Gnome2 Forks

[Cy Schubert]

In message <CADLFttfc-bvvs+vESX+j75Py--ioJh1esAk33i0vJ6E5+da5vg at mail.gmail.c
om>
, Jeremy Messenger writes:
> On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 5:14 PM, Joe Marcus Clarke <marcus at freebsd.org> wrote
> :
> > On 4/16/12 5:15 PM, Cy Schubert wrote:
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> Given the state of Gnome3 and the general dislike for the new shell and
> >> given that gnome-panel has been deprecated by our upline, would we be open
> >> to importing one of the Gnome2 forks, like Mate or Cinnamon, into our tree
> ?
> 
> I would like to change our GNOME 2 to MATE, so that way we can put
> GNOME 3 into ports tree quicker. Because there is nothing conflict to
> GNOME 3. Also much less complicate to not add too many CONFLICTS all
> over. Other day ago, it drove me crazy when I can't install some of
> foo because I have GNOME 3 installed.

Maybe we could do something like kde4? Put it into a subtree of $LOCALBASE? 
We never know, maybe MATE will have more staying power. Being that Cinnamon 
is a MINT project, should MINT no longer be in vogue any more one has to 
wonder whether Cinnamon can stand the test of time. I believe MATE is its 
own project so even though Cinnamon has more interest at the moment MATE 
may have more potential. It's really hard to tell right now.

> 
> But.... There is a problem. Is MATE reliable? I don't know if it's
> going to be last forever while GNOME 2 will be in GNOME ftp for very
> long time.

That's what I thought.

> 
> >>>From what I've read on Phoronix today, Mate has renamed a number of files
> >> allowing it to coexist with Gnome3. However Cinnamon builds upon Gnome3
> >> offering a Gnome2 interface. The article goes on to say that Cinnamon has 
> a
> >> lot more momentum than Mate. (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_i
> te
> >> m&px=MTA4ODI).
> >>
> >> Should we choose an option, my choice would be the most sustainable one
> >> (Cinnamon), count me in as a volunteer. Talking about sustainability, one
> >> never knows which Open Source projects will establish themselves over the
> >> long haul. It may even be a good idea to watch both and decide where to
> >> invest our effort when the choice becomes more clear.
> >>
> >> Thoughts anyone?
> >>
> >>
> >
> > I think that's the idea.  I believe Mezz has been working on Cinnamon,
> > and has had some good success.
> 
> http://people.freebsd.org/~mezz/freebsd-cinnamon.png  :-)
> 
> Cinnamon has awful a lot of hardcore paths and I had to patch it a
> lot. It's not exactly stable. When I visit to some specific website
> and it will causing Cinnamon crash for some odd reason. Some of
> applets are missing that I haven't check on it yet. Probably yet
> another path patch or something else.

Yeah..... <sigh>

> 
> This weekend, I will try to clean up quick and put two ports in MC for
> anyone can play with Cinnamon.

I'll try to pick them up and dump them onto my laptop. ZFS makes it easy to 
switch $LOCALBASE through a simple reboot.

> 
> BTW: You will need nvidia-driver for it both gnome-shell and Cinnamon.
> Without it, you will be in the fallback mode instead of
> gnome-shell/Cinnamon.

My server system next to the furnace downstairs has a nvidia card while my 
testbed has a VIA video controller on the motherboard. My old Acer laptop 
which I use for day-to-day work and the only machine I run X on (I may VNC 
to the others though) has an I915 mobile chipset. The other bits, including 
the panel would still work on it though.

I'll try to fetch a copy from MC this weekend. If I have any trouble I'll 
give you a shout.


-- 
Cheers,
Cy Schubert <Cy.Schubert at komquats.com>
FreeBSD UNIX:  <cy at FreeBSD.org>   Web:  http://www.FreeBSD.org

	The need of the many outweighs the greed of the few.