Re: XML and GNOME community

[Elliot Lee <sopwith redhat com>]

On Thu, 4 Jun 1998, Anders W. Tell wrote:

> However there is one thing we can do to jumpstart XML and that is to
> adopt a library called "expat" which curretly is used by both Mozilla
> and Perl, and its good enough for me anyway.

OK, so expat is officially adopted by GNOME as of now.  Here's a
certificate of coolness, everyone clap their hands, next?

I really don't see the point of using XML in a desktop. It is a very good
data description format for the web.

If you came out and said "I want to fix gnome_config to allow multiple
backends, and then I want to make an XML backend for gnome_config" I would
say "cool, great, talk to Miguel about it". But you said "I think GNOME
should use XML", which to me is akin to saying "I think GNOME should be
bug-free" - sure it sounds nice at first, but it has absolutely no
practical relevance. In addition, you're not even wanting to actually *do*
anything about it, which makes me see this image (true or not) of a person
who makes lots of suggestions (cool) but does nothing about making them
happen (not cool).

> Only one catch, its released under Mozilla licence and I dont know if
> that licence type is approved by GNOME community. Any comment on this ?

I'm not sure about this. I know the Mozilla license is incompatible with
the GPL, and there are problems with using another MPL'd library in GNOME,
so...

-- Elliot
When I die, I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather...
	...not yelling and screaming like the people in the back of the
	   plane he was flying.