Move kppp away from kdenetwork

[Ian Wadham]

On Monday 16 August 2010 10:32:46 am Eckhart Wörner wrote:
> Am Sonntag, 15. August 2010, 22:55:00 schrieb Albert Astals Cid:
> > Unless you have data saying it doesn't work, what's the reason of
> > removing something someone might be using, remember KDE is used my
> > millions of people.
> 
> in the last years, especially with the first release of the 4 series, we
> removed a lot of things people were actually using. Remember, KDE Software
>  is used by millions of people, so every feature is used by someone,
>  therefore this argument shouldn't count. ;-) <snip>
> 
It is a matter of scope of decision-making versus scope of effect, an
old programming conundrum.  In this present context, you and others
have the power to decide to withdraw a piece of software.  Whether
you do so or not should depend on the likely effect on users, *not* on
weak arguments about whether you have withdrawn stuff before and got
away with it or whether anybody maintains it or wants to maintain it.

In this case, the effect could be that some users might install KDE and
find that they cannot connect to the Internet.  It's not like they are losing
the mouse odometer or something like that.  So you should make sure
there is an acceptable substitute and that attempts to use kppp point
users in that direction, i.e. provide a stub in its place.

At the risk of uttering heresy in a source-code oriented environment, another
alternative might be to provide a binary of the working code, thus avoiding
having to compile it along with the rest of the source-code all the time.

Also, in my view, you are under an illusion about KDE 4.  I believe it is a
good desktop system, though the version I use and entrust my business
and finances to (4.3.5) is somewhat flaky, but harmlessly so.  However,
IMO it has set the cause of application programming for KDE back by
several years, perhaps fatally so, by generating an enormous peak in
system-generated "maintenance", to the extent that some application
programmers are weary and dispirited.  No operating system can survive
long without a strong body of applications programs and a cohort of
willing recruits to program them, no matter how "cool" it looks.

All the best, Ian W.