VFolders isn't a standard yet

[Glynn Foster]

Hey,

>   (1) menus should be editable by sysadmins, by modifying a file or
> files, not by rearranging directory structure.
> 
> I'm not sure why this is important, particularly since a menu editor
> provides an implementation abstraction.  What makes it preferable to
> sysadmins to modify files rather than move files?  I'm curious about the
> feedback you have received which leads to this conclusion.

By modifying a file it allows you to pull in menus from elsewhere -
http, ftp, ssh, nfs, ldap etc. and allowing the system administrator
easier control over it. To my mind, it seems a cleaner solution. While
having a menu editor might solve this issue, forcing the system
administrator to use a UI isn't good.

> > Let me repeat, the vfolder spec *only* contains 2 things -
> > 
> >         a) agreement on a standard location for .desktop files
> >         b) addition of the 'Categories' key in the .desktop file and
> >            suitable values for this key.
> 
> What are these "suitable values"?  Is there a draft of the specification
> for that?

Yes, these values were included in the 'proposed' vfolder spec. George
was looking for feedback for these values and they certainly shouldn't
be considered a definitive list.

> Is this key then mapped to an actual submenu on a distribution-specific
> basis, or will this key actually constitute the submenu for the
> application?

Currently, the way it works in GNOME, the .vfolder-info file specifies
which menu items should appear based on the Categories. Each submenu
query within this .vfolder-info file is associated with a .directory
file. It's a little hard to explain without going into too much detail.
I wrote a dtd for this file which you can see -

http://cvs.gnome.org/bonsai/cvsblame.cgi?file=gnome-vfs/doc/vfolder-info-spec.dtd&rev=&root=/cvs/gnome

> How are translation issues addressed for the key, if there is some
> mapping, since the project translation team will not be able to provide
> a translation of the menu folders any longer?

The Categories field in the .desktop are not translatable. They are a
fixed set of values that should describe the position of the item in the
menu.


			See ya,
				Glynn ;)