On Thu, 11 Sep 2003, [adilz] wrote:

> Mandrake has used a menu links location (/usr/share/applnk-mdk) that is 
> different from the default KDE menus (/usr/share/applnk).

If the user doesn't change the default, by running menudrake, and changing 
to using the original menus. Have you tried that?

> This is a major issue and could relegate desktop Linux to the wastebasket if 
> not standardized upon. 

Well, even worse is the fact that by default, the menus in the two 
competing default desktops are totally inconsistent, and that they cannot 
be edited confortably and have both desktops reflect the changes. The menu 
system works around this deficiency.

>No Linux distribution should expect third party 
> developers to create different versions of their installers to take care of all 
> the distributions out there.

Such developers are few and far between, Mandrakesoft provides packages 
for the majority of the products the majority of the user base uses, and 
the community supports the users of proprietary software (in how to add 
entries to the menu).

> The menu location should be standardized and the 
> KDE default location can be used by all Linux distributions.

And what about users who use GNOME, WindowMaker, IceWM? Or, do you think 
it is more feasible to support 11 desktops/window managers instead of one 
menu standard (currently shared by Debian and Mandrake)?

> If not, third 
> party software installers will not create links in the KDE "start" menu.

Tough. The use of menudrake is covered in the documentation in the distro.

> 
> I verified this with CodeWarrior 6 and there were no links created in the 
> Mandrake menus. Links were however, correctly created in the default KDE menu 
> path. Installing OpenOffice after downloading from the OpenOffice.org site also 
> does the same.

Does it install menus for the other 11 window managers avaialble in the 
distribution.

> I would strongly suggest using the same location as KDE does for menus. 
> Mandrake can add items and folders to that standard location and build the 
> applnk-mdk menus there.

And how do you propose ensuring that these menus do not get removed when 
the new ones are rebuilt?

Sorry, but the problem is upstream. All the desktops should support the 
standards for menus as specified int he freedesktop.org specifications. 

Until then, it is impossible to satisfy everyone completely. Mandrake 
provides easy to use solutions for both strategies, but defaults to using 
a single consistent menu across desktops. If you install so much software 
that it is such a waste of your time to create menu entries, swap to using 
the original menus using menudrake.

@resolution=invalid

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