[Xfc-dev] Project plans 2007

[Bo Lorentsen]

Brian J. Tarricone wrote:
> 
> IIRC, Jeff's original idea was to expand libXFCcore to include
> libxfce4util and libXFCgui to include libxfcegui4.  I guess that's up to
> you, though.  Wrapping the Xfce libs in a separate library would make it
> easier for people to only depend on the core gtk/gdk/glib wrappers if
> that's all they want/need.
Ok, Jeff's goals fits nicely to Xfce's, but I still like to be able to 
write "Gtk+2" apps that is not necessary bound to Xfce. But I don't 
think that is going to be a big issue anyway.

> As an Xfce developer, the lack of this is really the only thing that's
> keeping me from using XFC at present (frankly, I'm getting sick of
> writing GUI stuff in plain C, if for no other reason than all the
> redundant typing and inelegant class casts).  I've come to rely on a lot
> of the utility stuff in the libxfce* libraries, and using them for a few
> purposes (XfceAboutDialog, XfceTitledDialog, etc.) generally makes apps
> more "Xfce-ish".
Hmm, where would you suggest its best to start, what would be the most 
helpfull part to start wrapping ? Have you any idea how to structure 
this, or are we "just" expanding with some new Xfce specific Gtk+ 
widgets (like I have done in my sourceview expansion) ?

> Wrapping libxfce4panel would let people write xfce4-panel plugins in C++
> 'natively'.
But this may not be the most important task to start with, right ?

> On a side note, I'd like to see XFC to become something more than "just
> another gtkmm".  Yes, I'm aware that XFC and gtkmm are designed quite a
> bit differently under the hood, and using them can be very different in
> certain circumstances... but appearances do matter as well.
In what way do you like XFC to not be "just another gtkmm" ? Could You 
be a bit more specific ?

> These are more optional - libthunar-vfs is a file-manager-oriented VFS
> layer and libthunarx is a pluggable extension library for thunar.  There
> probably aren't too many apps that could/would make use of these.
> libexo, however, is designed as more of an app-building utility toolkit
> (i.e., of greater scope than the more desktop-component-oriented
> libxfce4util/libxfcegui4).
I am sure that if we find a solid structure for these extensions, there 
will be basis for many possibilities. The only problem is ... I need to 
do some reading :-)


/BL