New file manager (WAS Re: xffm)

[edscott wilson garcia]

El lun, 31-01-2005 a las 22:00 +0100, Olivier Fourdan escribió:
> Hi Edscott, everybody,
> 
> On Mon, 2005-01-31 at 08:31 -0600, edscott wilson garcia wrote:
> > So I'd say, "use rox and wait until 4.3.1 to give the xffm iconview a
> > try".
> 
> Ok, I tend to disagree. I don't think xffm should become any more
> complex. I mean, it's already far too complex.

Yes, I agree it is too complex. I'm currently decomplexing it (which is
in itself a complex task). 

> 
> What I'd love to see is a very basic simple icon view based file
> manager, to tree view, no plugins, no samba, no nothing but simple file
> management.

That is what I have in mind for the iconview. If you delete (or do not
install) $prefix/lib/xfce4/xffm-plugins you will get a simple file
manager with no samba, no plugins, no nothing but simple file management
(currently you cannot delete the fstab module, but that will change).

For simplicity, I am thinking of no toolbars and no main menu. Only drag
and drop and popup menu. That means that the iconview you get when you
execute xfce4-fm is basically as far as it goes.

> 
> Ideally, I think it should be started from scratch, and designed from
> the ground up with both user interface and code maintainability in mind.
> 

The iconview code I've written so far (libs/gridview*) was started from
scratch. The treeview code will be moved aside soon. All the extra
functionalities will be enclosed in selfcontained optional modules (as
Jasper once suggested), because if I throw my work away I lose all
incentive to keep working. 

> Create the necessary GTK widgets (only if needed), keep the code simple
> and clear, etc.
> 
> I would also love to see others developers take part of it - I would
> myself like to help if possible.

I've announced the iconview at CVS since days after the 4.2 release, but
so far I have received no comments on the look and feel. Seems that
everybody is too short on time. 

> 
> And if you want my point, this should be the only strong goal of Xfce
> 4.4. That's why I'd like to see as many devs involved as possible. Let's
> put all of our (little) energy in this.

Actually, that's the goal I have for xffm, but I'm targetting 4.3.1
because 4.4 is too far away. Development release tarballs will be hosted
at sourceforge.net (to not worsen the $/bandwidth issue at xfce.org).
These are my plans:

4.3.1: (March-05). Iconview release (gridview). The only thing in the
core is local file management (basic). Everything else (find, samba,
fstab, etc.) will be in selfcontained modules which may or may not be
installed. The treeview will still be around in a library somewhere. 

4.3.2: (May-05). At this stage the iconview and treeview will be
separate programs. Both will use the same libraries for local file
management (basic) and for loading plugins (only used if installed by
the user). 

4.3.3: (July-05). Fixed-window iconview release. IOW, icons on the
desktop (unless Brian has come up with something sooner). Much of the
gui basics for this I have already tested. Merging the current desktop
menu stuff and background management seems quite a challenge and might
not be completed, so don't on the certainty of 4.3.3.

Also, I intend to keep the translation freeze and compatibility to 4.2.0
libraries. I appreciate any help offered, as well. 

 


regards,

Edscott

ps. I wish I could go to FOSDEM, but can't :-( someone needs me here. 

-- 
edscott wilson garcia <edscott at xfce.org>