Bug#484656: debian-policy: .desktop files have are a freed..

Package: debian-policy
Severity: normal


For freedesktop.org compliant window managers .desktop files under /usr/share/applications are considered the preferred method of creating menu entries, and these entries are what are used for the main menu in these desktops. The problem is that this is what the debian menu was supposed to be, but because of this development the debian menu is rarely used and not very helpful in window managers like gnome, to the extent that downstream ubuntu doesn't even have the debian menu unless you work at it.

Also, for gnome users, the debian menu is not HIG-compliant AIUI.

I use XFCE, but the main menu is based on the .desktop files, and I only use the Debian menu for packages that haven't gotten around to shipping a .desktop file.

..desktop files should probably be Debian policy because they are what the window managers expect and it is a cross-distro standard.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental'), (1, 'unstable'), (1, 'testing'), (1, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.24-1-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_CA.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash



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On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:55:45 -0400, Daniel Dickinson
<cshore.RemoveThis@fionavar.ca> said:

> For freedesktop.org compliant window managers .desktop files under
> /usr/share/applications are considered the preferred method of
> creating menu entries, and these entries are what are used for the
> main menu in these desktops. The problem is that this is what the
> debian menu was supposed to be, but because of this development the
> debian menu is rarely used and not very helpful in window managers
> like gnome, to the extent that downstream ubuntu doesn't even have the
> debian menu unless you work at it.

> Also, for gnome users, the debian menu is not HIG-compliant AIUI.

> I use XFCE, but the main menu is based on the .desktop files, and I
> only use the Debian menu for packages that haven't gotten around to
> shipping a .desktop file.

> .desktop files should probably be Debian policy because they are what
> the window managers expect and it is a cross-distro standard.

Not all the window managers supported by Debian can use .desktop
files -- but every one of them can use the Debian Menu files to create
a Menu. Thus the Debian menu system becomes an broader system than
just .desktop files, and supporting just those would be a
regression. (Ubuntu regularly restrictions options available to users,
but Debian has always been about providing choices, and these different
philosophies means that the Ubuntu example is not really
applicable. Ubuntu's choices are sometimes not the right choices for
Debian).

If we already have package maintainers supplying menu
information in the Debian menu format, there seems to be no reason to
ask them to duplicate this information in a .desktop file as well. It
is far better to create the .desktop files as needed from the menu
file, rather than leave non-desktop-environment window managers out in
the cold.

Secondly, if this pat of policy should be changed, what needs to
happen first is to identify the window managers that cannot read
.desktop files, create a means for creating a menu system for them
using .desktop files, and ensure that the whole menu hierarchy gets
translated correctly, figure out how too transition from all packages
providing menu files to all packages providing .desktop files, and get
a buy-in for such a transition (which might include any enhancements to
the menu structure and classifications for freedesktop, like those
implemented in the menu policy now). Then, and only then, in my
opinion, would this be ready for inclusion in policy.

manoj
--
This is your fortune.
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta.RemoveThis@acm.org> <http://www.golden-gryphon.com/>
1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C



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