GNOME Desktop

GNOME Desktop

[Dexter Morgan]

   Hi,

   How can I use GNOME Core Applications
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Core_Applications) that are
   missing in Guix System? I am quite frusturated and disappointed with
   the GNOME Desktop in Guix. I can't even use a music player or a
   calendar. I thought I do not have deal with additional applications if
   I use a Desktop Environment, but it seems GNOME Desktop in Guix is
   incomplete. :(. Are there any tricks to enable and use these missing
   applications please?

   Thanks.

Re: GNOME Desktop

[pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)]

On Sun, May 05, 2019 at 03:38:15PM +0200, Dexter Morgan wrote:
>    Hi,
> 
>    How can I use GNOME Core Applications
>    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Core_Applications) that are
>    missing in Guix System? I am quite frusturated and disappointed with
>    the GNOME Desktop in Guix. I can't even use a music player or a
>    calendar. I thought I do not have deal with additional applications if
>    I use a Desktop Environment, but it seems GNOME Desktop in Guix is
>    incomplete. :(. Are there any tricks to enable and use these missing
>    applications please?
> 
>    Thanks.

You can type in the terminal:

guix install gnome-calendar

This should become part of guix’ gnome package.  That it is missing is
a bug.

Some core applications have not been packaged yet, but alternatives
have been packaged already, e.g. when entering

guix search photos | less

you can see that shotwell is packaged, even though gnome-photos is
not.

Regards,
Florian

Re: GNOME Desktop

[Ricardo Wurmus]

pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> writes:

> On Sun, May 05, 2019 at 03:38:15PM +0200, Dexter Morgan wrote:
>>    Hi,
>> 
>>    How can I use GNOME Core Applications
>>    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Core_Applications) that are
>>    missing in Guix System? I am quite frusturated and disappointed with
>>    the GNOME Desktop in Guix. I can't even use a music player or a
>>    calendar. I thought I do not have deal with additional applications if
>>    I use a Desktop Environment, but it seems GNOME Desktop in Guix is
>>    incomplete. :(. Are there any tricks to enable and use these missing
>>    applications please?
>> 
>>    Thanks.
>
> You can type in the terminal:
>
> guix install gnome-calendar
>
> This should become part of guix’ gnome package.  That it is missing is
> a bug.

Is it really?  I do like that we can choose to install only the
essential parts of GNOME without having to install packages that we may
not need.

Perhaps this could remain configurable.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: GNOME Desktop

[pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)]

On Sun, May 05, 2019 at 10:13:38PM +0200, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
> pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> writes:
> > You can type in the terminal:
> >
> > guix install gnome-calendar
> >
> > This should become part of guix’ gnome package.  That it is missing is
> > a bug.
> 
> Is it really?  I do like that we can choose to install only the
> essential parts of GNOME without having to install packages that we may
> not need.
> 
> Perhaps this could remain configurable.
>

In this case, maybe there should be a gnome-minimal package.
Personally, I don’t like epiphany and use my own gnome package
propagating the same packages but without epiphany.

Regards,
Florian

Re: GNOME Desktop

[Mark H Weaver]

Hi Dexter,

"Dexter Morgan" <dextermorgan@asia.com> writes:
>    How can I use GNOME Core Applications
>    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Core_Applications) that are
>    missing in Guix System? I am quite frusturated and disappointed with
>    the GNOME Desktop in Guix. I can't even use a music player or a
>    calendar.

I'm sorry to hear it.

FWIW, we have a large selection of music players in Guix.  Two that are
built on GNOME libraries include 'rhythmbox' and 'lollypop', but there
are many others, too many to list here.

For calendaring programs, we currently have 'gnome-calendar' and
'evolution', and possibly others.

>    I thought I do not have deal with additional applications if
>    I use a Desktop Environment, but it seems GNOME Desktop in Guix is
>    incomplete. :(. Are there any tricks to enable and use these missing
>    applications please?

Simply install your preferred applications to your user profile, or
alternatively you could add them to the 'packages' field of your system
profile.

It's possible that our GNOME desktop should include more programs by
default.  Can you tell us specifically which programs you think should
be added?

In the area of music players and calendars, I suspect that no matter
what choices we make here, a large percentage of our users will not want
our default choices.  Most people seem to have specific programs that
they prefer to use, and there's not much agreement in these areas.

Moreover, sadly, I get the impression that most of the younger
generation prefer to use web-based Services as a Software Substitute
(SaaSS)[1] for their music and calendaring needs.

So, if we add a default music player and calendar, I suspect that for
many (if not most) users, those defaults will merely be unwanted bloat.
Some users will ask how to remove the defaults, to avoid repeatedly
downloading substitutes for programs they don't want, which will be
awkward.

Given this, it seems a reasonable choice to let users explicitly install
their preferred programs.  Does that make sense?

What do you think?

    Regards,
      Mark

[1] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.en.html

Re: GNOME Desktop

[Ricardo Wurmus]

pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> writes:

> On Sun, May 05, 2019 at 10:13:38PM +0200, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
>> pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> writes:
>> > You can type in the terminal:
>> >
>> > guix install gnome-calendar
>> >
>> > This should become part of guix’ gnome package.  That it is missing is
>> > a bug.
>>
>> Is it really?  I do like that we can choose to install only the
>> essential parts of GNOME without having to install packages that we may
>> not need.
>>
>> Perhaps this could remain configurable.
>>
>
> In this case, maybe there should be a gnome-minimal package.

This seems like a good idea.  Users of the gnome-service-type could swap
out “gnome” (which would default to including all packages the GNOME
developers deem to be part of a recommended GNOME installation) for
“gnome-minimal”.

Shall we discuss the details at bug 35586?

--
Ricardo

Re: GNOME Desktop

[Timothy Sample]

Hi,

"pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> writes:

> On Sun, May 05, 2019 at 10:13:38PM +0200, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
>> pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> writes:
>> > You can type in the terminal:
>> >
>> > guix install gnome-calendar
>> >
>> > This should become part of guix’ gnome package.  That it is missing is
>> > a bug.
>> 
>> Is it really?  I do like that we can choose to install only the
>> essential parts of GNOME without having to install packages that we may
>> not need.
>> 
>> Perhaps this could remain configurable.
>>
>
> In this case, maybe there should be a gnome-minimal package.
> Personally, I don’t like epiphany and use my own gnome package
> propagating the same packages but without epiphany.

I agree.  It would be nice to have an minimal package and
bells-and-whistles package.

While checking some things for GNOME 3.30, I (inadvertently) made a list
of all the “core” GNOME software that we are missing.  I thought I would
post it here just for the record.  I don’t know what all of these are,
but some of them look ripe for packaging.  :)

    gnome-boxes
    gnome-characters
    gnome-color-manager
    gnome-contacts
    gnome-documents
    gnome-font-viewer
    gnome-getting-started-docs
    gnome-initial-setup
    gnome-logs
    gnome-menus
    gnome-music
    gnome-online-miners
    gnome-photos
    gnome-software
    gnome-themes-extra
    gnome-user-docs
    gnome-user-share
    gnome-weather
    gssdp
    gupnp
    gupnp-av
    gupnp-dlna
    gupnp-igd
    libgepub
    libgovirt
    libgrss
    libmediaart
    mm-common
    mousetweaks
    phodav
    rygel
    sushi
    tracker-miners
    vino


-- Tim

Re: GNOME Desktop

[sirgazil]

---- On Sun, 05 May 2019 22:41:26 -0500 Timothy Sample <samplet@ngyro.com> wrote ----

 > Hi, 
 >  
 > "pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> writes: 
 >  
 > > On Sun, May 05, 2019 at 10:13:38PM +0200, Ricardo Wurmus wrote: 
 > >> pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> writes: 
 > >> > You can type in the terminal: 
 > >> > 
 > >> > guix install gnome-calendar 
 > >> > 
 > >> > This should become part of guix’ gnome package.  That it is missing is 
 > >> > a bug. 
 > >> 
 > >> Is it really?  I do like that we can choose to install only the 
 > >> essential parts of GNOME without having to install packages that we may 
 > >> not need. 
 > >> 
 > >> Perhaps this could remain configurable. 
 > >> 
 > > 
 > > In this case, maybe there should be a gnome-minimal package. 
 > > Personally, I don’t like epiphany and use my own gnome package 
 > > propagating the same packages but without epiphany. 
 >  
 > I agree.  It would be nice to have an minimal package and 
 > bells-and-whistles package. 

I'd like that to have that option to install the whole GNOME experience easily.