bug#39646: GNOME desktop experience regressions

bug#39646: GNOME desktop experience regressions

[Andy Wingo]

Hello all,

In January I upgraded my machine after a long time not doing so.  Mostly
things went fine, which is great!  Some things didn't, though, so I
started looking.

One is that if I Alt-F2 and then run "~/Documents", I expect Nautilus to
open the folder.  Instead Baobab does.  This is because GNOME has
multiple applications are registered for the directory mime type, but
doesn't express a preference between them: it leaves this to the
distro.

That is the reason for the gnome-default-applications package, which
used to be installed as part of (service gnome-desktop-service-type).
However that is no longer the case; since
a8cda7f57992e9ce9ae4a694eba54e3eab42c39b, the "gnome" meta-package,
which is installed by the GNOME desktop, no longer includes this
package.

That led me to look and I think there are a number of other regressions:

  * pinentry-gnome3 is no longer included; this breaks use of GPG and
    GNOME

  * font-cantarell and font-dejavu are no longer included; probably not
    a good idea?

  * xdg-user-dirs is no longer included, which means that fresh installs
    likely no longer create the ~/Documents directories as they should;
    see c20cd0d24d9b5e8a47b864db9799e0992ffd44b9

  * I suspect that the removal of gnome-themes-standard and
    hicolor-icon-theme may also pose some problems but am not sure.

  * Likewise Guix users of the GNOME desktop service will probably want
    pulseaudio and zenity.

Now, I understand wanting the "GNOME" package to reflect exactly what
upstream says is part of GNOME.  Great.  But the desktop is a separate
thing.  Perhaps what we did before was an error in conflating the gnome
meta-package with the desktop; should we define a different metapackage
or package list for the GNOME desktop service?

Regards,

Andy

bug#39646: GNOME desktop experience regressions

[Raghav Gururajan]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1904 bytes --]

Hi Andy!

> That led me to look and I think there are a number of other
> regressions:
> 
>   * pinentry-gnome3 is no longer included; this breaks use of GPG and
>     GNOME
> 
>   * font-cantarell and font-dejavu are no longer included; probably
> not
>     a good idea?
> 
>   * xdg-user-dirs is no longer included, which means that fresh
> installs
>     likely no longer create the ~/Documents directories as they
> should;
>     see c20cd0d24d9b5e8a47b864db9799e0992ffd44b9
> 
>   * I suspect that the removal of gnome-themes-standard and
>     hicolor-icon-theme may also pose some problems but am not sure.
> 
>   * Likewise Guix users of the GNOME desktop service will probably
> want
>     pulseaudio and zenity.
> 
> Now, I understand wanting the "GNOME" package to reflect exactly what
> upstream says is part of GNOME.  Great.  But the desktop is a
> separate
> thing.  Perhaps what we did before was an error in conflating the
> gnome
> meta-package with the desktop; should we define a different
> metapackage
> or package list for the GNOME desktop service?

Thanks for your email.

Yes, I removed those packages from 'gnome' meta-package as it did not
reflect the upstream. I did it to avoid confusion on what to expect
when any user sees a meta-package named just 'gnome'. But you are
right, there is no one size that fits all. I am already working on to
create two different meta-packages 'gnome' and 'gnome-minimal'.

Also, packages like fonts and pin-entry can always be installed as
system package. Some packages like gnome-default-applications and
gnome-themes-standard are depracted by gnome project. Their contents
were moved to other gnome core packages.

I am still working on clearing all the hickups on gnome experience in
guix. I will look into whether dedicated meta-package is required for
desktop service.

Regards,
RG

[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 488 bytes --]

bug#39646: GNOME desktop experience regressions

[Raghav Gururajan]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2289 bytes --]

Hi Andy!

> > That led me to look and I think there are a number of other
> > regressions:
> > 
> >   * pinentry-gnome3 is no longer included; this breaks use of GPG
> > and
> >     GNOME
> > 
> >   * font-cantarell and font-dejavu are no longer included; probably
> > not
> >     a good idea?
> > 
> >   * xdg-user-dirs is no longer included, which means that fresh
> > installs
> >     likely no longer create the ~/Documents directories as they
> > should;
> >     see c20cd0d24d9b5e8a47b864db9799e0992ffd44b9
> > 
> >   * I suspect that the removal of gnome-themes-standard and
> >     hicolor-icon-theme may also pose some problems but am not sure.
> > 
> >   * Likewise Guix users of the GNOME desktop service will probably
> > want
> >     pulseaudio and zenity.
> > 
> > Now, I understand wanting the "GNOME" package to reflect exactly
> > what
> > upstream says is part of GNOME.  Great.  But the desktop is a
> > separate
> > thing.  Perhaps what we did before was an error in conflating the
> > gnome
> > meta-package with the desktop; should we define a different
> > metapackage
> > or package list for the GNOME desktop service?
> 
> Thanks for your email.
> 
> Yes, I removed those packages from 'gnome' meta-package as it did not
> reflect the upstream. I did it to avoid confusion on what to expect
> when any user sees a meta-package named just 'gnome'. But you are
> right, there is no one size that fits all. I am already working on to
> create two different meta-packages 'gnome' and 'gnome-minimal'.
> 
> Also, packages like fonts and pin-entry can always be installed as
> system package. Some packages like gnome-default-applications and
> gnome-themes-standard are depracted by gnome project. Their contents
> were moved to other gnome core packages.
> 
> I am still working on clearing all the hickups on gnome experience in
> guix. I will look into whether dedicated meta-package is required for
> desktop service.

Since I am working on further changes to GNOME in guix, I think it is
better to test it throughly altogether. So I have asked to reverse my
commits on meta-package (
http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=39648). That should
reverse the hickups you are facing. :-)

Regards,
RG.

[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 488 bytes --]