Bug#707851: Please do not remove menu before .desktop is fixed (if it ever will be)
* Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org> [130512 12:55]:
> Le dimanche 12 mai 2013 à 12:36 +0200, Bernhard R. Link a écrit :
> > Some points for a having menu files:
> >
> > - it is supposed to include all programs, and does
> > not do choices like "you don't want that program"
>
> In my opinion, this is an anti-feature. A menu is not some random place
> to shove all your programs. It is a key part of the user interface, and
> needs to be thought as such.
Both "show everything" and "show only what we think you would want" are
both features. Both have their pros and cons. If one of them has to be
named "anti-feature" then I'd nominate anything that hides stuff from me
or makes the menu different with the different Environments.
I really love how with the Debian menu the menu simply looks the same
with every environment. I can just point people where to find a program.
Everything is in there and everything looks the same everywhere. That's
really nice if you admin some university computer lab where people use
two dozen different environments.
> > - it can express features modern DEs lack (like switching
> > between different environment without closing programs).
>
> This is the perfect example of an anti-feature. Who needs that? What is
> the use case?
I think you use a different definition of "anti-feature" than everyone
else. "Anti-feature" does not mean "I do no like it".
> Selection should be done once from the login manager, in
> the real world no one needs to dynamically switch WMs.
I do so regulary. Different systems have their ups and downs and
switching them on the fly if some program has problems with one of
them really makes you get the best of all worlds.
> All in all I don’t see why we couldn’t just drop menu altogether or
> replace it by a XDG menu implementation. In all cases, it doesn’t have a
> place in the policy anymore.
I'm not opposed to dropping menu and using XDG menu implementation. But
then we should have a policy that XDG menus only do ShowOnlyIn= if there
is a technical reason something does not work and not only because the
maintainer thought "not interesting for others". Then everything that
can be started via a menu should have a menu entry.
As I doubt we can get that easily, it might be just best if everything
has their debian menu entry so .desktop does not need to be pestered
with all the "anti-features" you do not like.
Bernhard R. Link
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