Re: GNOME 1.4 extra apps coordinators

[Ali Abdin <aliabdin aucegypt edu>]

* Ian Peters (itp helixcode com) wrote at 21:06 on 22/10/00:
> On Sun, Oct 22, 2000 at 01:56:55PM +0800, Gregory Leblanc wrote:
> > > I'm not sure what to do about the GNOME applets situation -- we
> > > currently ship a large number of applets in the GNOME applets package,
> > > and I think Maciej is write that some of these should be broken out.
> > > 
> > > However, if we are going to ship extra applets, I'm definitely against
> > > shipping them in one large bunch called gnome-applets-extra.  Ship
> > > them individually, so that users can choose which to install.
> > > 
> > > Regarding games -- I'm also the GNOME games maintainer, and I think
> > > that we currently ship more than enough small, simple games in the
> > > gnome-games package.  If additional games have been written and are
> > > ready to be released, they can, individually, be part of the extra
> > > apps release.
> > 
> > Ian, sorry about this not having an attribution line for you, but
> > Evolution doesn't seem to think that's necessary (I'll go bugzilla in a
> > minute).
> 
> An attribution line?
> 
> > I'm all for the GNOME "core" releases to be for applications that are
> > necessary for just about every user of the GNOME desktop.  As
> > gnome-applets and gnome-games are part of this GNOME "core", they should
> > be a brief set of almost universally useful applets, and perhaps the
> > "most popular" games.  It should be feasible to have other "sets" of
> > GNOME games and applets that are released about the same time as the
> > "core" of GNOME, but these would basically just be a list of a set of
> > individual packages, or a "meta" package for those who are using Debian.
> > While I'm at it, I'd like to see the software map done in a similar
> > fasion, as the current categories suck.  Why not break them up the way
> > that they appear on the main menu, or by some criteria with less
> > overlap?  I know this isn't a 1.4 issue, but it goes along with some of
> > the issues that have been raised here.  While I'm at it,  selecting
> > applications is going to become part of the duties of the GNOME
> > foundation's board, if I read that correctly.  I'd like to see the
> > discussions remain open, and on dedicated lists like this one, so that
> > all parties can have their say.  
> 
> Of course the discussions should remain open.
> 
> (BTW: I believe that it will be the board's role to select people to
> coordinate the release, much the same way the current steercom has
> selected Jacob and Maciej to coordinate the core release, and Jamin
> and myself to work on the extra apps release.  It will not be the
> board proper that is doing this work.)
> 
> For my opinion, I believe that assembling meta-packages, grouping
> things together, etc. should be the domain of the distributions and
> vendors.  As you say, Debian already implements a fine solution -- for
> example, if you install gnome-games on a Debian system, it is actually
> a meta-package which pulls in things like gnome-iagno,
> gnome-same-gnome, gnome-gnibbles, etc.
> 
> However, I don't see that approach making sense for the extra apps
> release.  The way I see my role, it is to help coordinate the authors
> of GNOME applications that are not considered part of the core, so
> that when GNOME 1.4 comes out, we can point people to a list on a web
> page or an ftp server and say, "Here are a bunch of apps that have
> been released and will work well with your GNOME 1.4 system."

I really like the idea of having "individual" packages. Since I am a modem
user, it gives me the power to pick and choose only what I want.

But I also think there needs to be some sort of "tarball" of packages for
people to use. I am not saying create a new package (a la gnome-games), but it
may be a good idea to create a tarball of all related utilities (e.g.
gnome-games-extra). Or perhaps just one big "sumo" gnome-extra-apps. Basically
this package would include the README and a blurb of what the package is, e.g
Gnumeric - Spreadsheet program.

This depends on how many extra apps there. If there are like 30-40 extra apps,
then it may make sense to break them down into groups (gnome-office,
networking, games, utils, etc.) - They would not be "official" GNOME packages
(e.g. GNOME Office) but just a convenient way for people to download a "group"
of packages at once.

I hope I am not rambling

Regards,
Ali
 
> -- 
> Ian Peters
> itp helixcode com
> 
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