Formal complaint concerning the use of the name "System Settings" by GNOME

[Martin Gräßlin]

On Sunday 24 July 2011 14:12:21 Aurélien Gâteau wrote:
> If there is no need for KDE System Settings on a Gnome desktop, then
> adding a OnlyShowIn=KDE; key to the desktop file would be appropriate.
> If on the other hand there is a need for KDE System Settings on a Gnome
> desktop, then Shaun solution is correct IMO and we should start to think
> about adding support for OnlyShowIn to KCM desktop files, because it
> makes no sense for example to be able to define Plasma Desktop wallpaper
> when running on Gnome.
Technically seen systemsettings lives in kde-workspace which means it is only relevant to 
the KDE Plasma Workspaces. Non Workspace applications should not depend on its 
availability and if they require it, I would consider this as an application bug. E.g. the 
mentioned kinfocenter is a Workspace app.

Kcmshell on the other hand, which is required to run a single KCM, lives in kde-runtime and all 
KDE applications can rely on it being around. So an application having an external KCM can 
even be configured if systemsettings is not around. E.g. fonts can be configured using 
kcmshell4 fonts
even without systemsettings.

Given that, I agree with Aurélien that the most appropriate solution is to not show our KDE 
Plasma systemsettings in a non Plasma environment (with the exception of Microsoft 
Windows).

I find this whole discussion rather depressing, especially the fact that it ended up on 
Slashdot&Co. Let's try to take something out of it and try in future to discuss such points 
each other before possible harm is done. This of course applies to both KDE and GNOME 
developers :-)

Cheers
Martin Gräßlin

KWin Maintainer
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 198 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part.
URL: <http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-core-devel/attachments/20110724/a822b069/attachment.sig>