On Thu, 2014-01-30 at 16:08 -0500, Josh Boyer wrote:
> Given the tension between the definition of a "Workstation
Product" and
> the multiple desktop spins that I've identified on devel@ - i.e. that a
> "Workstation product" built around a single desktop occupies the
> 'desktop space', without accounting for alternative desktops - do you
> definitely want to go ahead with the model where the WS product is
> specifically associated with a single desktop and makes no attempt to
> somehow 'include' alternative desktops, or is it worth considering
> possible approaches that somehow account for alternatives? I realize it
> might be quite late to do that, but it seemed worth asking the question.
The PRD already has a section that speaks to working with various
toolkits to make them inter-operate with each other. The idea behind
that is so that applications from various toolkits have the same
look-and-feel on the Workstation regardless of their primary
DE/toolkit. While I realize that isn't specifically answering your
question, it does at least speak to the fact that there isn't ONE
TOOLKIT TO RULE THEM ALL.
The bit of the PRD that seems significant is "The Workstation working
group will define a set of packages that are considered required be
installed in order for the system to qualify as a Fedora Workstation.
Through policy users will be strongly advised against uninstalling any
of these packages and there will also be no option in the graphical
software installer to uninstall them."
I was kinda reading that as essentially mandating that the default
desktop must be installed. It doesn't preclude installing another
alongside it, but the effect seems to be to define a standard
environment which is always going to be assumed and prioritized.
As to whether we want Workstation to be a "pick your own
DE" product,
I personally don't feel that's a great way to start. Seems somewhat
confusing. There's a lot of work to be done, and having a single
underlying toolkit/platform to work from at least helps to focus on
where the initial work goes. I also don't think it excludes the
possibility of different Workstation DEs in the future. If we'd like
to rephrase as "initial Workstation DE" to allow for that possibility,
I'm OK with that.
That wasn't necessarily what I was suggesting, it was more of an open
suggestion than a specific implementation idea. There are probably
approaches that don't involve the "Workstation product" per se being a
choose-your-own-adventure, but somehow allow for the existence of
alternatives. I think someone floated the idea of some kind of
sub-product system already, for instance.
--
Adam Williamson
Fedora QA Community Monkey
IRC: adamw | Twitter: AdamW_Fedora | XMPP: adamw AT happyassassin . net
http://www.happyassassin.net