GNOME Window Manager (fwd)

Waldo Bastian bastian at ens.ascom.ch
Fri Dec 11 02:23:03 PST 1998


Robert Current wrote:
> 
> Is there a mailing list to discuss the founding of a GUI standardization
> effort!?
> 
> I realize it doesn't belong on this mailing list.... And, I also know
> some others would like to start talking too!

It would be nice to have a private mailinglist for this indeed. Then we
can try to get a select number of people of the various projects on it 
so that we have a common communication channel. Hopefully we can then
work in a constructive way towards some common goals.

As a name for the list I would like to propose "Unix Desktop
Compatibility".
That seems to be general enough not to exclude things/people/projects
on beforehand.

The role of this list (this is a proposal only):

"Act as a common communication channel between projects related to the
Unix Desktop."

Goals we want to achieve with this list (this a proposal only):
"Produce standards which are acceptable to the involved projects and
which will be/have been implemented by the involved projects, limited to
standards
which enhance the compatibility between binary programs/modules and
which
are related to the Unix Desktop" 

An _example_ to clearify this:

    If I have everything installed what it takes to run a GNOME 
    environment on my computer and I have everything installed 
    what it takes to run a KDE environment I want to be able to
    run parts of KDE in GNOME and vice versa without touching a 
    compiler.

Two notes:
    Standards only have a meaning if people are willing to commit
    themselves to it. Nobody is in the position to enforce a standard.

    It is not a goal to produce code or libraries or APIs to 
    libraries. The various projects are very capable of doing
    that themselves in ways most suited to their project.
    
If we indeed manage to produce/agree on some standards it would be 
nice if we could publish them at a place with some autorithy. RFCs 
come to my mind, but I guess RFCs are limited to Internet related
standards. The lsb seems to be the next best thing.

Cheers,
Waldo Bastian
bastian at kde.org
-- 
Linux, The Choice Of A GNU Generation.



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