Ubuntu Wiki

• Created: Date(2005-12-13T12:45:06Z) by JaniMonoses

• Priority: NeedsPriority

• People: JaniMonoses, NeedsSecond

• Contributors: JaniMonoses

• [https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/xubuntu-roadmap-dapper]

Summary

Xubuntu Roadmap for Dapper

Scope

This page covers the xubuntu-dapper tasks to accomplish in order to meet our main goal - getting ubuntu-express/install CDs out for Dapper.

Implementation

Artwork

• DONE: we have nice usplash, proposed wallpapers and gdm theme
• TODO: somebody qualified volunteering to oversee artwork direction
• TODO: upload/integrate all current work and get more proposals

Documentation

• DONE: Julio has written a nice about-xubuntu ff start page which is packaged in xubuntu-docs
• TODO: somebody qualified volunteering to oversee xubuntu doc writing
• TODO: get doc people to use ubuntu-docs svn and go on freely with writing xubuntu docs.

Internationalization

• TODO: collect feedback from people from various locales and see what xfce/xubuntu lacks in this respect
• TODO: check out the ubuntu langpacks and how they are relevant to us
• TODO: establish contacts and help xfce upstream i18n team with getting 4.4 in shape wrt translations if needed

Sync with debian unstable (ongoing task)

Current status: we already have reduced the diffs between us and debian with the 4.2.3.2 sync, but there are still packages which diverge. Most of it is noise though, not real diffs. http://utnubu.alioth.debian.org/scottish/by_maint/pkg-xfce-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org/

• DONE: sync newer exo and thunar when they are uploaded to debian.
• TODO: push upstream our packages which they don't have (notably some xfce-goodies) (some done, some more to go)

I am a pkg-xfce member on alioth now, so I can help out in their svn.

Promoting packages to main (ongoing task)

Xubuntu packages need to be in main so the CD build infrastructure works with them and so they can be supported in ubuntu-updates and ubuntu-security.

• DONE: main inclusion reports for core xfce packages written and enqueued, pending review (by pitti probably)
  • (Jan 17: pitti has reviewed and approved most packages, goodies are still pending)
• TODO: respond and correct the issues raised during review
• DONE: sync exo from debian (see above) as having it come from there makes the review process more straightforward and less risky.

App selection

The key apps we need to be usable are listed here. For more details go to XubuntuProposedPackages

Display manager

• gdm seems like the best choice as it is used by ubuntu, has lots of features, looks ok and is actively maintained upstream. Xdm/Wdm/Slim/qingy were considered but dropped for various reasons - ugliness, lack of features, immaturity, lack of ubuntu integration and not least nobody advocating them actively enough. This is a task still open for experimenters who can convincingly argue for one of the alternative DMs. The main point against gdm is it not being lightweight enough but that seems to be changing

• TODO: see below - building it w/o gnome deps

Volume manager

• most likely ivman. It is already in main as it was used by kubuntu until 5.10.

• DONE: wait for new upstream version which includes specifying alternate config dir so we do not mess up current setting in /etc. Upstream promised this week.
• DONE: ivman config files uploaded as part of xubuntu-default-settings.
• DONE: wait for my main upload privileges to take effect and I can upload new ivman itself.
• TODO: Daniele proposed a python script to replace/complement ivman, need to discuss this.

Default file manager

• thunar.
• DONE: wait for it to come in through debian

Miscellaneous hacks

• TODO: evaluate writing printer/network config apps for xfce using gtk and system-tools-backend
• TODO: integrate with laptop hotkey-setup
• TODO: fix logout dialog to not require password, and to work with power-manager (suspend/hibernate buttons)
• TODO: integrate hwdb-client, update-manager, update-notifier (these all have various gnome deps so may be tricky)

Only packages without gnome dependencies in xubuntu-desktop

A contentious subject, but lacking more scientfic data to be able to differentiate between heavy and light apps one guideline is 'no gnome dependencies'. Obviously also no kde/mono/java deps either. Actually I have used exmap, so there is some scientific data but on the machine I am developing on (1,73GHz, 512M) using an additional 4-5 Meg or loading 29 additional .so objects does not seem to make a visible difference. It probably does on lesser hardware.

• TODO: gdm w/o gnome.

gdm uses very few gnome functions calls. I built a gdm w/o gnome deps and sent part of the changes upstream a week ago. No response yet, I will follow up shortly with the rest of the changes. (Dec 13 update: upstream took the patches and released them as part of 2.13.0.3, and seems to go in the same de-gnomifying direction, so luckily we won't have to have a forked gdm in xubuntu)(Jan 6: as of 2.13.0.4 only gdmsetup uses gnome libs but this still means the gdm package installs them)(Jan 17: 2.13.0.5 is totally gnome-free, waiting for it to be packaged)

• TODO: evince w/o gnome.

Built and runs fine, needs packaging and upload. Waiting for upstream 0.5.0 to be released to do this.

• TODO: gnumeric w/o gnome

both libgoffice and gnumeric have --without-gnome config options (they have a win32 port) upstream debian packager said he would accept clean patches to make gnumeric-gtk binary debs too.

Xfce version to use

Initial goal was using 4.4 since it was supposed to come out by April. However Xfce upstream is divided whether that release will be stable enough to base a distro on by that time. Still an ongoing research

• 4.2 pros
  • already packaged/used/tested since Hoary
  • stable
  • translations very complete
• 4.4 pros:
  • really nice new features in the wm and the panel especially

Colaboration with Xfce upstream

Need to investigate whether ubuntu can offer anything besides user feedback to Xfce. Maybe rosetta could be pitched to their i18n team but I don't know much about rosetta's maturity. They use bugzilla and svn so LP is probably not tempting either, especially not at this stage. Once bzr is default we'll import their svn anyway for testing purposes.

Other specifications relevant to Xubuntu

Espresso, specifically the gnome ui https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/ue-gnome-ui

Desktop specification https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/dapper-desktop-plan (particularly regarding what to have in the menus, logout dialog icons instead of radio buttons)

Edubuntu - for a lighter version

Other things

Contact ubuntulite and see if we can colaborate better than we do now. They have done some good research on lightweight apps. We could have icewm in xubuntu too as an option, as it is small, so a nice default install of ubuntu + icewm may cover at least part of ubuntulite goals. Must see how to incorporate their more intrusive changes without diverging from ubuntu core, but probably this will come with the price that the system won't be as lightweight as theirs. Maybe we could have a set of utilities which turn a xubuntu into an ubuntu lite (i.e boot directly into X w/o a DM, remove some uneeded services)

• (Jan 6): A few Ulite people contacted and seemed interested so far , let's see if something comes out of this. (Jan 17): nothing on this front so far.