[Pkg-electronics-devel] Bug#567773: The desktop file for kicad and its KDE menu location

[Peter Clifton]

On Fri, 2010-03-12 at 08:30 +0100, Petter Reinholdtsen wrote:
> Note that this request is not about lintian warnings, but menu layout
> and behaviour.  Of the packages we install in Debian Edu workstation
> by default, kicad is the only one in squeeze pulling in the
> extra-xdg-menus package.
> 
> Pulling in the extra-xdg-menus leads to two extra toplevel menu
> entries in KDE, which make the list of top level menu very long and
> and more confusing for users.  Because of this, we do not want the
> extra-xdg-menus package installed in the default installation, which
> is hard to implement when it is recommended by a package when using
> the provided debian-installer/tasksel implementation in Debian, and
> impossible to do when it is depended by a package.
> 
> Removing the extra-xdg-menus package make the kicad package show up in
> lost+found, because its desktop file do not list any of the categories
> that are registered in the official XDG menu specification.  This is a
> bug in the desktop file and should be fixed.
> 
> One alternative for Debian Edu with packages that make the menu more
> confusing or show up in lost+found is to drop the package from the
> list of default packages we install.  Another is to complete rewrite
> the menu structure and content to match what we want ignoring all
> .desktop files.  I hope we can avoid any of these alternatives in the
> future, if all packages .desktop files provide good settings for
> Debian Edu. :)

Remember that the user experience in stock Debian (and Ubuntu) is the
prime concern of packages shipped in the distro, not a variant which
introduces a vast number of its own menus.

I think the correct solution here is to:

1. Upload a new KiCAD package with a "Recommends" on extra-xdg-menus
2. Don't install extra-xdg-menus for Debain Edu (or install it, and
disabled the extra menus with the "exmendis" tool.
3. Ship a .menu file in Debian Edu which puts the "electronics" packages
where you want it.

I think your assertion that KiCAD is the only package which requests
extra-xdg-menus is wrong... I saw in the list of packages that you ship
"pcb", which also has a Recommends on it.

(As an aside, I see Debian Edu lists a bunch of advanced ASIC design
packages, but missed the gEDA suite for schematic design which fits
nicely with the PCB package you have.)

Since you are already fiddling with menus in Debian Edu, it isn't much
of a problem at all to fix the problem there.

We SHOULD NOT add bogus categories to .desktop files.

-- 
Peter Clifton

Electrical Engineering Division,
Engineering Department,
University of Cambridge,
9, JJ Thomson Avenue,
Cambridge
CB3 0FA

Tel: +44 (0)7729 980173 - (No signal in the lab!)
Tel: +44 (0)1223 748328 - (Shared lab phone, ask for me)