Re: Modulesets Reorganization

[Lucas Rocha <lucasr gnome org>]

Hi all,

Just to let you know: this is an initial proposal from the Release
Team. There's nothing set in stone yet. This means we're definitely
hearing all the feedback and we'll take all the ideas and
counter-arguments into account when deciding on that. So, no need to
get too defensive. Keep bringing the good feedback - which is what is
happening now btw.

--lucasr

2010/6/2 Lucas Rocha <lucasr gnome org>:
> Hi all,
>
> The release team would like to propose some important changes in the way we
> organize our modulesets. GNOME releases are currently organized into the
> following modulesets: Desktop, Platform, Bindings, Mobile, Admin, and Dev
> Tools. This model has served us well and has actually evolved through time - we
> didn't have the Admin and Dev Tools modulesets initially. However, we feel that
> this organization is reaching its limits, and we have explored several
> potential changes.
>
> Current issues
> --------------
>
> A set of issues makes it clear the need for an evolution here:
>
> 1. The arbitrary separation between Platform and Bindings can lead people to
> think that the bindings are second-class citizens while this is certainly not
> the case.
>
> 2. The Desktop moduleset has expanded so much that it's now unclear which type
> of application should go in and which shouldn't; it's also forcing us to choose
> one application over another, or to avoid any decision - like in the famous
> Rhythmbox vs Banshee case.
>
> 3. We strongly believe that we should encourage a strong ecosystem of apps
> around GNOME, and integrating all applications in the GNOME Desktop moduleset
> is not the best way to achieve this.
>
> 4. Some libraries should be used by developers even if the API/ABI guarantees
> are not as strong as our GNOME 2 Platform (e.g. GStreamer, e-d-s, and others).
> Such libraries should be labeled as such, obviously.
>
> Proposed (re)organization
> -------------------------
>
> With that said, the release team would like to propose the following
> reorganization of the modulesets:
>
> 1. The Desktop moduleset will only contain the components needed to get a
> desktop session running and provide core functionalities (e.g. gdm,
> gnome-session, gnome-settings-daemon, nautilus, etc). All applications
> providing extra relevant features to the desktop (e.g. gedit, Totem, Tomboy,
> etc) will be moved out from the Desktop moduleset. See the Extra Information
> section for more details.
>
> 2. Bindings will be merged into the Platform moduleset and become first-class
> citizens on the development Platform. The goal is to make the bindings more
> prominent from a communication perspective.
>
> 3. Create a moduleset to hold our highly recommended libraries such GStreamer,
> e-d-s, and others. This moduleset will be called Extended Platform.
>
> 4. Admin and Dev Tools will be dissolved and will be promoted like any other
> GNOME application. See the Extra Information section for more details.
>
> In summary, this means that the GNOME releases would be composed by the
> following modulesets:
>  - Desktop
>  - Platform
>  - Extended Platform
>  - Mobile
>
> Extra Information
> -----------------
>
> We're planning to do the actual reorganization of the modulesets as soon as
> possible during this development cycle. The idea is that GNOME 3 is released
> using the new modulesets.
>
> The long term plan for the GNOME applications that were removed from the
> Desktop, Admin and Dev Tools modulesets is to simply highlight the high-quality
> applications using the GNOME platform through our communication channels
> (release notes, website, etc). There will be no "official" apps anymore and no
> 'Applications' moduleset in the GNOME releases. The goal here is be more open
> with the app developer community around GNOME and to highlight all the nice
> things that can be created using our platform.
>
> Comments, ideas, and suggestions are welcome.
>
> Cheers!
>
> The Release Team
>