Re: Gnome-apt hmm
On Sat, 30 Jan 1999, Wichert Akkerman wrote:
>
> More troublesome is that I needed the install a whole bunch of new GNOME
> stuff and that broke a lot of others GNOME apps.. I couldn't even login
> anymore since the panel is broken now :(.
>
Alpha software!
> Anyway, here we go:
>
> * The about-box is horribly out of date
>
I need more details to fix this.
> * (import|export) packagelist don't work yet. They should be wrappers
> for dpkg --[gs]et-selections
>
Should this be in apt-pkg?
> * It might be more intuitive to make the details-pane dockable instead of
> having it both as a seperate window and in the main window
>
Yes; my problem is that I don't like the way the dock works; the removed
window does not have the right characteristics (not resizable, in
particular). I am not going to rewrite a new dock widget just to fix this.
So maybe a Gtk 1.4 feature.
> * You shouldn't need to be root to start gnome-apt and look at the packages
>
I don't think you have to be if you create a config file specifying an
alternate location for the files.
This is how I test the application:
Dir::Cache "/tmp";
Dir::State "/tmp";
Dir::State::status "/cvs/apt-cvs/tests/status/status1.hamm";
Debug::NoLocking "true";
gnome-apt itself does not care if you are root, but it will choke if
apt-pkg comes back with an error about not being able to lock the cache or
not being able to write files. So maybe Jason can give more info on how to
do this, specifically I don't know if there's a way to use your actual
status file.
Perhaps apt-pkg should have a way to explicitly be placed in read-only
mode; then gnome-apt could give user feedback to that effect.
> * You `Column Order' page in the Global Preferences is horribly non-intuitive.
This is a quick hack because I consider it an essential feature, and
dragging is a major PITA to implement (although recent versions of the
list widget may have it built in... let me look). Also I couldn't decide
how I wanted it. I like your suggestion, esp. the up/down buttons.
Anyway rest assured that it's not the final interface since I understand
how to use it and still don't like it.
> I suggest a listbox with the columns and it where the user can select
> a column and move it up and down either by dragging it or using up & down
> buttons. Something like this:
>
> +---------------------------------------------------+
> | +----------------------------------+ |
> | | Packagename | |
> | | Section | [ UP ] |
> | | Installed version | |
> | |>Install < | |
> | | Delete | [ DOWN ] |
> | | .... | |
> | | | |
> | +----------------------------------+ |
> | [ OK ] [ APPLY ] [ CLOSE ] [ HELP ] |
> +---------------------------------------------------+
>
Very nice.
> * There should be a minimum amount of whitespace between column in the
> packagelist to keep it more readable
>
I'm worried it would chew up valuable screen real estate. A pixel or two
would be OK though?
> * You need to clip column in the packagelist: right now they can overlap
> (simple way to reproduce this: mark libc6 for deletion and the new
> text in the status-column will be replaced with a longer string that
> overlaps the next couple of columns)
>
Oh, I see the problem. Thanks for the specific example. I'm not clipping
the red GC I was using to draw broken packages. Non-red text is clipped,
right?
> * You should only have to click once in the expand/collapse boxes
>
Yep.
> * The rectangles in the D/K/I columns are not very intuitive. I'm not sure
> that radio-buttons are the best solution either though.
>
Can you think of any other options?
> * It would be nicer to expand the first level of the package tree on startup;
> right now the list of letters & numbers is confusing.
>
Can do this, but it will make things slow down a little. I don't know if
it will be noticeable.
> * It would be nice if you could mark the row that starts a group (for example
> by giving it a grey background).
>
That's an idea. You mean the folder rows, right?
> * The text-widget used for the description is crap, but you already seem to
> know that :)
>
Yeah, yeah. :-) If it's any consolation, Owen Taylor is probably going to
rewrite it for Gtk 1.4 with Unicode support and all kinds of other stuff.
Someone could maybe hack a better display for the description... I don't
know. It is probably more trouble than it's worth but maybe it wouldn't be
that bad.
The best way to make it bearable is to resize the info pane/window so the
text widget is 80 columns, then you won't get the wrapping.
I need to add geometry saving to the Details window and save the info pane
width, this reminds me.
> * If I move the focus to a package that is related to anothe package (for
> example select perl after expanding cfengine) it would be nice if the
> details-pane gave the name of the relation; the icons are nice but if
> you don't know what they mean you are lost
>
Very good idea, and not hard to implement.
> * Clicking on a column header should change the sort order. Clicking on the
> header when the column is already the primary searchkey should invert the
> search-order for that key
>
That's standard column header behavior isn't it. :-)
> * If I right-click on the columnheader I still get the option to install/keep/
> etc. something. This might be an effect of not changeing the selected
> package on a right click; I think that is more intuitive.
>
Yes, the popup menu affects the selected package, not the package under
the pointer. You're saying the selection should be changed before popping
up the menu?
> * I'ld place the most important columns first in the packagelist, and I don't
> think the D/K/I columns are. I'ld place packagename and section as the
> first columns.
>
Just a matter of what's the default tho.
> * The Auto-flag isn't implemented yet
>
Nope. I would like to add Download/installed size to the tree view, and
make that a sort option too. Any other columns we want?
> * The sources dialog needs work
>
Pester Jason, he invented the annoying-to-write-by-machine file format.
;-)
> * For a program of this quality it might be nice to give it a nice
> splashscreen, featuring the new Debian-logo once we have chosen that.
>
No problem, as soon as I get a picture I can just add it to the opening
progress dialog.
Man, I need the BTS here! I'm saving all these messages in a folder, soon
I will collate them all and add them to the web site TODO list. I'm happy
there's enough interest to send this volume of suggestions. :-)
Thanks,
Havoc
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