maintained by only a few people. If you don’t report issues, or at least comment on the existing ones, I’m not sure how you expect the situation to improve.

5

Yet those stats are outdated and therefore misleading. And those quality related metrics (that cocoadocs should retrieve) have always been blank:

"cocoadocs": {
    "install_size":null,
    "total_files":null,
    "total_comments":null,
    "total_lines_of_code":null,
    "doc_percent":null,
    "readme_complexity":null,
    "initial_commit_date":null,
    "rendered_readme_url": "http://cocoadocs.org.s3.amazonaws.com/docsets/...",
    "created_at":null,
    "updated_at":null,
    "license_short_name":"MIT",
    "license_canonical_url":"https://api.github.com/licenses/mit","total_test_expectations":null,
    "dominant_language":null,
    "quality_estimate":0,
    "builds_independently":false,
    "is_vendored_framework":false,
    "rendered_changelog_url":null,
    "rendered_summary":null,
    "spm_support":false
}

Alright thanks, then I think I have a better feel for the time scale and scope of the problem :smile:

6

So it seems there are 3 related repos. All have similar issues, many of which should be duplicates although they're not marked as such:

From previous teams and taking the temperature on reddit, it seems people don't really use the cp stats anymore and are more and more migrating to Carthage and SPM. Excited to see where this goes ...

7

The best place for CP issues of any kind is the main repo, not the site repos. Given the limited labor available, I think you’d get the most attention there.

As for alternatives, SPM is still unsuitable for anything but maybe macOS or Linux development, and I’ve always found Carthage to be strangely limited. Neither provide the discoverability of CocoaPods nor its fully integrated functionality.

I’m not sure what you’re looking for here. CocoaPods is still my go to for open source publishing and discovery, which nothing else provides.

1 Like
8

Thanks for your input! I need input most when I'm overwhelmed and not even sure how to ask ;) But I have a better feel for the situation now. Also, @orta answered on github and explained that basically all stats have been or should be sunsetted.

For cocoapod publishers this means: You don't have to worry about ranking, quality metrics or stats on cocoapods.org. At all. :slight_smile: