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Re: PROPOSAL: a common menu system.



Hi,

> I think to have a common menu system for applications between
> desktop/window managers is highly important for the end user. I know
> Gnome/Kde are agree to have the same .desktop format, but what about
> the other window manager ? and what about the groups (nothing yet is
> standardized).

Good idea.


> We here at Mandrake we have switched (from 7.1) to the GNU/Debian
> menu system, the menu system has the ability to act as ''backend'. For
> example i have an application with a menu entry in /usr/lib/menu/gimp,
> say : 

We have a similar application (susewm), which is doing the same.

> ?package(gimp): \
> command="gimp" \
> icon="wilbur.xpm" \
> section="Multimedia/Graphics" \
> title="The GIMP" longtitle="The GNU Image Manipulation Program" \
> needs="x11"

We are using .kdelnk/.desktop files for input, so the user is able to create 
new entrys easily. So the user can copy an usual .kdelnk/.desktop file to the
estimated directory below /etc/X11/susewm/Entrys. Since the format of these
files is expandable it is possible to extend the information 
(for example: show this entry only on enlightenment).
the susewm is using also a one file database to improve the speed. 

When you not agree to use .kdelnk/.desktop files, we will add this 
format to our tool. But it makes more sense to use .kdelnk/.desktop for me.

> With the wm-menu-method based in /etc/menu-methods/ when i run an
> update-menu the files (.desktop for gnome .kdelnk for kde etc...) will
> be generated automagically. 

maybe /etc/X11/menu-methods should be used to be FHS compliant.

> It's dynamic i18nable and user-wide-configurable. 

good idea again. Maybe we should define a common menu structure.

> It's a big jump for a distribution but it's really a necessary for
> linux.

Yes, our 1996 release with this feature was very good ;-)

  Thorsten

-- 
Thorsten Kukuk       http://www.suse.de/~kukuk/       kukuk@suse.de
SuSE GmbH            Schanzaeckerstr. 10            90443 Nuernberg
Linux is like a Vorlon.  It is incredibly powerful, gives terse,
cryptic answers and has a lot of things going on in the background.



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