Redefining kdelibs and kdebase

[Christoph Cullmann]

On Saturday 27 August 2005 15:52, Maks Orlovich wrote:
> > The idea is to run the file dialog, print dialog, etc. out of process.
> > 'Our' implementation of the file dialog can reside in KDE workspace and
> > all that is in KDE framework is an interface to launch the dialog. On
> > Unix under KDE it could just do a dbus call to kded and fire up the
> > out-of-process file dialog. When running the KDE app under GNOME it could
> > use the same dbus interface to fire up the GNOME dialog. Under Windows
> > it'd do it like Qt: Use the windows dialog.
>
> You're forgetting that apps can and do customize the file dialog a bit.
> They do that with the the print dialog even more so --- see e.g.
> html-specific settings, syntax highlighting settings in kate, etc. And,
> IMHO, it would be awful if we lost functionality for /our/ platform to
> support ports to non-KDE desktops.
Same opinion here :)

The KDE project has the aim to provide a "desktop environment for 
linux/unices", not a addon lib to build apps merging into other desktops.

I don't think we should bend around our whole design of the libs just to have 
the possibility to use filedialogs of windows/mac/gtk/... in our apps and 
instead focus on making:

a) our desktop environment the most appealing on unices (or at least one of 
the two most appealing, matter of taste)
b) provide developers which want to develop KDE applications == applications 
aimed for the kde desktop with as good integration as possible, e.g.: 
customized file dialogs, ......
c) provide some wrapper lib to allow external apps, like pure qt apps to use 
the kde filedialogs and other stuff without linking to kdelibs stuff via 
dcop/dbus or whatever

I don't think we should lower the current really most outstanding thing we 
have in the kde project, our nearly perfect integration of our applications 
with OUR desktop to make it possible to have better integration on platforms 
where we will likely never have any success as desktop. Nothing against 
making kdelibs portable to mac/win, but I really don't see the need for e.g. 
KMail to use gnome file dialogs, you won't get the same integration ever back 
by gnome apps. 

(more personal sidenote: if we go that road, for no distro it would make sense 
to ship kde as the desktop, because as soon as one gnome app like evolution 
is in use, it will look out of place, but kde apps would run perfect 
integrated in the gnome desktop, I don't think this will help us as desktop 
project, that would degrade us to just provide some additional qt sugar for 
programmers)

cu
Christoph