[Thunar-dev] Developing a new app for Xfce

[Alexandre Moreira]

2007/1/25, Stephan Arts <psybsd at gmail.com>:
> On 1/25/07, Jani Monoses <jani.monoses at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Similarly if Xfce devs worked together with file-roller upstream to have
> > it build with --disable-gnome,there could have been a lighter but mature
> > archiver for Xfce. Instead we now have two beta quality ones with code
> > and UI still in flux.
>
> Don't get me wrong about what i want to say.
> File-roller is a great application, everybody knows about it, and it
> is around long enough to have very little bugs left. It simply is
> 'the' standard Gtk archiver front-end.
>
> But...
> When we talk about performance and memory footprint, it follows Gnome
> standards, not Xfce's.
> These things seem second to features. Don't get me wrong, it is not a
> bad app. but it does use twice the memory squeeze and xarchiver use.
> Not to mention the speed.
>
> This is something which does not result from depending on Gnome
> libraries, it is a consequence of it's design. Not saying it is bad,
> but it is different from how we would do it.
>
> At this moment, file-roller still is the best app out there, simply
> because it does the job and it is reliable. In the mean while, i will
> continue to work on Squeeze, simply because i love to do it.
>
> As a developer, most of us know an application does not evolve over
> night, neither did file-roller nor any other piece of software (except
> perhaps 'Hello World').
>
> Just like any other man, i am re-inventing the wheel. And i think
> (like every programmer does about his own creations) i've found the
> way to make it round. I might succeed, or i won't. But in the end this
> is not important, because i was having fun doing it.
>
> Perhaps, what i am trying to say is... you are free to use
> file-roller. Just as free as you are to use Xarchiver, Xarchive and
> Squeeze. Each one is following their own path, and you can contribute
> to this by filing feature-requests, reporting bugs, or translating the
> app.
> Some people contribute without knowing they do, they just use it.
>
> All of these things are usefull, and help each of these applications
> to become better. Just do not try to make one become the other.
>
> But perhaps we stand on different sides of the code, development is
> both journey as destination to me. Not the just the means to an end,
> this is just a beautiful side-effect.
>

Dude, I have nothing to do with this discussion and this post will
probably only add to a big thread but I have to say, you hit the nail
on the head. Some people don't get the idea because they simply don't
feel that way and only see the software as the tool you're using (and
this *is* a fair view of the whole thing, you know).

But there is always some freaks out there (like me, and I bet I can
find a handful of those in any development mail list) for whom the
time spent in design and implementation is just as important as (some
times even more important than) the final product.

Come on, some times it is just a great fun to work on a software...
and having your own software :)

Regards,
Alexandre Moreira.

> Stephan
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