On 2008-07-10, Bill Allombert wrote: > On Wed, Jul 09, 2008 at 01:11:54PM +0200, cobaco (aka Bart Cornelis) wrote: > > On 2008-07-09, Chris Waters wrote: > > > On Wed, Jul 09, 2008 at 09:05:11AM +0200, cobaco (aka Bart Cornelis) > > > > wrote: > > > > -> AFAIK there's no fundamental reason why Debian couldn't switch > > > > from menu to .desktop to specify the desktop entries (aside from > > > > the necessary coding not having been done to adapt menu to do so) > > I disagree with that statement. I provided sufficient rationale in the > past, so I will only give some example: menu support dynamically > generated menu entries (using executable menu files) in the default > configuration. AFAIK that's indeed something .desktop files can't do, thanks for pointing that out. Is there some summary of earlier discussion somewhere I can go read, if not can you give me a pointer to the discussion itself? > > > Debian menu files specify things that .desktop files don't and (in > > > their current incarnation) can't. Most notably, the "needs" field. > > > The .desktop files have a simple boolean flag for "runs in terminal". > > > That's inadequate for Debian's needs. For example, Fvwm modules > > > *must* be invoked by Fvwm. It would be pointless and stupid to put > > > them in any menu but Fvwm's. So, the Fvwm modules need "fvwmmodule", > > > not "text" or"x11". That's simply not possible with .desktop files. > > > > The OnlyShowIn field of .desktop files, is meant exactly for the above > > use > > It does not: the XDG draft specify the value for OnlyShowIn: these are > Desktop Menu Specification, Annex B. Registered OnlyShowIn Environments more completely (from [1]) Appendix B, Registered OnlyShowIn Environments enumerates the strings to use for some common environments. > this list does not include FVWM. So that's not an exhaustive list, just a list of currently Registered values > I disagree with using .desktop files for something outside the XDG > menu specifications. I disagree with using Debian-specific extension to > the XDG menu specifications for using them outside the XDG menu > specifications. This will only lead to confusion between real .desktop > files and Debian specific .desktop files. Freedesktop [2] describes the specification of.desktop as: Desktop Entry specification describing information about an application such as the name, icon, and description. These files are used for application launchers and for creating menus of applications that can be launched. Given that, I fail to see how using .desktop files to describe menu entries is in any way outside the XDG-specification? Especially since the actual layout based on those .desktop files is something freedesktop explicitly leaves up to distribution/administrator .desktop not being flexible enough is of course another mather entirely. [1]http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/menu-spec-1.0.html [2]http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications?action=show&redirect=Standards -- Cheers, cobaco (aka Bart Cornelis)
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