Xfce task manager prototype

[Mike Massonnet]

2010/4/26 Landry Breuil <landry.breuil at gmail.com>:
> On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 3:05 PM, Mike Massonnet <mmassonnet at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Something else has made noise more than once, the possibility to share code
>> between the panel plugins. Currently we have a system monitor, a netload
>> plugin, and a cpugraph (if I'm not mistaken.) Do you have a call on this?
>
> A common library for that would be nice, and libgtop is far from
> working fine on !linux. Its code is not really understandable, and the
> doc is nothing more than the autogenerated one.
> Isn't it possible to merge all those in a single package, with a
> common lib/api for xfce4-taskmanager and the
> 'put-all-monitors-together'-panel-plugin ?
> Iirc frivoal talked about that once he'd had finished what he planned
> for cpugraph. Currently systemload, netload and wavelan plugins don't
> see any development as they are more or less feature complete, but
> they each have their own os-dependent code. All that should really be
> in a single panel plugin, or at least separate plugins but sharing a
> common lib to access system values.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6410/xfcesystemtoolsforpanel.png

I picked up the “system-tools” that exist currently within the panel
and attached them to their respective tasks. Only two of them request
the same data (cpu-graph and system-load) but nonetheless, all of them
have a very similar design (we can speak of cloned designs.) ;-)

So what I see workable is one new project, preferably not copying the
existing code but still picked up as needed, to have a mix of all of
them, with a static library for requesting the “data” (usually with
support for several UNIXes) and providing the GUI elements. For
example all of them can reuse a monitor instead of/and/or a simple
meter/progress bar, and having this in one place will simply introduce
convenience to make consistent user interfaces.

I really don't want to see any kind of shared library and very likely
recommend the use of a static library. So that is a no for sharing
code between this possible new project and the existing task manager;
unless someone knows a solution to use a static library cross git
components. Maybe the git-sub-modules-what-not can be used to build
stuff from the static lib in the task manager... We will have to see!

@frivoal: If the new project should be created, I suggest it to be
named after “monitor” f.e. xfce4-system-monitors-plugin.

> Landry



-- 
Mike