Bug#707851: debian-policy: soften the wording recommending menu files

[Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>]

Le Mon, May 13, 2013 at 10:02:50AM +0200, Josselin Mouette a écrit :
> Le dimanche 12 mai 2013 à 16:06 -0700, Russ Allbery a écrit : 
> > Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org> writes:
> > > How about simply “not useful as a standalone application”?
> > 
> > That sounds great to me.
> 
> Here is a new proposed wording with all your suggestions.

Thanks Josselin for your suggestions !

I would like to integrate it while keeping the instructions about the
Debian menu and the mailcap entries.  Here is my proposition.

9.6 : Packages should support at least one of the FreeDesktop and the Debian
      menu system.

9.6.1: The FreeDesktop menu system.  Mostly the suggestion from Sune and
       Josselin.  I would like to add a brief word or a footnote on forwarding the
       entries upstream whenever possible.  For the layout, I think that
       the Desktop Menu Specification is clear enough, and the current practice
       is to let each Desktop system implement it freely, rather than aiming
       at a unified structure like with the Debian menu system.

9.6.2: The Debian menu system.  I do not agree with the use of "legacy", because
       it does not give guidance on what to do (support or not), and because
       in the current context, it has a negative connotation.  I would like
       to keep most of the current text, and clarify with Bill about triggers
       (#707888), as for the moment I do not understand what the problem is.

9.7 : Packages should use destop files unless their entry can only be expressed
      in the mailcap format.  This proposition is not the current practice.
      I intend to give the example (and possibly find corner cases) with the
      mime-support package.  I propose to patch the policy in Git with a "should",
      and review before publishing how packages are evolving in that direction
      (a Lintian warning would probably help, if we can detect which mailcap
      entries can certainly be translated to FreeDesktop entries).

9.7.1: The FreeDesktop menu system: Josselin's text.  I would like to add
       a recommendation to declare media types to the IANA, which is upstream
       of shared-mime-info.  I would also prefer to give an example where
       the media type does not start witn "x-".

9.7.2: The mailcap entries, for when something can not be expressed in a
       Desktop entry.

For media types, there is at least one more provider: the 'file' package.  I
wonder if there is something to mention there, or if it is more relevant for
other guides.

Have a nice day,

-- 
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan