answered
2014-02-22 15:50:27 +0200
Currently you cannot do this kind of configuration provisioning in Jolla, but here is a suggestion for Jolla / Sailfish / Mer developers to consider.
The best benchmark for configuration provisioning in the mobile platform market is currently iOS. For iOS it is possible to create configuration packages for iOS devices with either Apple Configurator or by creating and packaging the same kind of XML configurations with own tools. These configuration packages can then be synced directly to device, sent by email or provided from the web server as configuration packages. When iOS device downloads or receives a configuration package it will then ask the user to accept and install it. Within the configuration package there can be configurations for device policies, WiFi configurations, additional root certificates, email server settings etc. -- all kinds of "difficult" things that can now be configured automatically with the help of configuration packages.
My suggestion is that Jolla would follow the iOS model, but do it a bit more openly than Apple does it. The configuration package format and the configurations inside them should we openly specified and documented so that any service providers or app developers could write for example a software or service to give system administrators, it support and advanced users an UI to create configuration packages. These configuration packages would then have a defined MIME type, which would be handled by a configuration manager in the Jolla / Sailfish device. The configuration package could now be transferred via email or via WWW browser, but as it would have its own MIME type, the configuration package could be dispatched to a registered handler -- e.g. Jolla Configuration Manager. The configuration manager would then handle converting the configurations, certificates etc. in the configuration package to actual device configuration and settings the parameters, transferring certificates etc. properly inside the device.
With this approach alread the problem of client, server, CA certificate, enterprise WiFi configuration, email and instant messaging configuration, private CA certificates etc. could be solved in a scalable fashion and without bothering the end user with difficult configurations tasks.
