Subject: pkgsrc automagic menu generation using .desktop files (was Re: distcc-gtk)
To: Julio M. Merino Vidal <jmmv84@gmail.com>
From: Geert Hendrickx <geert.hendrickx@ua.ac.be>
List: tech-pkg
Date: 06/14/2005 18:21:46
On Tue, Jun 14, 2005 at 05:35:16PM +0200, Julio M. Merino Vidal wrote:
> [ discussion about including a .desktop file in distcc-gtk ]
> 
> The thing is that we will add a framework to pkgsrc to generate menus
> for whichever window manager you have installed.  So, if someone
> chooses distcc-gtk, he will want to see it in the menu (be it fluxbox,
> wmaker or whatever); hence, the need for it.  (Or for example, if you
> are a KDE user, you'll probably prefer distcc-gtk over distcc-gnome,
> and you'll want your application to appear in the menu.)

Well, I'm all PRO the idea of having window manager menus automatically
generated by pkgsrc (in a consistent way across window managers) !  

But would we rely on .desktop files provided by the packages source
itself?  This would imply adding one when there is none, or patching it
if it doesn't meet our requirements, etc...  

I would opt for an abstract pkgsrc framework.  Some extra variables in
the packages Makefile, or a MENU (or call it DESKTOP) file in each pkg
directory, containing all the necessary information.  We could define
the structure of it ourselves, and package maintainers could stil
consult the package's own .desktop file when generating the MENU file
(this could even be automated?).  

I volunteer to help developing such thing.  But not alone.  Were there
volunteers for the menu-generation framework already?  

GH

-- 
:wq