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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    VFolder .desktop Files Proposal
From:       Waldo Bastian <bastian () kde ! org>
Date:       2002-02-01 1:19:02
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I would be interested to hear your opinion on the following proposal:
	https://listman.redhat.com/pipermail/xdg-list/2001-November/000196.html

"Problem:
--------

There are two main problems with the way current .desktop files are handled.

  1) No standardized location
  2) Structure of a menu/display is set by the location on disk

This proposal is to extend the standard to allow a VFolder like capability
to .desktop files and add a standard location to read desktop files from.

Why are these a problem?

1) is a problem because 3rd party developers don't know where to install
their desktop files for them to be picked up by the menus and filemanagers of
the respective desktops.  Right now there are some somewhat standard
locations (such as Redhat's /etc/X11/applnk) but those are distribution
specific.

2) is a problem because it is not possible to change the layout of the menus
without adversly affecting 3rd party developers.  It is also not possible
for users and system administrators to edit the menu layout and still allow
new applications to add themselves at the proper location.  Imagine for a
moment that we would suddenly aquire 50 new xeyes type applications which
previously lived in Applications/.  It would be nice to have new versions
of each desktop come with an Eyes/ menu subdirectory, but 3rd party xeyes
will still install in Applications/ leaving the user rather confused."

I would especially like to hear feedback from packagers of distributors like 
Mandrake and SuSE who make their own modifications to the KDE menu.

Cheers,
Waldo
-- 
bastian@kde.org  |   SuSE Labs KDE Developer  |  bastian@suse.com

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