Re: [DRAFT] Modulesets Reorganization

[Lucas Rocha <lucasr gnome org>]

Any other comments?

2010/5/23 Lucas Rocha <lucasr gnome org>:
> Hi,
>
> 2010/5/23 Vincent Untz <vuntz gnome org>:
>> Hi Lucas,
>>
>> Le vendredi 07 mai 2010, à 00:13 +0100, Lucas Rocha a écrit :
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Here's a first draft of the announcement of the reorganization of the
>>> modulesets. I reused some of the wording from the r-t quarterly report whitten
>>> by Vincent. We need to decide when the modulesets reorg is going to actually
>>> take place. I'd say something like "The reorg will take place at some point
>>> during the current development cycle". Comments are marked with "COMMENT"
>>> inside the text.
>>
>> Did you have time to update your draft with what we discussed two or
>> three weeks ago?
>
> Yes, here's the new draft. The changes I made are:
>
> - Improved wording here and there;
> - Removed COMMENT bits;
> - Added comment about Applications moduleset being dissolved in the long term;
>
> Questions:
> - Do we still want to merge Admin and Dev Tools into Applications moduleset?
> - Any better name for the Platform Extras moduleset?
> - Do we need to show the initial split of modules in some wiki page?
>
> Comments are welcome.
>
> --lucasr
>
> -----------------------------------
>
> Hi all,
>
> The release team would like to propose some important changes in the way we
> organize our modulesets. GNOME releases are currently organized into the
> following modulesets: Desktop, Platform, Bindings, Mobile, Admin, and Dev
> Tools. This model has served us well and has actually evolved through time - we
> didn't have the Admin and Dev Tools modulesets initially. However, we feel that
> this organization is reaching its limits, and we have explored several
> potential changes.
>
> Current issues
> --------------
>
> A set of issues makes it clear the need for an evolution here:
>
> 1. The arbitrary separation between Platform and Bindings can lead people to
> think that the bindings are second-class citizens while this is certainly not
> the case.
>
> 2. The Desktop moduleset has expanded so much that it's now unclear which type
> of application should go in and which shouldn't; it's also forcing us to choose
> one application over another, or to avoid any decision - like in the famous
> Rhythmbox vs Banshee case.
>
> 3. We strongly believe that we should encourage a strong ecosystem of apps
> around GNOME, and integrating all applications in the GNOME Desktop moduleset
> is not the best way to achieve this.
>
> 4. Some libraries should be used by developers even if the API/ABI guarantees
> are not as strong as our GNOME 2 Platform (e.g. GStreamer, e-d-s, and others).
> Such libraries should be labeled as such, obviously.
>
> Proposed (re)organization
> -------------------------
>
> With that said, the release team would like to propose the following
> reorganization of the modulesets:
>
> 1. The Desktop moduleset will be split into two modulesets: Desktop and
> Applications. Desktop will contain the components needed to get a desktop
> session running and provide core functionalities (e.g. gdm, gnome-session,
> gnome-settings-daemon, nautilus, etc). The Applications moduleset will contain
> all approved apps that provide extra relevant features to the desktop (e.g.
> gedit, totem, etc).
>
> 2. Bindings will be merged into the Platform moduleset and become first-class
> citizens on the development Platform. The goal is to make the bindings more
> prominent from a communication perspective.
>
> 3. Create a moduleset to hold our highly indicated libraries such GStreamer,
> e-d-s, and others. This moduleset will be called Platform Extras.
>
> 4. Admin and Dev Tools will be merged into the new Applications moduleset.
>
> In summary, this means that the GNOME releases would be composed by the
> following modulesets:
>  - Desktop
>  - Platform
>  - Platform Extras
>  - Mobile
>
> Extra information
> -----------------
>
> We're planning to do the actual reorganization of the modulesets as soon as
> possible during this development cycle. The idea is that GNOME 3 is released
> using the modulesets.
>
> Our initial idea is that the Desktop moduleset would ideally only contain
> components with reduced or no branding. On the other hand, the long term plan
> for the Applications moduleset is that it will initially contain the current
> approved apps with clear branding (e.g.  Totem, Tomboy, Evolution, gedit, etc)
> but it will be dissolved into a more open way of promoting apps where we simply
> highlight the high-quality ones using the GNOME platform through our
> communication channels (release notes, website, etc). There will be no
> "official" apps anymore.
>
> You can find an initial split of modules into the modulesets here:
> http://live.gnome.org/AndreKlapper/RedefineDesktop
>
> Comments, ideas, and suggestions are welcome.
>
> Cheers!
>
> The Release Team
>