Re: gnome desktop integration library

[Tristan Van Berkom <tvb gnome org>]

JP Rosevear wrote:
> > I think the "They didnt like it in gtk+ so lets put it into our own lib"
> > approach might be good for a few people "right now" - but as I stated in
> > my other mail - personally I think that is of no value at all, if it didnt
> > get into gtk+ - there obviously a reason for it - there must be a long road
> > of work to do before the comminity is satisfied with the implementation.
>
> The last thing thats being proposed is some garbage dump like the old
> libgnome.  What I see proposed was for expediency because I see the same
> reluctance that Joachim does, especially historically.

This historic reluctance to add anything new to gtk+ is the very reason why
we all trust it so much, sure we can bundle stuff aside into some practicle
lib that can be readily available under some "libgnome" banner - I see two
problems with this:

 o The effort to maintain such a library /could/ have been spent on the long
   road to getting an ideal solution into gtk+ itself.

 o The _meaning_ of the library itself causes discrepincies as Havoc mentioned
   earlier - why should an app developer have to think there is any kind of
   difference from a pure cross-platform gtk+ app and a "gnome desktop" app ?
   I think a gtk+ app should integrate with the desktop if it can - right now
   to achieve that it may have to #ifdef HAVE_GCONF if it wants to use gconf,
   that makes more sence to me than pulling in a library that has such a
   vague definition.

I am not trying to imply that you are proposing a garbage dump library, I am
implying that the state of affairs in libgnomeui and company is a direct result
of having a library with the vague definition of "integrates well with the desktop".

Cheers,
                   -Tristan