Can we get a status update for 4.6?

[Nick Schermer]

2008/7/16 Jasper Huijsmans <jasper at xfce.org>:
> Hey guys,
>
> I was wondering what the overall status was of the Xfce 'platform'
> modules, that is the libraries and the new settings system.  I know
> I'm not of much use to Xfce currently, but at least I'd like to test
> the latest stuff.
>
> For starters, the design of the new config system is not completely
> clear to me. We have the following components:
>
> - xfconf
>  - xfconfd : settings store

Yeah, it's a dbus service handling the xfconf channels, storing it
to xml files in ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/

>  - xfsettingsd : XSETTINGS daemon. Data retrieved from xconfd?

Monitoring 1 channel of xfconf, the xsettings channel. It send the changes
(and on start: all) settings of the channel to X, so Qt/Gtk can handle
the changes.

> - xfce4-settings
>  - xfce4-settings-helper : I know I should just read the sources, but
> anyone care to explain to me what this does?

There xsettingsd handles all know xsetting settings (doh), this daemon (which
is not automatically started yet) handles all the other stuff, like
xkb, pointers,
shortcuts, accesibility... etc. Everything that's outside the xsetting scope.

>  - xfce4-settings-manager : collect the different settings
> executables and present a single dialog with the available options

Yup, collects settings desktop files of all the executables created in
the dialogs/ dir.

> BTW, as far as I can tell, xfwm4 is the only module that still depends
> on xfce-mcs-manger, is that correct? I know there a bug, tracking the
> progress here, so I'll see if I can use those patches to get a
> rudimentary mcs free system ;-)

Well not entirely, xfce4-settings-manager is only collecting desktop files
installed in a directory outside the 'normal' applications directory, so
for example xfce4-panel does not show up in the settings dialog, because
it's not installing a copy of the normal desktop file in the settings directory.
($prefix/share/xfce4/settings-dialogs/

I voted for looking the the applications directory and showing all applications
in the 'settings'/ category, but nobody had a clear opining on that...

> The other thing is that I'm not entirely sure about the state of the
> GUI libraries: libxfcegui4 vs. libxfce4ui. Can we remove one of these
> yet, or is that post-4.6?

libxfce4ui is post 4.6, no component is using it yet.

> I have a little bit of free time the next two weeks, so I'll see if I
> can fix a bug or two (I haven't completely abandoned Xfce, you
> know...)

Good, I'll commit some fixes to xfce4-panel this Friday so you can at least
test these ;-).

Nick