Hi All,
I'm the current maintainer of the gnome-panel and related packages in Arch Linux, and I want to announce that we have a working Gnome Flashback session in our repositories:
https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?q=gnome-flashback-session
It works well with GNOME 3.8 as it can be seen on this screenshot:
http://pkgbuild.com/~bgyorgy/images/gnome-flashback.pngI listed the downstream patches below, what I had to apply for a working system.
gnome-applets
-------------
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/tree/trunk?h=packages/gnome-applets
- gnome-applets-cpupower.patch (from Fedora):
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=698222 Use cpupower instead of cpufreq. cpufrequtils is an unmaintained project. cpupower is a drop-in replacement.
- 01_battstat_upower.patch (from Debian):
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=607254 Add UPower support.
- disable-gweather-applet.patch:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=692239 Disable gweather applet, because it's not compatible with libgweather 3.8. Upstream dropped the GWeatherXML, which is used by the gweather applet:
https://git.gnome.org/browse/libgweather/commit/?id=354f1aa9003ee08c6e63ecbaaa6b9179b9178184- fix-autoconf.patch:
autoconf throws an error about deprecated declaration.
gnome-panel
-----------
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/tree/trunk?h=packages/gnome-panel
- gnome-desktop-3.8.patch:
Upstream patch that ports gnome-panel to gnome-desktop 3.8
- drop-gweather-xml-include.patch:
Upstream patch that fixes the build with libgweather 3.8 by removing unused include of GWeatherXML.
- 18_fix_force_quit_applet.patch (from Debian):
Fix force quit applet to avoid freeze.
- 0001-Add-the-GNOME-Flashback-session.patch:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=694625
Add GNOME Flashback session. I extended the RequiredComponents property with the notification-daemon, which needs to be autostarted also; and with some helper apps (see below).
- fix-autoconf.patch:
autoconf throws an error about deprecated declaration.
I reviewed Debian patches, and all of them are acceptable except the following one:
- 14_revert_timedate_change.patch: this breaks timezone setting on systems with gnome-settings-daemon >= 3.3.5, because the datetime D-Bus mechanism has been removed:
https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-settings-daemon/commit/?id=27fa171efe4179c0a42ec79e0dc501077f042a08
gnome-screensaver
-----------------
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/tree/trunk?h=packages/gnome-screensaver
- move-desktop-file.patch:
Upstream patch that moves gnome-screensaver desktop file out of autostart.
- fix-autoconf.patch:
autoconf throws an error about deprecated declaration.
gnome-settings-daemon-compat
----------------------------
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/tree/trunk?h=packages/gnome-settings-daemon-compat
The mount and backgroud helpers (which used by GNOME fallback mode) has been removed from gnome-settings-daemon 3.8:
https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-settings-daemon/commit/?id=77a29fde9204a80ad3960fc6d50a733261fbfbfe
https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-settings-daemon/commit/?id=99da10fa1c771bd692bf00b6c4ccf2a5c1818bdb
The key grabbing functionality and the OSD have moved from gnome-settings-daemon 3.8 to gnome-shell 3.8, therefore the media keys plugin is useless outside of gnome-shell:
https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-settings-daemon/commit/?id=1c9ded7b9dad1e5b5b6f62b2e78c221e99dc5eb1
https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-settings-daemon/commit/?id=50e3b5b4ea2b5fede8390baf8a19b33dbf047cc1
These helper programs are need to be moved somewhere else, either to a new project (e.g. gnome-flashback-helpers), or need to be merged into an existing one. I applied some patches to make these helpers independent from gnome-settings-daemon.
metacity
--------
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/tree/trunk?h=packages/metacity
- fix_compositing_startup.patch:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=658036 Hide random color rectangles for two seconds after login when compositing enabled. It caused by a debugging variable 'show_redraw', which is uninitialised on startup.
- fix_force_quit.patch:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=687938 Update meta_show_dialog for gtk's removal of --screen. This is required for compatibility with zenity 3, otherwise the Force Quit dialog never shown.
- fix_shadows.patch"
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=648340 Disable shadows for non-windows elements to avoid visual glitches, and make it similar to Mutter's behaviour.
- enable_compositing.patch
Enable compositing by default. This is required for the desktop rendering feature of nautilus 3.8. Now nautilus draws a transparent root-window with the desktop icons, so compositing is required to make the desktop background visible.
notification-daemon
-------------------
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk?h=packages/notification-daemon
Currently we have no patches on notification-daemon, but there is a major bug that leads to crash, which needs to be fixed in the upstream code:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=665166
polkit-gnome
------------
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk?h=packages/polkit-gnome
An autostart mechanism needs to be implemented in the upstream code. There are two ways:
1. Add back a desktop file to the /etc/xdg/autostart directory. It has been removed by this commit:
https://git.gnome.org/browse/PolicyKit-gnome/commit/?id=47ca445decf21b8de13d804b870d6ce171bad306
2. Add a desktop file to /usr/share/application directory, and use the RequiredComponents property of the session file to start it on login (similar to gnome-screensaver).
Could someone review and merge these patches into the upstream code? It would be nice if all Flashback components get a bugfix release in the next weeks, so distributions could ship a complete Flashback session together with GNOME 3.8, without significant downstream work.
I hope that Gnome Flashback will remain usable in the next years, and I would like to keep it in the official repositories of Arch Linux as long as possible.
Good luck!
--
György Balló
Arch Linux Trusted User
