Now. Here is the problem regarding distribution: 

First, `GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR` is missing in patch here. It was there in https://bug848604.bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=725163, I am not sure if you have intentionally remove the fix. We would need to include that to establish v1.0.1 requirement on this bug.

Second, I tend to agree with you that at first look, put app path in the config makes more sense. However, it would in turn hurt our ability to work with distribution. The expectation is (not listed [here](https://wiki.mozilla.org/B2G/MarketCustomizations#Explanations) because it have not implemented -- my apologies) that `$GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR/apps.json` will overwrite, not merge with the (demo/default/dogfood) app config. This will inevitably prevent us to define 1 working dir for entries in the config: is `apps/browser` referring to `$GAIA/apps/browser`, or `$GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR/apps/browser` if the `$GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR` is present?

To counter the problem above, @yurenju and I proposed that we should only refer the app by its dirname in the config entry, e.g. `browser`. We will alternatively kept the `SRCDIR` parameter, but we should have it work like `$PATH` (maybe even rename it to `$GAIA_APPDIR_PATH`): build script will attempt to find the app in all the SRCDIR listed, and return error if it couldn't find it. It will work like this:

      GAIA_APPDIR_PATH=$GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR/apps:$GAIA/apps:$GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR/showcase_apps

in which `$GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR` could overwrite all apps just like, say, `homebrew` overwrites built-in OSX commends.

Tell me if that make sense to you or not.