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Steffen Good analytical analysis of ways to distribute new shapes for dia. What some do not realize is that there are different needs and priorities for adding functionality to MS-based OS versus the more UNIX-like OS systems. There are also different expectations for user involvement in installing updates in MS-based OS versus the more UNIX-like OS systems. The tool that has been provided seems to be a good middle-of-the-road approach that is usable by all. Major advantage from using this tool is that users can select which set(s) of shapes they want to download and install. This provides much more flexibility for the user base and still helps to keep the base dia install much smaller than it would be if it included everything that all users might eventually need. Dia internal capability for building custom sheets of shapes then allows each user to make purpose-built libraries to meet individual needs for using the program. We do appreciate your work and support for this important software tool. It may be that not many take time to say "THANKS", but we do appreciate your effort. Arv _._ On 08/26/2010 12:00 PM, Steffen Macke wrote: Thomas, Roland, Martin, thanks for your feedback. I understand your points and I'm not opposed to distributing shapes in packages. However, there are some more things to consider: * Diashapes and the Dia Shape Repository should make the shape creators more prominent - they are an important part of the Dia community * Dia is a cross-platform thing, packaging would require Windows, Mac OS X and several Linux packages. Any volunteers to build and maintain those packages? * Diashapes and the Diashapes repository drastically speed up the publishing process compared to a packaging approach * I guess the ordinary first time Dia user is just overwhelmed by the amount of sheets and shapes installed. Further increasing that number will not help him. He might be better off browsing the shape repository and the example diagrams or search for shapes online and then select the sheets he really needs without cluttering his "sheetspace" * The average quality of shapes in the shape repository is somewhat lower than the ones shipping with Dia itself. While we're very cautious about shape updates in Dia breaking backwards compatibility, my understanding is that there is more room to correct/improve the shapes in the Dia Shape Repository. |