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Re: Lintian check for missing desktop files?



On Thu, 3 Mar 2011 09:27:53 +0100
Andreas Tille <andreas@an3as.eu> wrote:

> as I explained on Debian Med list[1] the existence of a desktop file is
> nearly as relevant as a manpage for a good user experience for users who
> are not that addicted to the command line as most of us are.  I have not
> made any stats how many packages with applications which deserve a
> desktop file to show up in UIs implementing the freedesktop.org
> specification but I think I'm not wrong if I roughly estimate it with
> "below 50%".  In cases like this a lintian check has leaded to
> interesting results (see "missing manpage").  While I'm not a lintian
> expert I'd consider the following criterion as reasonable for a check
> 
>   * package has a file in /usr/bin
>   * package name does not match '^lib' or '-doc$'
>   * package has dependencies from "typical" libraries for
>     freedesktop.org implementing interfaces which are for instance
>     - libgnome2-0
>     - libkdeui5
>     - libxfce4ui-1-0
>     - libgtk-3-0
>     - libqtgui4
>     - ...
>     Please excuse if my choice of the libraries is not optimal - I'm
>     not an expert in this field but I hope you get the idea.
>   * No file /usr/share/applications/*.desktop in the package
> 
> If all these criterions are fullfilled a lintian warning about a missing
> desktop file could (should (!) IMHO) be issued.

What happened to the idea that debian/menu files can be converted to
desktop files, maybe not during package build but as a tool for
maintainers?

Do we have any idea how many packages would trigger this new check?
(and how many of those do have debian/menu files?)

My particular concern is that debian/menu is not as easily translatable
as desktop files. The "title" displayed in whatever menu is used should
always be translatable IMHO.

-- 


Neil Williams
=============
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/

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