Xfce 4.2 : desktop menu buglets

[purslow at sympatico.ca]

041010 Danny Milosavljevic wrote:
> if the distribution is set up correctly, everything will magically show up.
> it would be best for the apps to include desktop files
> as they should in the first place.

in fact, most of them do.

> It finds the open office desktop files just fine.
> I even tested it with them back when we wrote the menu spec stuff :)

it doesn't find mine (Gentoo), but that may be because of the dirs they're in:

  /opt/OpenOffice.org/share/gnome/net/
  /opt/OpenOffice.org/share/kde/net/
  /usr/share/applnk/OpenOffice\ 1.1/
  /usr/share/gnome/apps/OpenOffice.org/

i did a fairly thoro' search with Krusader & those are what showed up.

> you summed up the current state quite well.

that's good to hear (smile).

> So, to reiterate, points are:
> - since unix puts executables all in one dir (mostly),
> there is a need for a desktop menu
> (otherwise the need itself wouldn't manifest at all)
> - something needs to be done to make it possible for applications
> to categorize themselves (like their directory structure would
> if there were one to begin with), so desktop menus dont have to guess.
> - that has been standardized quite stable and long now to be
> putting freedesktop.org ".desktop" files in also standardized locations.
> - if gui apps don't add a desktop file, thats most probably a bug
> (probably just a oversight from the author
> or they werent common back when the project was started)
> - if apps add desktop files and leave required lines out
> (yes, that means you, KDE), ...

not here: all the KDE apps show up in the menu where they should.

> ... that is a bug too and it is already quite hackish to remove them
> by blacklist from the xfdesktop menu

of course, there may be more than one  xxx.desktop  file for some apps.

> Now there are two ways to go:
> 1. put workarounds in for all those apps that dont install
> or install bad desktop menu entries
>   * manage blacklists for totally broken files
>   * manage renames
>   * manage tons of mappings
>   * maintenance effort to keep that stuff up to date
>   * add menu entries for console apps, foreign apps, wine emulated apps,
> ... where does it stop ?
> or:
> 2. just have the apps fixed
>   * no maintenance, no static lists, no hacks
>   * takes longer since the apps have to incorporate the fix
>     into their release cycle
> I stay with 2., and I believe its general consens to stay with 2..

i fully agree.

thanks for your careful explanation, which is usually what solves problems.

so my complaint re the desktop menu (4.1.90) resolves into two items:

  (1) there are a couple of spurious entries caused by apps
      which created  xxx.desktop  files when they shouldn't have:
	  BT has those files (sent off-list) & hopefully will blacklist them;

  (2) the auto-generator is not finding the  xxx.desktop  files for OOo :
      i will let BT know & see how he wants to handle it (if he has time).

one final gentle suggestion: it might help if your explanation above
-- in a more polished form (no criticism intended) -- were added
to Xfce 4.2 documentation, so that no-one else asks the questions i did.

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