Some thoughts on the structure of Gnome

[Steven Van Impe <steven vanimpe telenet be>]

Hi all.

First off: although I'm currently studying computer science/software
engineering, I consider myself a desktop user mostly. I only got into
linux about 2 years ago, but have been studying it since. Gnome is my
favorite project, I think it is the future for the linux desktop,
although I do not consider it ready for 'average' users.

There are some thoughts I would like to share with the Gnome developers:

When I started looking into Gnome, I just started studying and I had no
previous knowledge on software engineering. I had quite some problems
finding my way through all the pieces of the software suite and finding
out what they are used for. To me it appears (appeared) Gnome is just a
bunch of things thrown together to create a desktop suite, probably
because it's hard for someone new to all this to see structure in the
list of modules.

Also, I've been reading around on the mailinglists and noticed that
there have been quite some discussing about what to include and what
not, one of the criteria being: "can this piece of software be
considered very important for desktop users ?". I'd say there are some
things already in Gnome that users could go without, and other things
that aren't included yet (often because it's not ready, but that aside)
that are vital for a fully functional desktop suite.

And a final problem: I like to install stuff from source, and when I do
use binaries, I like to feel like every piece of software I have
installed is useful. I just hate it when I see packages of which I don't
know the purpose. I think this is a common trend, even amongst 'average'
users. Computer science is getting more and more popular, and average
users want to feel in control of their systems, even if they are not.
The point here is that Gnome is fragmented too much to allow users a
quick overlook of the bundle: they should be able to give if only a
small description of every single package that makes up Gnome.

So what to do about all this ?

Well, these are my ideas, and I would like to know what you think about
all this:

1) Make Gnome a small desktop suite. Include the infrastructure
(libraries) needed for applications (with full bindings to popular
languagues), and only the actual "desktop" applications (stuff like
nautilus, the panel, configuration etc). Call this the "Platform",
nicely polish and integrate it, and when it's done, try to distribute it
in less packages than is the case now. Doing this would make it easy for
people to get an easy overlook of what is the Gnome Desktop, and would
make it easier for newbie developers to understand how Gnome works,
which, in the long term, would get more people working on Gnome (atleast
I think it would) not only coding but also artwork (for example).

2) Create something like a Gnome certificate for "official" Gnome
programs. Some time ago I saw a post on Planet Gnome where someone wrote
a list of what technologies Gnome programs should use in order to nicely
fit into the desktop. Using a certificate you could force these
applications to make full use of the Gnome desktop, work nicely with
other certified Gnome programs and have a consistent look-and-feel. I
don't think this should be too hard since most big Gnome programs seem
to have core Gnome people working on it already.

My opinion is that the above method would eliminate the need for
discussions about what goes in and what not (sooner or later, you'll
either end with a HUGE bundle of software or never reach a consensus)
and allow Gnome to be used as a fully functional desktop suite (without
making it a mammoth) while still leaving some options for people to
choose their favorite software.


King regards,

Steven Van Impe