Hello, the progress for the gtk frontend for cdebconf is stalled because of some nasty issues. I need some help/suggestions of how to tackle these problems:
Plans were to base the frontend on the framebuffer library libdirectfb. First efforts were successfull, the basic functions could be implemented. Problems arised with two features which are absolutely necessary: - Bring up a shell - Provide the user with an error log libdirectfb does not support vt switching, so I searched for a possibility to use a graphical terminal. There are terminal widgets for gtk (vte, zvt) but they require the X target of gtk, so they will only work with an X server. To display the log output in a gtk window, I came to the conclusion that I needed threads. If control goes to some udeb postinst which produces an error, the frontend code must be in control to actually display it (gtkmain). Another approach was to use a small X server; I did some experimenting with kdrive. I built it myself using http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/kdrive.html Unfortunatly the X server crashed when trying to switch vts :-/ However, I could use the gtk terminal widgets here. But also here I would need threads, which, when introduced leaded to #192925. There are opinions that this error is related to xlibs or glibc. Now I am running out of possibilities. I would be glad if anyone knew of another solution. In case that the question arises why to put effort into a graphical frontend anyway: In my opinion a graphical frontend has some advantages: - Although the current implementation is not more feature rich than any other frontend (except that it is the only frontend that is able to display several questions at once) I believe that it can be enhanced to be a really more powerful alternative to the other frontends. I have not dived into it yet, but a Martin has brought up an idea to create something configlet-like. - New users are pulled away from debian because of an "ugly" installer. While the most of us know that this perhaps is nonsense, we should not ignore the fact. Thus I would like to continue the project of a graphical installer if someone brought up a solution/workaround/whatever to the above problem. Regards, Sebastian Ley -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
