Re: custom branding and CDDs
On Sun, 2004-10-03 at 01:55 +0200, Sergio Talens-Oliag wrote:
> That's something we should try to change in Debian, IMHO it makes no sense
> to be forced to create a binary package just because you need to change a
> configuration or a data file.
Agreed.
> Yes, but then you can't have two different brandings installed, and I see no
> reason not to be able to do it.
Yes, but our goal was to give the custom distro builder a way to brand
the distro, i.e., to specify the default themes etc. There are already
mechanisms for users to change the themes etc. after the user has
logged in for the first time. Since our goal was just default branding,
only one default will ever be installed at any given time, though many
different alternatives themes may be. Now, if we want to expand this
to provide a "meta-themeing" mechanism of sorts,
then we certainly want to support having multiple branding installed.
> Why not installing themes in their directory and have a configuration
> variable that says to which directory must /usr/share/gdm/themes/default
> point to?
That's certainly a better permanent solution.
The main advantage of the current CL mechanism is that it's a two line
patch, so for the period of time in which we have to maintain the forked
package, it's far easier for us to apply the patch to newer versions of
the gdm package as they are released--less chance of patch failures etc.
> I feel that the right solution is to make the gdm *brandable* using debconf,
> simply adding a hidden question to change the default theme on /etc/gdm.conf
> (it's default value can be whatever the debian maintainer likes), allowing
> the CDDs and adminstrators to chage it using dpkg-reconfigure.
>
> Using this mechanism you only have to install your theme and if you want it
> to be the default you only have to pre-seed debconf with this value on the
> CDD's installation system.
>
> For already installed systems you can include a script in your branding
> package to let the administrator change the debconf answers and
> dpkg-reconfigure the affected packages.
>
> In fact this kind of script can be writen to be used by all CDDs, simply
> making it use configuration files included on the CDD branding packages,
> probably installed in /usr/share/cdd/CDD_NAME/ and with optional changes
> made by the administrator in /etc/cdd/CDD_NAME/.
I like it.
By the way, if we're going to extend gdm to support debconf
configuration, there are two more variables I found last night that
influence branding: BackgroundColor, which is the background color shown
as the login splash screen is displayed (we want to change the color
to better match the login splash image); and GtkRC and GtkTheme, which
is the theme used by the windows GDM creates to change language etc.).
> > Note also that this is just another instance of the CDD configuration
> > problem (i.e., if we could provide our own gdm.conf without violating
> > Debian policy, the problem would be solved). Fortunately, we've been
> > able to solve most custom branding issues without having to resort to
> > this mechanism, but that may be because we've been dealing mostly with
> > Gnome, which provides an excellent infrastructure for decoupling the
> > software from the configuration via the gconf system. In the absence of
> > a new configuration framework that separates software from configuration
> > on a system-wide basis in Debian though, there will always be cases
> > where we'll have to deal with this issue, so I think we need to provide
> > a mechanism for doing things like this, at least in the medium term.
>
> Well, I belive that the way to support branding depends on the configuration
> systems in use; when it can be done changing values inside configuration
> files of the packages, I would like to be able to do it using hidden debconf
> questions.
>
> [...]
Interesting thoughts. I've been thinking about the configuration issue
for a long time, and will post some thoughts about it here when I have
some more time.
--
Ian Murdock
317-578-8882 (office)
http://www.progeny.com/
http://ianmurdock.com/
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of." --Ogden Nash
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