Bug#707851: Soften the the wording recommending menu files: let's do it in Jessie.

[Charles Plessy]

Le Thu, Jan 09, 2014 at 01:15:16PM -0800, Jonathan Nieder a écrit :
> 
> Alas, now that completeness is eroding and I don't see much reason to
> recommend in policy to continue to add entries, unless we have clear
> advice about when packagers should include an entry in it and when
> they should add to the fdo menu instead.
> 
> As far as I can tell, the de facto policy is just to add to the fdo
> menu when appropriate.  The documented policy is failing to describe
> that actual practice.  Is there some subtlety I'm missing?

Hi Jonathan and everybody,

please, I would like to decouple two issues.

 - Issue 1: the Debian menu is superseded in major destkotop environments, and
   the Policy should recognise that the Debian menu is not the lead mechanism
   for managing menus in Debian anymore.  Unfortutately we have two parallel
   systems at the moment. 

 - Issue 2: deciding whether the Debian menu is actually obsolete and should be
   removed from the Policy.

I have not yet read complains from users of the Debian menu system that it not
comprehensive enough anymore.  And while I am not using it, I see in
“/usr/share/menu” computer the entries for evince, rythmbox, gedit, and even
nautilus, showing that programs that are not strictly specific to GNOME are
still there.

What I have read is complains from non-users that they would prefer that
somebody else does the work of keeping the Debian menu viable, which I think is
a totally reasonable request (and to be clear, is also my position as a
maintainer of packages having menu entries).

If we tie Issue 1 to Issue 2, my gut feeling (not my wish) is that there is
currently no way to conclude without going in front of the TC or having a GR,
and prehaps demotivate some DDs in the meantime.  Please let's not do that, and
work so that the the Debian menu is not on the way of the major desktop systems
on one hand, and (importantly) vice-versa.  Let's avoid that activities in
Debian become mutually destructive.

So, in order to move forward, I would appreciate if people having stakes in the
issue, or having expressed objections earlier, would say whether the patch
I proposed is acceptable in principle after correction, and if not, what they
are asking for exactly regarding:

 - Softening the recommendation to use the Debian menu,
 - documenting the FreeDesktop entry system (menu plus media types),
 - and since it seems to be a popular request, removing the documentation
   of the Debian menu from the Policy.

Have a nice day,

-- 
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan