On GNOME 2.22: the rise of a revamped platform and desktop

["Lucas Rocha" <lucasr gnome org>]

Hi all,

I've blogged this but I thought it would be good to send to d-d-l for
further discussions.

http://blogs.gnome.org/lucasr/2007/07/01/on-gnome-222-the-rise-of-a-revamped-platform-and-desktop/

--

We're now in the middle of the development cycle for GNOME 2.20 and
our plans were already published in our RoadMap page. Of course, there
are some very nice stuff coming in the next GNOME stable release as
you can see there.

I'd like to bring some attention to an important thing that can make a
lot of difference for GNOME in the next year. We have a very good
oportunity to make big, necessary and important changes in our desktop
and platform in the 2.22 release. Why am I saying that?

> From the roadmap process we've kicked off in the 2.20 development
cycle, it's perfectly clear (to me) that several important changes are
coming (potentially for 2.22). Here are some of them:

   * Revamped session management: being headed by Dan Winship.
Recently, a branch has been created with the new code.
   * Next interation of the GNOME Configuration system: being headed
by Emanuelle Bassi. Possibly, an initial code will be shown and
discussion on this topic will happen at GUADEC.
   * Revamped VFS API: it's called GFVS and is being headed by Alex
Larsson. Current code resides on a git repo. Current status and
discussion will be take place at GUADEC.
   * New documentation technologies: it's called Mallard and in being
headed by Shaun McCance and Don Scorgie. Current code resides here
(Mallard) and here (Rarian, replacement for scrollkeeper). We have 2
Summer of Code projects for the development of a documentation editor
for GNOME which uses the new infrastructure. Some of the new stuff
will probably be used in 2.20 already. Talks about related topics at
GUADEC.
   * New applets API: being developed by Ryan Lortie. Current code
resides on git repo (I don't remember where it is). Talk and
discussion on this topic will happen at GUADEC.

There are others: GTK+ additions and more widgets consolidation
(Project Ridley), SoC projects (some of them could possibly land in
GNOME 2.22), Bugzilla 3.0, and so on. Also, there are some important
topics which needs to be seriouly and objectively discussed like web
services integration, better desktop integration for instance
messenging and voip, search engines and metadata, and others. A
combination of effort, time, manpower, good communication and
community cohesion will decide if those goals will be achieved or not.

Let's keep those goals in mind for 2.22 and try to focus as much as we
can to make them a reality. GUADEC will be a wonderful time to discuss
those topics.

GNOME 2.20 will rock a lot! Let's make 2.22 be a 23 release!

Cheers!

--lucasr