Re: Debian packages and freedesktop.org (Gnome, KDE, etc) menu entries

[Marc Wilson <msw@cox.net>]

On Fri, Dec 05, 2003 at 12:57:53PM +0100, Mathieu Roy wrote:
> > Some or all of: twm, pdmenu, blackbox, afterstep, fluxbox, gtk-menu,
> > wmaker, fvwm2, enlightenment, etc, consult /etc/menu-methods for more.
> > There are dozens of programs that use the debian menus that would have
> > no reason to use the .desktop stuff.
> 
> Can you name the ones that are still developed in that list?

I couldn't pass this up:

twm         - admittedly, bug-fixes only
pdmenu      - this is a window manager?
blackbox    - alive and under current development
afterstep   - alive and under current development
fluxbox     - alive and under current development
gtk-menu    - this is a window manager?
wmaker      - alive and under current development
fvwm2       - alive and under current development
e           - well, there are CVS commits, call it what you will

I only see *one* window manager in that list that isn't alive (twm).
Enlightenment is, of course, debatable, and always has been. ^_^

Not that whether or not a package has a release every ten minutes or every
ten months has jack to do with whether or not it's useful software.

There are any number of other window managers that couldn't care less about
.desktop files, yet (a) provide menus, (b) are packaged in Debian.

> Why do you say that this programs would have no reason to use the
> .desktop stuff? What reasons would they have to use the Debian Menu
> instead?

They don't.  That simple data point seems to be missing from the entire
discussion.  They use their own internal menu formats.

Thus, we have the menu package, which takes *Debian's*
window-manager-independent menu entries, and creates for each of these
window managers something that they can digest in their own format.

Saying "Debian should provide .desktop files" is all well and good.
Perhaps it should even be encouraged.  But there is still a great need for
what the menu package does.

It's highly conceited to say that Debian would force anything *it* packaged
to comply with .desktop files upstream.  For many of these projects, they
have absolutely no reason to.

-- 
 Marc Wilson |     A freelance is one who gets paid by the word --
 msw@cox.net |     per piece or perhaps.  -- Robert Benchley