Re: meeting materials: what is gnome

[Andre Klapper <ak-47 gmx net>]

On Tue, 2012-07-17 at 09:25 -0400, Matthias Clasen wrote:
> So, any more discussion on this ? Do we have to defer this until our
> guadec meeting ?

[Refering to the revised version sent by mclasen on 11 Jul 2012 21:09:00
-0400.]

As mentioned at the GUADEC r-t meeting yesterday, proposing to extend
the "Premise" part as follows to clarify intentions. 
Don't think we need a separate "Preamble".

I've added two sentences here:

>>>
The GNOME project is primarily united around a single effort -- the
creation of the GNOME desktop experience.

This effort focuses on a tightly-integrated desktop environment based on
the GNOME Shell running on a GNU-based operating system with a Linux
kernel. Above all else, our interest to to create a cohesive product.
Uses of our technologies in other environments are welcome, but are
considered secondary concerns. 
This document attempts to clearly outline what "secondary" means. This
is done in order to avoid misunderstandings and misexpectations among
any parties involved or interested in interacting with and participating
in the GNOME project.
This document attempts to provide an observation of the current state of
things. 
<<<


Also, in Federico's talk yesterday use of GNOME modules outside of GNOME
was discussed, and how and if upstream maintainers are contacted for
this first (versus just forking a project, without any previous
communication with its maintainer to discuss collaboration first).

Hence I'd like to also add one sentence at the end of this paragraph of
the "GNOME Desktop" section:

>>>
GNOME is a community of maintainers with high degrees of autonomy.
Individual maintainers may make extra efforts to allow their software to
function in alternate desktop environments or on other operating
systems. It is important to note that improving functionality on
non-GNOME systems often comes at the cost of increased maintainership
burden. As such, this is neither encouraged or discouraged -- it is
strictly the choice of the individual maintainer. For intended
integration of GNOME applications outside of supported environments it
is recommended to contact maintainers first to discuss the potential
extend of collaboration and related procedures.
<<<


Attached version includes both changes.

andre
-- 
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http://blogs.gnome.org/aklapper

Premise

The GNOME project is primarily united around a single effort -- the creation of the GNOME desktop experience.

This effort focuses on a tightly-integrated desktop environment based on the GNOME Shell running on a GNU-based operating system with a Linux kernel. Above all else, our interest to to create a cohesive product. Uses of our technologies in other environments are welcome, but are considered secondary concerns. 
This document attempts to clearly outline what "secondary" means. This is done in order to avoid misunderstandings and misexpectations among any parties involved or interested in interacting with and participating in the GNOME project. 
This document attempts to provide an observation of the current state of things. 

Parts of GNOME

freedesktop.org Plumbing

Many parts of the plumbing of a modern Linux-based operating system have been created by people who identify themselves as members of the GNOME project. In many cases, these plumbing layers are not particularly GNOME-specific, and sometimes not Linux-specific.

It is up to the individual maintainer how much he or she emphasizes writing code for other platforms or architectures, but publication of a project under the banner of freedesktop.org is a clear indication that this project is willing to take the needs of multiple desktop environments into account.

A fairly concrete definition of what 'plumbing' components are required for GNOME can be found in the meta-gnome-core-os-services jhbuild module.

GLib/GTK+

GLib and GTK+ are the core parts of the GNOME platform, but are not technically parts of the GNOME project. They use GNOME infrastructure, but are not necessarily coordinated with the GNOME release cycle, nor are they subject to many GNOME policies (such as freezes). That said, GLib and GTK+ treat GNOME as their primary consumer and attempt to pay special attention to the needs of the GNOME project.

GTK+ and (particularly) GLib have a wide range of deeply-invested users outside of the GNOME project. GStreamer, and other GTK+-based desktop environments are obvious examples. These users are welcome and highly valued. Their input on the future of GLib and GTK+ should be strongly considered.

Most of the people developing GLib and GTK+ have expertise in programming for Linux-based systems. They also tend to use these systems exclusively. GLib and GTK+ are intended to be portable to Windows and MacOS, but due to the nature of those working on the two projects, support for these operating systems often lags behind. When introducing new functionalities we make efforts to at least attempt to do so in a way that considers portability to these systems, even if we don't actually provide reasonable implementations from the start. Patches and outside contributors to these areas are always welcome.

A fairly concrete definition of the GTK+ stack can be found in the meta-gnome-devel-platform jhbuild module.

GNOME Desktop

The GNOME desktop is most of the components of GNOME that sit on top of GLib and GTK+. We are interested in creating a desktop environment as a cohesive product. By default, we do not pay too much interest to the needs of those who wish to use the environment in ways that are not part of this vision. It is not our policy to block these uses, but if there is a technical advantage to the GNOME desktop that has a disadvantage to usability of components outside of the GNOME desktop, we will favour the technical advantage.

GNOME is not intended to be portable to MacOS and Windows systems. GNOME applications are not intended to be fully functional when used outside of environments based on GNOME Shell.

GNOME is a community of maintainers with high degrees of autonomy. Individual maintainers may make extra efforts to allow their software to function in alternate desktop environments or on other operating systems. It is important to note that improving functionality on non-GNOME systems often comes at the cost of increased maintainership burden. As such, this is neither encouraged or discouraged -- it is strictly the choice of the individual maintainer. For intended integration of GNOME applications outside of supported environments it is recommended to contact maintainers first to discuss the potential extend of collaboration and related procedures.

For the purposes of this document, the meta-gnome-core jhbuild module can serve as a definition of GNOME.

Concerned Parties

XFCE, LXDE

KDE

MeeGo, Mer and Unity

OpenSolaris and the BSDs

Windows and MacOS