Bug#707851: Let's remove the Debian menu from the Debian Policy ?
Hi peoples
<fullquote at bottom>
I have the impression that most people seems to agree on something like this.
I think I might even stretch it and call it a 'rough consensus' with a couple
of people in the rough end of it.
Can we please move it forward?
Thanks
Sune
On Saturday 11 January 2014 11:46:10 Charles Plessy wrote:
> Hello everybody,
>
> I have read a lot of scepticism about the Debian menu in this thread, and no
> actual support for it. Perhaps I was trying to be too consensual and
> proposed an over-complicated solution while it is clear that the
> FreeDesktop system is superior.
>
> I attached a new patch, where the Debian menu is removed, and pasted below a
> text export of the 9.6 and 9.7 sections after application of the patch.
>
> Note that for the media types, there is some homework to do before
> recommending to replace all mailcap entries by desktop entries (with
> NoDisplay=true for command-line programs), so I am not proposing this for
> the moment (and welcome help with the “mime-support†package).
>
> I welcome your comments, but I am not calling for seconds (this is not a
> vote). Please if you make objections, indicate what are your stakes
> regarding the menu (user ? developer ? provider of entries ? etc.).
>
> 9.6. Menus
> ----------
>
> Packages shipping applications that comply with minimal requirements
> described below for integration with desktop environments should
> register these applications in the desktop menu, following the
> _FreeDesktop_ standard, using text files called _desktop entries_.
> Their format is described in the _Desktop Entry Specification_ at
> http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/ and
> complementary information can be found in the _Desktop Menu
> Specification_ at http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/.
>
> The desktop entry files are installed by the packages in the directory
> `/usr/share/applications' and the FreeDesktop menus are refreshed
> using _dpkg triggers_. It is therefore not necessary to depend on
> packages providing FreeDesktop menu systems.
>
> Entries displayed in the FreeDesktop menu should conform to the
> following minima for relevance and visual integration.
>
> * Unless hidden by default, the desktop entry must point to a PNG
> or SVG icon with a transparent background, providing at least the
> 22x22 size, and preferably up to 64x64. The icon should be
> neutral enough to integrate well with the default icon themes.
> It is encouraged to ship the icon in the default _hicolor_ icon
> theme directories, or to use an existing icon from the _hicolor_
> theme.
>
> * If the menu entry is not useful in the general case as a
> standalone application, the desktop entry should set the
> `NoDisplay' key to <true>, so that it can be configured to be
> displayed only by those who need it.
>
> * In doubt, the package maintainer should coordinate with the
> maintainers of menu implementations through the _debian-desktop_
> mailing list in order to avoid problems with categories or bad
> interactions with other icons. Especially for packages which are
> part of installation tasks, the contents of the
> `NotShowIn'/`OnlyShowIn' keys should be validated by the
> maintainers of the relevant environments.
>
> Since the FreeDesktop menu is a cross-distribution standard, the
> desktop entries written for Debian should be forwarded upstream, where
> they will benefit to other users and are more likely to receive extra
> contributions such as translations.
>
>
> 9.7. Multimedia handlers
> ------------------------
>
> Media types (formerly known as MIME types, Multipurpose Internet Mail
> Extensions, RFCs 2045-2049) is a mechanism for encoding files and data
> streams and providing meta-information about them, in particular their
> type and format (e.g. `image/png', `text/html', `audio/ogg').
>
> Registration of media type handlers allows programs like mail user
> agents and web browsers to invoke these handlers to view, edit or
> display media types they don't support directly.
>
> There are two overlaping systems to associate media types to programs
> which can handle them. The _mailcap_ system is found on a large
> number of Unix systems. The _FreeDesktop_ system is aimed at Desktop
> environments. In Debian, FreeDesktop entries are automatically
> translated in mailcap entries, therefore packages already using
> desktop entries should not use the mailcap system directly.
>
> 9.7.1. Registration of media type handlers with desktop entries
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Packages shipping an application able to view, edit or point to files
> of a given media type, or open links with a given URI scheme, should
> list it in the `MimeType' key of the application's desktop entry. For
> URI schemes, the relevant MIME types are `x-scheme-handler/*' (e.g.
> `x-scheme-handler/https').
>
> 9.7.2. Registration of media type handlers with mailcap entries
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Packages that are not using desktop entries for registration should
> install a file in mailcap(5) format (RFC 1524) in the directory
> `/usr/lib/mime/packages/'. The file name should be the binary
> package's name.
>
> The `mime-support' package provides the `update-mime' program, which
> integrates these registrations in the `/etc/mailcap' file, using dpkg
> triggers[1].
>
> Packages installing desktop entries should not install mailcap entries
> for the same program, because the `mime-support' package already reads
> desktop entries.
>
> Packages using these facilities _should not_ depend on, recommend, or
> suggest `mime-support'.
>
> [1] Creating, modifying or removing a file in `/usr/lib/mime/packages/'
> using maintainer scripts will not activate the trigger. In that case,
> it can be done by calling `dpkg-trigger --no-await
> /usr/lib/mime/packages' from the maintainer script after creating,
> modifying, or removing the file.
>
> 9.7.3. Providing media types to files
> -------------------------------------
>
> The media type of a file is discovered by inspecting the file's
> extension or its magic(5) pattern, and interrogating a database
> associating them with media types.
>
> To support new associations between media types and files, their
> characteristic file extensions and magic patterns should be registered
> to the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). See
> http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types and RFC 6838 for details.
> This information will then propagate to the systems discovering file
> media types in Debian, provided by the `shared-mime-info',
> `mime-support' and `file' packages. If registration and propagation
> can not be waited for, support can be asked to the maintainers of the
> packages mentioned above.
>
> For files that are produced and read by a single application, it is
> also possible to declare this association to the _Shared MIME Info_
> system by installing in the directory `/usr/share/mime/packages' a
> file in the XML format specified at
> http://standards.freedesktop.org/shared-mime-info-spec/latest/.
>
>
> Have a nice week-end,
--
I didn’t stop pretending when I became an adult, it’s just that when I was a
kid I was pretending that I fit into the rules and structures of this world.
And now that I’m an adult, I pretend that those rules and structures exist.
- zefrank
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