R: [desktop] webmin or Ximian Setup Tools?
> > I read about the Debian Desktop project and I think it's good.
> > > What sounds strange to me is this phrase:
> > >
> > > "... The "desktop" flavor could then install webmin."
> > >
> > > In my opinion webmin is more useful in a server
> installation whilst
> > > Ximian-Setup-Tools are best suited for a desktop system.
> >
>
> I think you're both missing the point a little. While the
> current range
> of webmin modules are indeed server-centric, there is no reason why
> desktop type tasks could not be handled by the webmin framework. It's
> just a matter of writing or packaging the right modules. the
> main point
> is it provides a palatform and desktpo environment independent GUI.
Yep, but I think a desktop (not server) user doesn't care that much about "independent GUI" (good, instead, for server users) if it differs from his GUI of choice. A desktop user expects to find and use the desktop tools consistently with the way his desktop environment uses to.
>From this point of view it's right for KDE and GNOME to have different interfaces to accomplish the same tasks. KDE users will be happy to have configuration tools in their control center, with their theme applied and with the usability conventions adopted by KDE. GNOME users will be happy to have configuration tools that could be integrated with their nautilus view or their control center, with their GTK theme applied and with consistent icons.
The front-end should be consistent with the desktop environment of choice so it doesn't create confusion to the user. It sounds very good if we could use webmin as back-end for various desktops front-ends, but this is useful only if webmin itself creates an abstraction layer between various linux/UNIX distributions. GNOME Setup Tools uses XML to store configuration data which could then be processed by various back-ends to configure various flavors of UNIXes.
To me this seems to be a very good use of XML and a clean architecture. People from KDE and GNOME should have some discussions about this. This could solve in an elegant way our problem.
Gianluca Sartori
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