[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Debian Menu transition status



Dear developers,

This is a status update for the Debian Menu transition.

0) /usr/lib/menu-> /usr/share/menu
<http://lintian.debian.org/reports/tags/menu-file-in-usr-lib.html>
There are still 48 packages with menu entries in /usr/lib/menu.
Please fix them. I will consider such packages NMU candidates.

1) About 60% of menu files had been updated to the new menu sections.
There are still 672 packages to update.
<http://lintian.debian.org/reports/tags/menu-item-creates-new-section.html>
<http://lintian.debian.org/reports/tags/menu-item-uses-apps-section.html>

However we do not need to fix them all for Lenny since menu has an
override file (/etc/menu-methods/translate_menus), but we need to
reduce the number of required overrides. 
The sections that need to be fixed soon:

Apps/Tools (removed): 143 entries.
Apps/Net   (split)  : 114 entries.
Apps/Science (split):  15 entries.
Apps/System         : 114 entries.

2) Some common mistakes to avoid:

  - Do not put menu entries _directly_ under Applications/Science,
    Applications/System and Applications/Network, but only in one of
    their subsections.

  - The longtitle need to be a valid menu entry if displayed alone,
    and must identify uniquely the program. For that reason, it is
    usually best if it includes the program name at the start, though
    acronyms can be expanded.
  
  - Even if your menu entry section still exist in the new hierarchy,
    maybe your menu entry would be better in one of the newly added
    section, e.g. Applications/Office or Applications/Video.

Full translations:
==================

1) The offer for full menu translation still stand. The current
PO template is at
<http://people.debian.org/~ballombe/menu/menu-messages.pot>
I need people to help me fix the menu strings so that
translated menus are useful.

Older transitions:
===================

1) /usr/sbin/su-to-root -> /usr/bin/su-to-root

Actually, please just use "su-to-root". There is no need to
hard-code the path.

2) /usr/sbin/install-menu -> /usr/bin/install-menu
There are still 3 packages using #! /usr/sbin/install-menu.
Please change to #! /usr/bin/install-menu for lenny.
I will consider such packages NMU candidates.

   If you did not migrate to the new structure already:
   ====================================================

What you should do:
===================

  Look up the new hierarchy in the menu manual [1] and update your
menu files to use the new hierarchy. The manual include example packages
for each sections.  A summary of change is provided below. If you are
not sure where to put your menu entry, please send an email to the
debian-policy list.

[1] http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/menu.html/ch3.html#s3.5

Thanks in advance with your effort in carrying out this transition.

REMOVED SECTIONS

Apps/Tools
Games/Sports
Screen/Root-window

SPLIT SECTIONS:
Apps/Net [now Applications/Network]
Apps/Science [now Applications/Science]
Apps/System  [now Applications/System]

NEW SECTIONS

Applications
  Accessibility [new]
  File Management [new]
  Mobile Devices [new]
  Network
     Network/Communication [new]
     Network/File Transfer [new]
     Network/Monitoring [new]
     Network/Web Browsing [new]
     Network/Web News [new]
  Office [new]
  Project Management [new]
  Science
     Science/Astronomy [new]
     Science/Biology [new]
     Science/Chemistry [new]
     Science/Data Analysis [new]
     Science/Engineering [new]
     Science/Geoscience [new]
     Science/Medicine [new]
     Science/Physics [new]
     Science/Social [new]
  System
     System/Hardware [new]
     System/Monitoring [new]
     System/Package Management [new]
     System/Security [new]
  TV and Radio [new]
  Video [new]
  Web Development [new]
Games
  Tools [new]
Window Maker [new]

RENAMED SECTIONS

Applications [was:Apps]
  Amateur Radio [was:Hamradio]
  Data Management [was:Databases]
  Network [was:Net]
  Science
     Science/Electronics [was:Technical]
     Science/Mathematics [was:Math]
  System
     System/Administration [was:Admin]
     System/Language Environment [was:Language-Environment]
  Terminal Emulators [was:XShells]
Games
  Action [was:Arcade]
  Blocks [was:Tetris-like]
Screen
  Saving [was:Save]
  Locking [was:Lock]
Window Managers [was:WindowManagers]
FVWM Modules [was:WindowManagers/Modules]

Others changes:
===============

-- Use this update as an opportunity to improve the title and the longtitle.
In particular, please capitalize them properly.
Translations of title and longtitle will be available if we reach a
sufficiently high quality.

-- Menu support a new format called "menu-2" since 8 years. In this
format lines break are not significant, but logical lines end by a
semi-comma:

This is an example:

!C menu-2
?package(pari-gp):
  section="Applications/Science/Mathematics"
  needs="text"
  title="PARI/GP"
  command="gp"
;

I do not have strong opinion about this format, but feel free to use it.
Since even potato support menu-2, there are no upgrade or backport
issue, however this might break the lintian code to parse menu file.

The only downside is that lintian does not reckognize it yet.

menu-2 is also available for menu-methods, through the definition
compat="menu-2". I highly recommend its use for menu-methods.

Cheers,
-- 
Bill. <ballombe@debian.org>

Imagine a large red swirl here. 

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Digital signature


Reply to: