How to get to Xfce 4.4

[Erik Harrison]

On 1/8/06, Jasper Huijsmans <jasper at xfce.org> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> So, here we are, it's 2006 and we need to start getting serious about
> releasing Xfce 4.4 if we want to do the release in February.
>

Right right

> Desktop
>
> For me this includes xfce4-session, xfce-mcs-manager/plugin, xfce-utils,
> xfwm4, xfdesktop, xfce4-panel, xfprint, xfce4-mixer, xfce4-appfinder and
> I think xfce4-mailwatch-plugin (Brian, what is your opinion?).
>

If you are hedging Brian, mailwatch addresses almost everyone's
problems and complaints with mailcheck, and mailcheck is pretty
standard for the panel. I'd really like to see mailwatch included for
that reason.

> * The panel is now feature-complete, I believe. What it needs now is
> testing in as many situations as possible, especially multi-screen
> setups. There are a number of problems in that area i am aware of and
> will try to fix as soon as possible.
>

I'll update now

> * Another thing to look at is which plugins should be included with the
> panel. Someone suggested to add the show-desktop plugin and I think
> maybe the windowlist plugin. Then we will have all window management
> plugins as part of the panel.

I like both of those suggestions

>
> * The panel will need a new default configuration before 4.4, which
> could require some translations as well. This is one of the last things
> to decide though.
>
> * The trigger launcher and xfce4-eyes-plugin should be moved to the
> goodies project, IMO.

If you're waiting for someone to cheer you on, consider yourself cheered ;-)

>
> * I don't now if xfprint and xfce4-appfinder need any work. Danny is
> busy porting xfce4-mixer to the new panel framework. The mailwatch
> plugin seems to work very well.
>
> Applications
>
> * There are a number of application that should release along with the
> desktop. Definitely that includes Orage, xffm and hopefully thunar.
>
> * Other possibilities are xfmedia, mousepad and xfburn, but they don't
> necessarily have to be released at the same time as the desktop.

I'd like to make a mousepad release at 4.4 time. Whether or not I do,
and what it looks like depends to some degree on whether or not exo
will be in 4.4, or external to it.

Thoughts?

>
> All
>
> * I think what we need most is people checking out SVN and report
> problems. It needs to work in as many situations as possible.
>
>
> Translations
> ============
>
> It is always difficult to say when is the best time to start translating
> new code. We are at the start of a testing period (I hope ;-) and this
> may show problem in the interface that require string changes.
>
> On the other hand, the modules should be more or less feature complete
> now and there are a lot of strings to translate, so it might be a good
> idea to start translating now.
>
> At least developers should probably start notifying xfce-i18n of string
> changes.
>
>
> Documentation
> =============
>
> Oh dear. Traditionally I have been very involved with the documentation,
> together with Francois. However, Francois is extremely busy with real
> life and I just started a new job, so I don't know how much time I will
> have.
>
> The panel needs completely new documentation and also the window manager
> has changed quite a bit because shortcut handling is now in a separate
> mcs plugin.
>
> If no-one volunteers to help, I will do the panel documentation myself,
> but I don't think I will have the time and energy to do other
> documentation.
>
> Ideas about how to make it easier for people to help out with
> documentation (using a wiki, maybe?) are very welcome.
>

I'd like to help with Docs, but I'm terrible with time management. If
the docs were in a wiki, it'd lower the barrier to entry considerably.

>
> Website
> =======
>
> Xfce has grown from being a desktop project with a single website to
> being a platform with many sister projects: goodies, i18n, installers,
> thunar, xfmedia, mousepad, xffm, ... It would be very nice to have some
> consistency between all the related web sites.
>
> The Xfce website could perhaps do with a little freshening up to better
> help our users find what they need.
>
> I have been playing a little with php and css to see if it would be
> possible to recreate the Xfce site layout with only css and in a
> slightly more maintainable way. Check the result at
> http://www.loculus.nl/xfce/new.xfce.org/ . It is missing most of the
> content, only 'Home' and 'About' have some ;-) I have tried to reduce to
> number of toplevel links to make things a little easier to find.
>
> As an example of what I believe is a well layed-out website take a look
> a www.freebsd.org, especially other pages than the front page: a small
> number of toplevel sections with a side bar  menu for subsections.
>
> It would be nice to have a small team to take care of the maintainance
> of the site, hopefully together with Francois. Someone probably needs to
> have a look at what kind of information we have to show and how this can
> best be presented.
>

I'm a web developer for a living, and I am irked somewhat by the state
of the website(s), so this would be a natural thing for me to step up
and take care of. Unfortunately, I simply can't right now.

This is only going to happen if someone stands up and makes it their
quest to unify things.

>
> Other Xfce Projects
> ===================
>
> I'd like to see Xfce develop further towards a small desktop project
> with a number of independent subprojects that provide additional
> functionality. It should be easy to find links to these projects on
> xfce.org.
>
> www.xfce.org
> - i18n.xfce.org
> - goodies.xfce.org
> - xffm.xfce.org
> - thunar.xfce.org
> - orage.xfce.org    | maybe some smaller applications could better
> - mousepad.xfce.org | be part of goodies.xfce.org or even
> - xfburn.xfce.org   | applications.xfce.org
> - xfmedia.xfce.org
> - forum.xfce.org
> - wiki.xfce.org
> - xfce-look.org
> - bugzilla.xfce.org
>

Mousepad doesn't need it's own page - yet. What's the status of
directory.xfce.org? I'd like to see everything go there.

>
> Ok, now, all of this won't happen without people actually taking time to
> work on it. And this has always been our problem :(
>
>
> Me
> ==
>
> Now for me personally things have changed a bit because of the new job.
> I will not have as much time for Xfce and I will need to limit myself to
> the panel and maybe some related library work.
>
> I need someone to manage and coordinate the plugins on the xfce goodies
> project as well as handle the possible move to the xfce server and
> update of the website. I'd like to propose Nicolas Masse for this job,
> if he agrees, and maybe some other active goodies developers to help
> out, like Fabian Nowak and Nick Schermer (or anyone who volunteers).
>

Seconded.

>
> Maybe it would be nice if all developers would reply to this mail with a
> indication of what they plan to do before 4.4.
>
>
> Phew! I need a coffee now. Or two.
>
> cheers,
>         Jasper
>
> PS
> When you reply it might be a good idea to only quote the parts that are
> relevant ;-)
>
> PPS
> Sorry for the spam, I hope it will be good for something.
>
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>


--
Erik

"If Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at the age of 22, it
would have changed the history of music... and of aviation."