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Re: Applications menu for Fvwm



Christian Linhart:
> Additionally, install-menu can enter the menu-entries into a database

The current name is /etc/X11/fvwm2/menus.dat.

> * What information should be provided to install-menu ?
>   This must be enough information such that all window managers
>   are happy with it.

At least:

	unique ID (to make removal and upgrades etc easier)
	which menu or submenu the entry should be in
	entry text
	entry mini-icon, if any (shouldn't be mandatory; all my
		examples use "none" so far)
	command to invoke program

As it happens, these are what install-fvwm2menu requires. All but
the last part are generic. The command sort of has to be window
manager specific, if we want to allow entries to use commands internal
to the WM manager, and we really do want it. This is a problem if
we want a generic interface, but it could be solved by having a
the generic install-menu get just the shell command, and use
the WM specific install-fvwm2menu (or whatever) when we need something
WM specific commands.

> * Interaction with dpkg, e.g., should install-menu be integrated
>   into dpkg ?

Probably yes.

> * Should we use the package section as the name of the menu ?
>   (This will be more consistent and thus probably easier for the user)

No. Most people will install only one mail reader and one news reader.
Submenus Mail and News with only one entry are stupid and we should
make their likelyhood lower. This is why I have suggested the following
structure (the following is from a private mail, however):

 	Apps		-- all normal apps
 	  Editors	-- editors (run it in xterm, if nothing else)
 	  Games		-- games and recreations
 	  Net		-- mail, news, web, irc
 	  Programming	-- debuggers, etc
 	  Tools		-- other tools: xterm, rxvt, xcalc, ...
 	System		-- system administration
 	X		-- screen savers, Fvwm modules, etc

We can add more cateogories below Apps, as needs be, but that should
be enough to get started. We should avoid making more categories,
since we don't want to have too many entries in the main menu
(the user probably wants to add some of his own, especially since
install-fvwm2menu works for users too, though the changes made are
for her only).

> * Who writes it ? 

I did the first cut for install-fvwm2menu, Austin rewrote it and
fixed it. For other window managers, someone else has to do the work. ;)

However, the generic parts can be taken from install-fvwm2menu.

-- 
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