Re: [gentoo-dev] Session/.desktop WM compatibility, DM unification

[Dan Armak <danarmak@gentoo.org>]

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On Monday 27 March 2006 16:55, foser wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-03-27 at 00:03 +0200, Dan Armak wrote:
> <snip>
>
> > ===== Bugs overview (probably missed some): =====
> >
> > #89870: long story, summary: .desktop files are installed in different
> > places. KDE only reads the KDE ones, Gnome only the Gnome ones (and both
> > use a small common set).
>
> This doesn't really fit in the WM/DM issue afaics. The fact just is that
> the alternative installations roots Gentoo KDE uses aren't dealt with in
> the eg. the menu config files.
It's not the only issue. Another issue is that non-KDE, e.g. Gnome, users (at 
least the #89870 submitter, and it seemed to me some other commenters agreed) 
don't want KDE apps in their menu. So even if there was just one KDE version  
and it was installed in /usr, there would be a problem.

Cf the original #89870 bugreport and comments starting at #38.

Assume the install prefix problem is fixed somehow. What items are displayed 
in each WM's menu?

Option 1: KDE only displays KDE apps, Gnome only Gnome apps. How do we decide 
what is displayed in both ('neutral' apps)? Can the user edit the menu, and 
include some things we don't include by default, in a WM-neutral way? What 
should WMs other than KDE and Gnome display by default?

Option 2: always display everything. Problems: huge menu. KDE and Gnome and 
others use different categorization. A change of the status quo, so user 
community should get a chance to veto. And when using descriptions as primary 
menu text (e.g. 'Text editor' instead of 'kwrite'/'gedit') some KDE and Gnome 
programs have similar or identical descriptions, which looks bad to new 
users.

Either way, not just menu items are involved but all .desktop files. E.g., 
mimetype descriptions/icons/handlers/action for graphical file managers. And 
descriptions of various services, although I can't think of an example of 
crossdesktop use offhand.

> GDM has had just its own Xsession for a long time iirc. I think most
> functionality provided by these other X* files are login manager (xdm?)
> specific. The one real issue is Xsession.
Can anyone comment regarding entrance or any other DMs?

> > #14872: unifying DM session scripts, handling of ~/.xsession, etc. The
> > bug is closed but I think some things mentioned there haven't been fixed.
>
> This is sort of the same as #26326 .
OK. I thought I saw something unique there but can't find it now, I was 
probably wrong.

-- 
Dan Armak
Gentoo Linux developer (KDE)
Public GPG key: http://dev.gentoo.org/~danarmak/danarmak-gpg-public.key
Fingerprint: DD70 DBF9 E3D4 6CB9 2FDD  0069 508D 9143 8D5F 8951

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