en/glep/glep-0016.txt

GLEP: 16
Title: Gentoo Menu System
Version: $Revision: 1.4 $
Last-Modified: $Date: 2004/05/04 17:52:27 $
Author: Heinrich Wendel <lanius@gentoo.org>,
Status: Draft
Type: Standards Track
Content-Type: text/x-rst
Created: 09-Sep-2003
Post-History: 04-Oct-2003, 11-Dec-2003, 13-Dec-2003, 4-May-2004

Definitions
============

   *APP*
      A graphical application that should be listed in the menus.
   *WM*
      A program containing a menu manager (i.e. a program that can display a menu, e.g. a windowmanager).


Abstract
========

This GLEP handles a proposal for the following two goals:

* Create a common menu layout, which would be independent of the WM.
  This point is quite important for those people who use more than one WM. 
* Provide a common way to add applications to the menus.


Motivation
==========

GNOME, KDE, Fluxbox, to name only a few, have all their own ways of handling
menus. There have been several requests [1]_ [2]_ [3]_ [4]_ [5]_ [6]_ from
users to streamline these menus. Furthermore there are several bug reports
about applications not having a menu entry [7]_, but since there is not
standard way to create such an entry, they are just sitting around in
bugzilla.


Rationale
=========

The idea of a common menu system is not new to the Linux world, every big
distribution (Debian, Mandrake, RedHat, Suse) has such a system. The big DE's,
KDE and GNOME, with the help of freedesktop.org [8]_, are also trying to
implement one standard. That will most likely happen in GNOME 2.6 and KDE 3.2
(Currently they are only implementing different versions of the
desktop-entry-spec, but interpreting it in an incompatible way).  But there
are still many other WM's that currently don't support these specs.  So we are
trying to base our work on the specifications GNOME and KDE are going to use.
(These are no official standards but evolving specifications). This has the
following advantages:

* follow specified standards
* i18n support
* provide the necessary flexibility and modularity 
* integrate with small changes to our ebuildtree.
* support for per system and per user menus


Specification
=============

We are trying to follow these specifications:

* Desktop Entry Specification [9]_
* Menu Specification [10]_
* Icon Theme Specification [11]_

There are two libraries that offer an API to these specifications:

* PyXDG [12]_ (written in python)
* Desktop File Utils [13]_ (written in C)

Our goal is to patch the WM's with the help of these libraries to support the
specifications. APP's then only have to install a .desktop entry [9]_ and
optionally an icon and will be listed in all menus. This installation could
easily be done by two portage commands (domenu, doicon).


Implementation / Status
=======================

This GLEP exists for a long time now, still it is not accepted. I will outline
the current status:

* KDE 3.2 (x86) supports this specification
* GNOME 2.6 (~x86) support this specification
* domenu[12_] has to be included in portage to be used by the ebuilds to
  install a desktop entry
* Somebody needs to write patches for the other WM's:

We should focus on adding support to the following WM's first:

* xfce, blackblox / fluxbox / openbox / waimea / kahakai, icewm
* fvwm, windowmaker, enlightment, afterstep

The following are not so important, but support some kind of applications 
menu:

* aewm / aewm++ / evilwm / windowlab / oroborus, amiwm, ctwm, flwm
* golem, larswm, pekwm, plwm, pwm, qvwm, selectwm, treewm, trwm
* vtwm, xpde


Credits
=======

Based on suggestions from former discussions on the gentoo bugzilla,
mailinglists and forums.


References
==========

.. [1] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5510
.. [2] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10429
.. [3] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4884
.. [4] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25797
.. [5] http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=66754
.. [6] http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=263106#263106
.. [7] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25756
.. [8] http://www.freedesktop.org
.. [9] Desktop Entry Specification
   [http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/desktop-entry-spec/0.9.4/]
.. [10] Menu Specification
   [http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/menu-spec/0.8/]
.. [11] Icon Theme Specification
   [http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/icon-theme-spec/0.7/]
.. [12] PyXDG
   [http://www.freedesktop.org/software/pyxdg]
.. [13] Desktop File Utils
   [http://www.freedesktop.org/software/desktop-file-utils]
.. [14] domenu
   [http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25756]


Copyright
=========

This document has been placed in the public domain.
1	liquidx	1.1	GLEP: 16
2			Title: Gentoo Menu System
3	g2boojum	1.5	Version: $Revision: 1.4 $
4			Last-Modified: $Date: 2004/05/04 17:52:27 $
5	liquidx	1.1	Author: Heinrich Wendel <lanius@gentoo.org>,
6			Status: Draft
7			Type: Standards Track
8			Content-Type: text/x-rst
9			Created: 09-Sep-2003
10	g2boojum	1.5	Post-History: 04-Oct-2003, 11-Dec-2003, 13-Dec-2003, 4-May-2004
11	liquidx	1.1
12			Definitions
13			============
14
15			APP
16			A graphical application that should be listed in the menus.
17			WM
18			A program containing a menu manager (i.e. a program that can display a menu, e.g. a windowmanager).
19
20
21
22			Abstract
23			========
24
25			This GLEP handles a proposal for the following two goals:
26
27			* Create a common menu layout, which would be independent of the WM.
28	g2boojum	1.2	This point is quite important for those people who use more than one WM.
29	liquidx	1.1	* Provide a common way to add applications to the menus.
30
31
32
33			Motivation
34			==========
35
36			GNOME, KDE, Fluxbox, to name only a few, have all their own ways of handling
37			menus. There have been several requests [1]_ [2]_ [3]_ [4]_ [5]_ [6]_ from
38			users to streamline these menus. Furthermore there are several bug reports
39			about applications not having a menu entry [7]_, but since there is not
40			standard way to create such an entry, they are just sitting around in
41			bugzilla.
42
43
44
45			Rationale
46			=========
47
48			The idea of a common menu system is not new to the Linux world, every big
49			distribution (Debian, Mandrake, RedHat, Suse) has such a system. The big DE's,
50	g2boojum	1.2	KDE and GNOME, with the help of freedesktop.org [8]_, are also trying to
51	liquidx	1.1	implement one standard. That will most likely happen in GNOME 2.6 and KDE 3.2
52			(Currently they are only implementing different versions of the
53			desktop-entry-spec, but interpreting it in an incompatible way). But there
54	g2boojum	1.2	are still many other WM's that currently don't support these specs. So we are
55			trying to base our work on the specifications GNOME and KDE are going to use.
56			(These are no official standards but evolving specifications). This has the
57			following advantages:
58	liquidx	1.1
59			* follow specified standards
60			* i18n support
61			* provide the necessary flexibility and modularity
62			* integrate with small changes to our ebuildtree.
63			* support for per system and per user menus
64
65
66
67			Specification
68			=============
69
70	g2boojum	1.2	We are trying to follow these specifications:
71	liquidx	1.1
72	g2boojum	1.2	* Desktop Entry Specification [9]_
73			* Menu Specification [10]_
74			* Icon Theme Specification [11]_
75
76			There are two libraries that offer an API to these specifications:
77
78			* PyXDG [12]_ (written in python)
79			* Desktop File Utils [13]_ (written in C)
80
81			Our goal is to patch the WM's with the help of these libraries to support the
82			specifications. APP's then only have to install a .desktop entry [9]_ and
83	g2boojum	1.3	optionally an icon and will be listed in all menus. This installation could
84	g2boojum	1.4	easily be done by two portage commands (domenu, doicon).
85	liquidx	1.1
86
87	g2boojum	1.4	Implementation / Status
88			=======================
89
90			This GLEP exists for a long time now, still it is not accepted. I will outline
91			the current status:
92
93			* KDE 3.2 (x86) supports this specification
94			* GNOME 2.6 (~x86) support this specification
95			* domenu[12_] has to be included in portage to be used by the ebuilds to
96			install a desktop entry
97			* Somebody needs to write patches for the other WM's:
98
99			We should focus on adding support to the following WM's first:
100
101			* xfce, blackblox / fluxbox / openbox / waimea / kahakai, icewm
102			* fvwm, windowmaker, enlightment, afterstep
103
104			The following are not so important, but support some kind of applications
105			menu:
106
107			* aewm / aewm++ / evilwm / windowlab / oroborus, amiwm, ctwm, flwm
108			* golem, larswm, pekwm, plwm, pwm, qvwm, selectwm, treewm, trwm
109			* vtwm, xpde
110
111	liquidx	1.1
112			Credits
113			=======
114
115	g2boojum	1.2	Based on suggestions from former discussions on the gentoo bugzilla,
116			mailinglists and forums.
117	liquidx	1.1
118
119
120			References
121			==========
122
123			.. [1] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5510
124			.. [2] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10429
125			.. [3] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4884
126			.. [4] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25797
127			.. [5] http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=66754
128			.. [6] http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=263106#263106
129			.. [7] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25756
130			.. [8] http://www.freedesktop.org
131			.. [9] Desktop Entry Specification
132			[http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/desktop-entry-spec/0.9.4/]
133			.. [10] Menu Specification
134	g2boojum	1.2	[http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/menu-spec/0.8/]
135	liquidx	1.1	.. [11] Icon Theme Specification
136			[http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/icon-theme-spec/0.7/]
137	g2boojum	1.2	.. [12] PyXDG
138	g2boojum	1.3	[http://www.freedesktop.org/software/pyxdg]
139	g2boojum	1.2	.. [13] Desktop File Utils
140			[http://www.freedesktop.org/software/desktop-file-utils]
141	g2boojum	1.4	.. [14] domenu
142			[http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25756]
143	liquidx	1.1
144
145			Copyright
146			=========
147
148			This document has been placed in the public domain.