Bug#921705: gnome: Please do not override debian-xterm.desktop file
Has there been any move towards a consensus?
I read the bug linked to by the menus.blacklist file. While I don't think
Ubuntu is correct in how confusing the Xterm desktop file would be for
their users, I get that "simplicity" is part of their brand.
Debian, however, is not Ubuntu. From a Debian user's perspective, Xterm's
desktop file not working when the package is installed is confusing. Can we
please not attempt to second-guess what users want when they install xterm?
Note that Debian doesn't do anything similar for Thai X Terminal,
Multilingual Xterm, or any other terminal packages besides Xterm.
Or, at the least, can we make this something that is easily discovered and
fixed? The Gnome Menus blacklist doesn't appear to be mentioned anywhere in
Debian's Xterm documentation:
$ zgrep -i blacklist $(dpkg -L xterm)
$
Further, a local admin who does find the menus.blacklist config would be
wary of editing it for fear of causing an upgrade conflict in the future
requiring manual intervention. ("Configuration file changed by you or a
script. What would you like to do about it?")
Ubuntu's GNOME maintainer, Jeremy Bicha , suggested a
reasonable solution in bug #856858: create a separate package called
xterm-desktop which contains just the .desktop files for Xterm. It can be a
Recommended but not Required package so Ubuntu can simply choose to ship
without it by default, but if a user installs it by hand they'll get the
appropriate desktop files. Since it wouldn't be a config file, local admins
would not suffer from potential conflicts during package updates. And, by
including it explicitly in the package system, local admins might have half
a chance of discovering it and installing it even if the documentation is
not improved.
Thank you for your consideration,
Ben
On Tue, Feb 12, 2019 at 5:48 PM Laurent Bigonville wrote:
> On Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:24:58 -0800 Ben Wong
> wrote:
>
> > Dear Maintainer,
>
> Hello,
>
> [...]
> >
> > It turns out that some part of Gnome is creating a *second* desktop
> > file which disables the first one by setting NoDisplay = True. This is
> > extremely frustrating and unnecessary. The file is
> > /usr/share/gnome/applications/debian-xterm.desktop
> >
> > I would like to tell you which part of Gnome is the culprit, but
> > `dpkg -S` on the file says it doesn't belong to any packages.
> >
> > I can understand that certain distributions derived from Debian —
> > those which believe minimalism equates to simplicity — may wish to
> > hide "redundant" functionality like `xterm`. However, it doesn't make
> > sense to hide xterm from Debian users. And if it did, it certainly
> > should not be implemented in such a hard to discover way.
>
> [...]
>
> The preferred solution to fix this is to modify the
> /etc/gnome/menus.blacklist (that file controls the mechanism applying
> the blacklisting) and then run the gnome-menus-blacklist command.
>
> There is not real consensus in the team about changing this ATM
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Laurent Bigonville
>
>
Bug#921705: gnome: Please do not override debian-xterm.desktop file
On Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:24:58 -0800 Ben Wong wrote: > Dear Maintainer, Hello, [...] > > It turns out that some part of Gnome is creating a *second* desktop > file which disables the first one by setting NoDisplay = True. This is > extremely frustrating and unnecessary. The file is > /usr/share/gnome/applications/debian-xterm.desktop > > I would like to tell you which part of Gnome is the culprit, but > `dpkg -S` on the file says it doesn't belong to any packages. > > I can understand that certain distributions derived from Debian — > those which believe minimalism equates to simplicity — may wish to > hide "redundant" functionality like `xterm`. However, it doesn't make > sense to hide xterm from Debian users. And if it did, it certainly > should not be implemented in such a hard to discover way. [...] The preferred solution to fix this is to modify the /etc/gnome/menus.blacklist (that file controls the mechanism applying the blacklisting) and then run the gnome-menus-blacklist command. There is not real consensus in the team about changing this ATM Kind regards, Laurent Bigonville
Bug#921705: gnome: Please do not override debian-xterm.desktop file
Package: gnome Version: 1:3.22+3 Severity: normal Dear Maintainer, When using the Gnome desktop, I cannot find the xterm icon by clicking on Activities or by hitting the Super key and typing "xterm". I know that I can run xterm by using Alt-F2, but that is not what I am looking for. Whenever I install Debian and use its default desktop, Gnome, it always appears like xterm is missing. If I hit the Super key and type in "term" I get these responses: * Multilingual Terminal * Thai X Terminal * Terminal [Presumably Gnome-Terminal] If I type in "xterm", Gnome just says "Searching..." until I get tired and cancel it. However, xterm is installed and it even has a proper desktop entry in /usr/share/applications/debian-xterm.desktop. I wasted way too much time investigating why this didn't work, since it clearly should. It turns out that some part of Gnome is creating a *second* desktop file which disables the first one by setting NoDisplay = True. This is extremely frustrating and unnecessary. The file is /usr/share/gnome/applications/debian-xterm.desktop I would like to tell you which part of Gnome is the culprit, but `dpkg -S` on the file says it doesn't belong to any packages. I can understand that certain distributions derived from Debian — those which believe minimalism equates to simplicity — may wish to hide "redundant" functionality like `xterm`. However, it doesn't make sense to hide xterm from Debian users. And if it did, it certainly should not be implemented in such a hard to discover way. I request that Debian's Gnome stop overriding debian-xterm.desktop, please. Thank you. P.S. Any distributions derived from Debian would of course be free to create their own package which overrides debian-xterm.desktop. I suggest those distributions, instead of creating a second file, create a package that runs dpkg-divert --divert /usr/share/applications/debian-xterm.desktop.disabled \ --rename /usr/share/applications/debian-xterm.desktop That way, they will have stopped xterm from cluttering their menus, but in a way that might be more easily discoverable by users trying to re-enable it. -- System Information: Debian Release: 9.6 APT prefers stable-updates APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-8-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores) Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system) Versions of packages gnome depends on: ii avahi-daemon 0.6.32-2 ii cheese 3.22.1-1+b1 ii cups-pk-helper 0.2.6-1+b1 ii desktop-base 9.0.2+deb9u1 ii evolution3.22.6-1+deb9u1 ii evolution-plugins3.22.6-1+deb9u1 ii file-roller 3.22.3-1 ii gedit-plugins3.22.0-1 ii gimp 2.8.18-1+deb9u1 ii gnome-calendar 3.22.4-2 ii gnome-clocks 3.22.1-1 ii gnome-color-manager 3.22.2-1 ii gnome-core 1:3.22+3 ii gnome-dictionary 3.20.0-3+b1 ii gnome-documents 3.22.1-1 ii gnome-getting-started-docs 3.22.0-1 ii gnome-maps 3.22.2-1 ii gnome-music 3.22.2-1 ii gnome-orca 3.22.2-3 ii gnome-screenshot 3.22.0-1+b1 ii gnome-sound-recorder 3.21.92-2 ii gnome-tweak-tool 3.22.0-1 ii gnome-weather3.20.2-1 ii gstreamer1.0-libav 1.10.4-1 ii gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly1.10.4-1 ii inkscape 0.92.1-1 ii libgsf-bin 1.14.41-1 ii libgtk2-perl 2:1.2499-1 ii libproxy1-plugin-networkmanager 0.4.14-2 ii libreoffice-calc 1:5.2.7-1+deb9u4 ii libreoffice-evolution1:5.2.7-1+deb9u4 ii libreoffice-gnome1:5.2.7-1+deb9u4 ii libreoffice-impress 1:5.2.7-1+deb9u4 ii libreoffice-writer 1:5.2.7-1+deb9u4 ii nautilus-sendto 3.8.4-2+b1 ii network-manager-gnome1.4.4-1+deb9u1 ii rhythmbox3.4.1-2+b1 ii rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder 3.4.1-2+b1 ii rhythmbox-plugins3.4.1-2+b1 ii rygel-playbin0.32.1-3 ii rygel-tracker0.32.1-3 ii seahorse 3.20.0-3.1 ii shotwell 0.25.4+really0.24.5-0.1 ii simple-scan 3.23.2-1 ii totem-plugins3.22.1-1 ii vinagre 3.22.0-1+b1 ii xdg-user-dirs-gtk0.10-1+b1 Versions of packages gnome recommends: ii brasero 3.12.1-4 ii gnome-games 1:3.22+3 ii polari
