Re: [gnome-love] Gnome goal proposal : proxy support

[Olav Vitters <olav bkor dhs org>]

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 09:33:37AM +0100, Lionel Dricot wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 5:24 PM, Olav Vitters <olav bkor dhs org> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 03:58:02PM +0100, Lionel Dricot wrote:
> >
> > > Do you believe it worth a Gnome Goal ? Or do you think that individual
> > bug
> > > reports are enough for that. ?
> >
> > Not exactly sure if it is a 'bug' or more a request for enhancement.
> > Anyway, bugs aren't solved because they're filed. However, don't think
> > it is a 'goal' as intended with the GNOME goal wiki site.
> >
> > Enhancement... It looks like you are not using a proxy. When you are forced
> to use one and that most applications behave in strange ways (or doesn't
> work as expected), it's definitely a bug.  But you cannot understand if you
> don't use a proxy.
>
> A few years ago, I had never used a proxy. I developped a little application
> for Gnome with no proxy support. I received a patch. I marked the bug as
> "enhancement" and it tooks me a while to get it included. Because I had no
> idea. Now that I'm using a proxy at work, I realize that my application was
> completely unusable behind a proxy. That's for the little story. I really
> think good proxy support is an huge asset. (and given the fact the proxy
> support in Windows is a shame, it's one more strong point for us in the
> corporate world) but not proxy support at all is a bug (and an important
> one).
>
> Anyway, if I'm 100% sure that we need good proxy support, I don't know if it
> worth a Gnome Goal, that's why I'm asking for advices here. And thank you
> (and all others) for your replies, it's really interesting.

What I meant with GNOME goal as on the wiki site is that it is focused
on small changes which can be done by developers not intimately familiar
with a module. IMO proxy support really requires a knowledgeable person.
If you look at the existing GNOME goals, they're usually pretty easy.

So I agree we should have proxy support. Ok with investigating how to
improve it. However, I am not sure if it can be a GNOME goal as
described above.

This doesn't mean I think it isn't worthy of support, just that proxy
support is more difficult. The lack of proxy support should just be
fixed though. No idea what is the best way etc.

Perhaps best to start with a few modules, file some bugs.

-- 
Regards,
Olav