What are the objectives for Xfce 4.4?

[Benedikt Meurer]

Biju Chacko wrote:
>>> * System Menu should be widgetized and should be fully fd.o compliant.
>>
>> Xfld already includes such a menu. But the important point here is to 
>> import the XdgDesktopCache into libxfce4util, so other apps like the 
>> file manager and the app finder, that require access to .desktop 
>> files, can share the same cache.
>>
>> In addition, we should IMHO ditch our simple menu xml format and use 
>> the menu-spec instead (with minor additions for the quit button and 
>> such). This means, the menueditor would need to be rewritten from 
>> scratch, with fd.o menu-editing (using Include, Exclude, Move, 
>> Deleted, etc.). I know that some people think that the fd.o menu-spec 
>> is cumbersome, and that its not trivial to implement a good parser and 
>> editor for the menu-spec. But thats IMHO the only way to provide a 
>> consitent, flexible and future-proof interface to the installed 
>> applications... just my 0.02€...
> 
> There seem to be many issues with editing the fd.o menu, but if it can 
> be made to then nothing like it.

It isn't really hard to write a menu editor for the menu-spec; in fact, 
the menu-spec offers some nice possibilities to make menu editing easier 
(from the user pov). Its all about sitting down, reading the spec, 
understanding the content, developing a solution and implementing it.

>>> * Move xfcalendar, xfterminal, xfmedia, mousepad into a separate 
>>> project called 'xfce applications'. Add all new utilities to this 
>>> project. Core probably already has all the modules that need to be 
>>> there.
>>
>> I disagree (and atleast for xterminal, there'll be no merge). This 
>> reduces the flexibility of the maintainers and increases dependencies 
>> for people that don't want all those applications. Simple example, you 
>> want to use xterminal, but don't want to use xfmedia, then you'd need 
>> to install xine as well, and vice versa, you'll need D-BUS (although 
>> this will be optional in the near future) and Vte, although you just 
>> want to use xfmedia.
> 
> You misunderstand me ... not necessarily a single package, but 
> definitely a separate project with separate objectives, timelines, etc. 
> Mixing user-type applications and desktop environment type stuff will 
> only cause focus to be diluted.

Indeed, I misunderstood you there. A separate project (or separate 
projects) for Xfce applications is really a good idea (Auke already 
proposed that idea some time ago). Another important point (or another 
aspect of the same point) is that we really need to reorganize the 
goodies, as the list of panel plugins is getting longer and longer, and 
it would better to have 5-6 categories of plugins (IMHO).

On a related note: Olivier also mentioned that it would be nice to have 
Python bindings for 4.4, and I fully agree here. For many small apps, 
its easier to hack up a python script, rather than fiddling with C or 
C++. Danny started to wrap parts of the Xfce API already, dunno about 
the progress tho. (Please open a new thread if we want to discuss this!)

> -- b

Benedikt