How to handle KDE not respecting YOUR distros requirements?

[Eric Hameleers]

On Fri, 25 Mar 2016, Martin Graesslin wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I stumbled over a blog post by a KDE distro packager and want to do a verbatim
> quote of one section:
> "[] does not have a steenking systemd you crazy KDE developer"
>
> I can see there some frustration about Plasma requiring systemd and the distro
> not wanting that. First of all: that's not the case, we don't have any
> dependency on systemd. We have a few runtime dependencies to logind's dbus
> interface (like in this case) and are extremely open to other solutions. For
> example the repository in question also supports consolekit2.
>
> Now what's wrong with the approach in the blog post:
> 1. It creates an us vs. them! Let's not do that, let's work together to solve
> problems. E.g. by raising concerns on this mailing list
>
> 2. Insults don't help your case! If you call devs crazy you don't have to be
> surprised that your distro's use case will be ignored. After all I'm crazy ;-)
> Also it doesn't support your wish to have more supported than logind.
> Reactions like that just manifest the feeling that the non-systemd people are
> a crowd of people which cannot do anything except yelling. Sorry to be that
> blunt.
>
> 3. If your distro doesn't follow what 99 % of all other distros do, don't
> expect we write code for it!
>
> In the case of e.g. logind it's relatively easy: no Plasma dev is using a non-
> logind system. Don't expect that we go the extra mile to support the minority
> cases. If you want to have something else supported, write the code and submit
> patches. We are happy about them. We don't care whether you use logind,
> consolekit or yabadabadu. If there is code for it, we can integrate it.
>
> But please don't expect that new code will consider anything than what is used
> by the vast majority of our users. Don't start jumping around because of that,
> but help us to support more.
>
> Thank you!
> Martin

Thank you for affirming your moral superiority, again.

A few posts ago there was a lot of brouhaha about the realization that 
KDE developers should take care not to leave the BSD's in the cold - 
and the next moment you are telling me that Slackware (which is what 
we are talking about) is to blame for not accepting systemd and that 
all the consequences are for us because you are not going to support a 
minority Linux distro?

Way to go Martin.

We will do our best to *not* adopt systemd; that is reality. At the 
same time we will try our best to deliver a solid Plasma 5 experience 
and I wrote a Slackware Live Edition carring Plasma5 to invite people 
to a Slackware environment with this great DE... but posts like yours 
mocking other people's architectural decisions are always 
disappointing fodder to start the weekend with.

Bottom line: I am not a code developer, you are. I expect you to cover 
the corner cases and then I will create the packages and our users 
will do the testing, and give the feedback. Ignoring distros that 
keep you out of your comfort zone is not a good thing.

For completeness' sake, here is the article Martin quoted without 
providing the source:
http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/kde-5_16-03-for-slackware-current/ and 
the outcry was caused by this error message on a non-systemd 
distribution: "the screenlocker is broken... please execute the 
command loginctl unlock-sessions".

Screenshot - 
http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/kscreenlocker_broken_plasma-5.5.5_20160312.png

And a more complete quote would be:

"""
Not much else to mention at this time, but I would like to hear from 
people who experience a strange screenlock behaviour. I managed to get 
this once in a virtual machine after leaving the Plasma5 session idle 
for prolonged time after which the screenlocker activated. WTF!!!! 
Slackware does not have a steenking systemd you crazy KDE developer.
"""

I do not see how this is an insult, sorry Martin.

-- 
Eric Hameleers <alien at slackware.com>
Home: http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/