That's a step backwards - it does it on my N800.

Any idea why this functionality was removed?

Not unless the 'Red-Pill' mode is enabled. In 'Red-Pill' mode, the option 'Install from file' becomes available in the Application Manager. Selecting this opens the File-Manager.

Of course, this should only be used by people who know what they are doing.

To encourage people to install apps the "proper" way, i.e. via repositories. Advanced users can still use dpkg -i.

Thanks for the replies!

Installing .deb files manually and looking for those dependencies were kinda frustrating on my debian install, especially because I never found them :P

I think I will just share my pc's internet temporary from a bluetooth or wlan stick. But still a windows app for downloading these programs would probably be helpful for a lot of people like me.

Does the .install file for card_install (here) support dependency checking?
Also does it work for installing from any folder or just auto install from the MMC card?

If it supported dependency checking or at least install from any folder it could be a workaround for people who have a small project without enough users to justify releasing to extras.

I haven't tested any of this but an example could be to tell users to download the .deb to folder "~/MyDocs/install" and have a .install file

[card_install]
card_catalogues = install
packages = my_app

[repo]
file_uri = install
dist = ~/MyDocs/

This is relevant for me because I have an app that at the release is only going to be of interest to and have around 10 - 15 users of varying technical ability (web text application for only Irish operators). To get 10 karma for pushing the app to extras would take a while but I'd like to get it to users fairly quickly.

I'd prefer not to tell people who might not be technical, to have to, enable the testing repository, enable red pill mode to install from file, or use xterm to install using dpkg -i. As it would be easier to say download the file to a certain directory and then click on this link.

Just to note, my app is already optified and I plan to test it on an actual device before releasing it.