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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: feature idea - feedback wanted
From:       Paul Campbell <paul () chromatic ! com>
Date:       1999-02-14 6:05:21
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On Sat, 13 Feb 1999, Patrick D. Dowler wrote:

>* the reason that I call these "hacks" is that if you install KDE in a 
>standard unix network enviromment - for use by users -  you end 
>up disabling or removing a fair number of things. I just don't think 
>such things should be appearing in the menus of normal users.
 
I think there is a correctb place for these sorts of things - it's in the
control panel - but what we also need is a mechanism where
things are automatically included/left out of the control panel
depending on whether or not the user is able to change them
or not. 

A good example is the "Login manager" that shouldn't appear 
in the panel unless the user is root.

At the moment I'm working on a Linux laptop control panel moving
my battery monitor in there from a standalone application and adding a number
of other environmental controls. How about extending kcontrol
so that the .kdelinks for the control panes have a field like

	Exists=<some command>

(like the current 'Init=' field)

If this field doesn't exist the the pane is included, if it does
the command in it is executed and if successfull the pane is included, 
otherwise it's excluded - well written panes will now only show up
when they are usefull and will not be present at other times.

The laptop pane I'm writing is a very Linux specific sort of thing
that shouldn't be in a 'general' KDE distribution - however a number of
my users are pushing me to get it included there. Is there a mechanism 
for files that only get built in certain environments? (Should
there be a Linux specific module, a Solaris one etc? in much the
same way there is currently a redhat one?)

     Paul Campbell

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