several defects and enhacement-wishes

[Carl]

On Monday 09 October 2006 11:12 am, samo wrote:
> > > Just for the protocol, yesterday i did downgrade all to
> > > ubuntu-edgy (4.3.90-99) level, and then the keyboard shortcuts
> > > for switching workspaces / sending windows to workspaces stopped
> > > to work. Then i upgraded back to ubuntu-unstable (4.3.99), no
> > > change.
> > > The keys are recognised (and eaten) (even Terminal's cursor
> > > changes while key is pressed), but nothing else.
> > >
> > > today i'll check these repos above, as if they are official (-;.
> > > Any idea what went broke - and doesn't want to come back sane?
> > > would 'rm -rf ~/.cache' help? i'll try anyway.
> > > i'm near sure it is not because of version - edgy works ok on
> > > another machine.
> > >
> > > > > And another thing there - are the table/panel sizes fixed in
> > > > > the code or what? e.g. i never see the right column of that
> > > > > shortcut-assignment table, only the left one.
> > > >
> > > > Maximize the window helps.
> > >
> > > yes, but this is not a fix.
> > > should i just shut up and leave u alone?
> > > one of the big problems of the free software is the near-complete
> > > absense of usability-analysis and _especialy_ synthesis; and the
> > > hack-it-workaround-it attitude, thus making temporary solutions
> > > permanent, doesnt help that either.
> >
> > This has a lot to do with xfce+ubuntu. The xfce mailing list has
> > had numerous messages related to getting xfce working with ubuntu.
> >
> > The version of xfce you are using is beta (or maybe release
> > candidate to be more technically correct). The xfce maintainers
> > have spoken of having at least one more rc before final. If you
> > want finished software, don't use betas.
> >
> > I am a fairly new xfce user who discovered the hard way that the
> > ubuntu repository wasn't giving me the desired results with xfce.
> > The primary issue was that the required xfce packages in the ubuntu
> > repository were not all of the same vintage. Installing from source
> > was the only way that I could get what I wanted. But I did it with
> > the recognition that I may encounter some problems.
> >
> > So...no you shouldn't just shut up and leave [the xfce mailing
> > list] alone. You could do something to make it better, even if only
> > reporting things that don't work. Whining doesn't make a
> > difference. This--" one of the big problems of the free software is
> > the near-complete absense of usability-analysis and _especialy_
> > synthesis"--makes no difference. The very thing that you are
> > complaining about is one of the reasons that open source (free)
> > software is fixed 8 times faster on average than comparable (in
> > terms of function and quality) proprietary software.
> >
> > Are you willing to participate in usability analysis and synthesis?
> > Are you willing to contribute what you can to improve xfce and
> > other free software that you use? Or are you just going to use it
> > and complain about the ineffectiveness of other people's volunteer
> > efforts?
>
> ok,ok. nevermind me mumbling.
> i have accumulated a lot of using-without-returning.
> now i am going to return some. in one form or another.
> nagging about things if needed ;-)
>
> when i solve the 'disappeared wm keyboard shortcuts' mistery above,
> i'll post it here. rm -rf ~/.cache does-not help (these shortcuts are
> in ~/.themes/.)
>
> so u think it is ubuntu packaging making the troubles? mmmh. i think
> it's something else.
> i'll checkout svn-head next.
>
> ciao
> samo

Your response is appreciated.

I am not qualified to assess ubuntu packaging vs other causes for problems. 
What I know is...
1. There has been a bit of traffic on this ML about xfce with ubuntu.
2. I had difficulties getting xfce to work with ubuntu repositories and 
installed beta from source, which eliminated my problems.

tekirisi
Carl