Link (impossibly generic systemsettings and system monitor): GNOME & KDE Developers Go To Battle Over A Name

[Peter Nikolic]

On Sunday 24 July 2011 02:30:56 Duncan wrote:
> GNOME & KDE Developers Go To Battle Over A Name
> 
> http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTY5OQ
> 
> Argh!
> 
> I've been saying both "system settings" and "system monitor" are
> impossibly generic names, all along!  Now this... how to put this
> politically correctly... "entirely foreseeable" namespace pollution and
> misrepresentation is coming home to rest!
> 
> Seems the short term solution (at least for the settings tools) as hashed
> out on the relevant lists is going to be dual names for both gnome and kde
> versions.  The native DE version (regardless of whether one is running kde
> or gnome) will be simply "system settings", while the other one will be
> labeled with the DE name.
> 
> But, the gnome folks don't (at least presently) show their settings app
> in other than gnome and unity anyway.  kde system settings is shown in
> all DEs because it's the way certain options in common to all kde apps
> are configured, and users may wish to configure them regardless of the DE
> they're running at the time.
> 
> So, in gnome, the gnome version will be system settings, while the kde
> version will be kde system settings.  In kde, the gnome version doesn't
> show up, and the kde version will be simply system settings.
> 
> I don't like that idea for a couple reasons.  One, an app should have a
> consistent identity to avoid confusion.  Two, as Emmanuele Bassi mentions
> on the thread (he also mentioned my first point, but less clearly I
> 
> thought, so I didn't quote him there):
> > the real solution is to make it unnecessary (or even conflicting) to
> > install the KDE system settings shell under a Gnome environment, and the
> > Gnome system settings under a KDE environment;
> 
> He explains...
> 
> > these are configuring the system settings, and you can hardly have two
> > systems running at the same time on the same machine.
> 
> Actually, you can; that's the whole point of virtual machines, where the
> system running inside the VM doesn't even necessarily know it's running
> in a VM, but the point is valid and is one I've made repeatedly on the
> topic myself: global settings should be global settings and shouldn't be
> confused with application (or DE specific) settings.
> 
> As he then states...
> 
> > applications should not be configured through the *system* settings;
> > and both system settings shell should configure the same services.
> 
> Exactly.  Why should I find settings applying only to kde apps in an app
> called system settings at all?  Those aren't system settings, they're kde
> settings, and recognizing and labeling them exactly that would have
> prevented this situation in the first place.
> 
> If I'm configuring system settings, they should apply to gnome and kde
> (and generic X and qt and gtk and tk and fltk and ncurses and CLI and...
> as well, where appropriate) universally.  If I'm configuring only kde
> settings, the name of the configuration tool (or dedicated category
> within a common tool) should reflect exactly that.
> 
> The same principle holds for user-specific vs system-global settings as
> well.  If it applies to only the current user, the name should reflect
> that.  If it applies to the system as a whole, including other users, the
> name should reflect /that/.
> 
> Simple namespace rules, really.  Devs have been working with them for
> years and the techniques for doing it right are well known and NOT
> particularly difficult.  Simply be scope aware and consistently choose
> names reflecting that.  It's NOT rocket science!
> 
> But regardless of my disagreement with the short term solution, it's
> quite fortunate this came up now, as the desktop summit is coming up and
> now that the subject has been raised and the principles laid down, it's
> quite likely that a reasonably decent longer term agreement can be
> hammered out there, or at least reasonable progress made toward that end.
> 
> It'll be interesting to watch as further developments occur in kde 4.8
> and beyond. =:^)

WHat was wrong with the old " Personal Settings "  name  as in KDE 3.x.x  i 
could never understand the need for change except to pre-empt this exact 
problem, After all  the settings in question are for the individual user so if 
user 1 logs out and user 2 logs in user2 may want/need different  stiings hence 
thay are not System but on a Per user basis  

Pete .
 
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