On Sat, Oct 29, 2005 at 02:25:51PM -0600, Dave Loftis wrote: > I think that the idea of a spiderweb of dependencies in the core of an > operating environment is a bad idea. A system like Gnome ought, in my > opinion, to depend only on X on other *ux core libraries, and on > things that it builds itself. Creating dependencies to multiple coding > environments (e.g., Python or hypothetically Java, etc) will create > problems as those dependencies change, and as Gnome changes.
It is the duty of the distribution to ensure that those dependencies are handled in a clean way. GNOME upstream has decided to allow new modules programmed in Python into the desktop release. Considering the political issues regarding Mono and Java, this seems a wise move to me, as there definately seems to be a need for a high-level language. > I would like to be able to yank out of Debian packages only the core > functionality of Gnome. I don't really want Games or most Widgets and > stuff. Install the relevant packages then, possibly rebuilding some stuff without Python or other stuff. Debian optimizes for the common user, not for power-users who should know their way around and be able to customize their desktop anyway. Or rather, it makes sense to ship a sane and feature-complete GNOME desktop by default, while you can remove modules according to your taste if you wish so (or have external constraints like storage restrictions). > I want the Gnome core (which, in a much further investigation) does > not have Python in it, This statement will be false by the time Etch releases, at least for some values of "the Gnome core". > Really, though, the decision seems to be at Gnome, not here, though. Indeed. Michael -- Michael Banck Debian Developer [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.advogato.org/person/mbanck/diary.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
