RE: Feature suggestions for GNOME-compliant WMs

[James Ramsey <jjramsey_6x9eq42 yahoo com>]

--- "Fox, Kevin M" <KMFox@mail.bhi-erc.com> wrote:
> Well, the logout menuitem would not be in an
> applications menu. It would be
> in the root menu. If a window manager wants to
> implament logout, all it has
> to do is read in the logout.desktop.
> 
> Besides. I was under the impression the ".desktop"
> concept was created so
> that universal launchers can be created for all
> programs. That is why it is
> ".desktop" and not kde style ".gnome" files. Desktop
> data should be shared
> between all programs/wm's.
> .desktop!=gnome
> 
> As an example, enlightenment could easily replace
> its own menu code with
> code that just reads in the desktop files. It would
> make enlightenment more
> flexable. The same goes for wm's like FVWM. Instead
> of using one big menu
> file, it could be redone to read in desktops.

Ahh . . . I think I get what you mean. It sounds like what you're
saying is that instead of the window managers using their own config
files to set up the root menu that they use the '.desktop' files to set
it up instead. Not a bad idea overall, especially if the goal is to
have an apps menu that's consistent across WMs.

'.desktop' files would not necessarily be suitable for all things,
though. For example, a "Restart" menu item would would be tricky to
implement, a "Themes" submenu like the one in E would also be tricky to
implement as a '.desktop' file. Anything that doesn't have to do with
actually invoking an application would be trick to do with '.desktop'
files. The "Logout" function I described would also be tricky to
implement as a '.desktop' file. You'd really need a '.desktop' file for
each desktop environment that its own way of logging out, and how would
one go about making a '.desktop' file that just told the WM to
terminate itself. You could have a '.desktop' file containing a command
to kill the WM, but that could be hard on the WM. It would be more
elegant to have a single menu entry, "Logout", that just did the right
thing for each desktop environment that the WM was conformant with. If
gnome-session were running, it would tell gnome-session to log the user
out of X. If no desktop environment was running, the WM would exit. If
some other desktop environment that the WM was conformant with had its
own procedure for logging out, the WM could call that. That's what I
was proposing. '.desktop' files would be appropriate for putting
together a "Programs" submenu item on a root menu, but not for items
more strongly tied with the WM.



===


----I am a fool for Christ. Mostly I am a fool.----

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