Random wonderings (Was: move klicker to kextragear)

[Aaron J. Seigo]

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On January 25, 2004 08:31, Frans Englich wrote:
> I guess I agree in large parts: The first layer is the technical
> infrastructure, not a complete DE but allows KDE apps to be run.

correct.. things like DCOP, XMLUI, kdecore and kdeui, kio, etc...

>  The second
> layer brings a DE which covers basic use for everyone - apps from kdebase,
> basic parts from kdemultimedia, kdegraphics, kdepim, kdenetwork.

not really; this is actually TWO layers put together: one is the desktop 
environment (kdesktop, kicker, kwin, ksplash, kcontrol) which are all 
contained within kdebase; the other layer is the applications.

i separate these two out because you can run the desktop env w/out the 
applications, and (more commonly) the applications w/out the desktop env 
(e.g. kmail or konqueror in a blackbox or windowmaker session). i also see a 
separation there because USERS see a separation there. this is because if one 
is running the desktop env layer, it will be (almost assuredly) all be KDE, 
whereas at the application level you may see a mix of technologies.

this separation is critical to understand when branding something as "KDE", 
since one may be running KDE as an environment to launch apps in and it is 
indeed "KDE", but one may also be running KDE as an environment for KDE 
applications.

it also makes it easier to move applications between the various application 
layers (which happens) without disturbing the definition of the less often 
altered infrastructure (Layer 0) and desktop (Layer 1) layers.

> On top of that, there is packages for special uses, such as kmusic,
> kdeadmin etc, not ment for everyone but it's there for those users who has
> specific needs.
>
> But, in this layout, which we pretty much agrees on(AFAICT), kdeutils most
> of all, doesn't fit in. I find the logic flawed, who wants kdeutils? Those

kdeutils fits in Layer 2 (a set of common applications to make KDE immediately 
useful to the bulk of KDE users). it includes a calculator, gpg manager, 
floppy formatter, wallet manager, etc. things that many people need, but 
don't necessarily qualify as "network" or "pim" or "graphics". apps that 
don't meet the "user to the bulk of KDE users" requirement perhaps should be 
moved out of kdeutils (though that can be annoying for packagers and users 
alike =) and into extragear.

> who wants a lot of utils? If we had a util package for each
> package(kdegraphics ie.) that would make more sense - somekind of extension
> to the packages(?). But right now it is a extension to the whole of KDE?

extension, or part of KDE's "Layer 2". things like a calculator which everyone 
needs, but doesn't really belong in kdebase or any of the other more specific 
modules.

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
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