Window managers and their desktop files

["Patryk Zawadzki" <patrys pld-linux org>]

Hi,

It seems - since 2.23 - gnome-session now looks for the desktop files
in the regular $prefix/share/applications dir. This makes sense as
this way we can have some specialized window managers (like compiz)
work cross-desktop. I've also noticed that control center still looks
for them in the old $prefix/share/gnome/wm-properties path.

I'd like to get some word on the standards used here. Will 2.24
require us to place all desktop files in two places or is control
center going to drop the old path or keep it for compatibility? We (as
a distro) need this information to decide whether we want/need to move
all WMs (twm, compiz, windowmaker, fluxbox, icewm, openbox and so on)
to the new location and update their desktop files.

More important - as the new location contains tons of non-WM desktop
files - is it even desired to parse them all in attempt to find the
ones providing WM functionality? If the answer to that is "no" then I
suppose we have to live with two locations for now (or just keep the
old location if that's still supported by gnome-session).

Cheers,

-- 
Patryk Zawadzki