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Re: Desktop Entry Standard replacement for Debian menu?



On Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 09:32:02PM -0600, Chris Cheney wrote:
> I noticed there is a Desktop Entry Standard that is used in Gnome
> (2.0?) and KDE.  It looks like it could be very useful as a replacement
> for Debian's current menu system and is not distribution specific.
> 
> http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/desktop-entry-spec/desktop-entry-spec.html

First, I agree that a non-distribution-specific way of specifying menu entries
would be a good thing for Debian.  Just look at the mess that the Debian KDE
menus are in and you'll see why.

Second, you are comparing oranges and apples.  Debian's menu system does
more than just provide a way of specifying desktop-neutral menu entries.
It provides the mechanism for implementing the same set of menus across
all wms.  The Desktop Entry Standard, however, does none of that.  It
is just a standard.  The implementation is left as an exercise to the
reader.

So the question is not whether this should replace Debian's menu system, but
rather if menu should support the Destkop Entry Standard.  I think it should.
If there are features that menu supports that the standard doesn't (e.g.
hinting), we could:

a) discuss with the standards group an extension of the standard that meets
   our needs

b) decide to use our own private extensions to the standard

c) decide that to drop the unsupported feature

Ben
-- 
    nSLUG       http://www.nslug.ns.ca      synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
    Debian      http://www.debian.org       synrg@debian.org
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