kmix -> kdebase

[Christian Esken]

Am Dienstag, 21. Juni 2005 14:13 schrieb Stephan Binner:
> Hello,
> 
> in my opinion kmix belongs as central desktop functionality into kdebase. Its 
> maintainer is "slightly pro" about this move. Any other opinion to kick this
> discussion of about the 'if' and if yes with which release (3.5 or 4.0)? :-)

Hello,

as maintainer of KMix I'd like to speak up now - I couldn't do it earlier, as I was extremely busy. But OTOH this gives me a nice chance for a summary. :-)
First, a big "Thank you" to Stephan for the proposal.

Four major points have been touched, and I'd like to comment them in this one mail instead of replying individually:

1) Version discussion: I agree to Aaaron - it should be done in KDE4, not 3.5. Package structure changing should IMO only be done on major releases (if there is no urgent need for that). But here the package maintainer(s) should raise their voices, because they have most experience here.

2) KMix Applet vs Systray Icon: As argumented in this thread (e.g. Boudewijn Rempt, Nathan Olberding), many users (Mac, Gnome, Win) expect an mixer icon in a well-defined place. This means for us the Systray. Thus I don't think it would be wise to change this.

3) Applet Size: 
>> Besides, kmixapplet here actually takes about as much space as a systray icon, and it shows two
>> channels, which is two more than the systray icon. 
> yeah, if you kill the other 2^N channels =)

This used to be different in former versions. KMix did only show "useful" controls. With ALSA the situation did get extremely complicated, as it heavily depends on the Soundcard, which Controls are "useful".
The situation is regrettable, but will change to be better with KMix 3 / KDE4. KMix will then support soundcards profiles, which can also define which Controls are "useful".

4) Direct feedback: Thers is already a wish about direct feedback in the Systray icon. Either with 0-3 "waves" in front of the speaker or as a small "bar".

All in all I am very pleased about the positive response. I didn't expect this after Stephan Binners proposal. If there is no technical difficulty (maintaining Multimedia configure checks in kdebase *and* kdemultimedia), I do also agree to a move (in KDE4).

I have one additional argument, why putting KMix in kdebase could be a good idea: Several applications like KMilo or KAlarm use KMix via DCOP. So there is a dependency from those apps to kdemultimedia. I am planning a Mixer Service for KDE4, which is indepenent from any KMix GUI.

  Christian

-- 
Is UNIX ready for the Desktop? See http://www.kde.org
KDE Developer: esken at kde.org