Re: Window managers

[Paul Warren <pdw ferret lmh ox ac uk>]

On Tue, 27 Apr 1999, Richard Hult wrote:

> > So are there any plans to write such a window manager? I have been
> > considering doing it myself, but I don't think my gtk knowledge is up to
> > it.  gtkwm on www.gnome.org seems to be abandoned vapourware AFAICT.
> 
> Make a gtk-lookalike theme for e or windowmaker :)

I hope the ":)" indicates that this is not an entirely serious suggestion.
Yes it could probably done quite well, but a proper gtk wm is what is
really needed - so that when you change gtk themes any wm widgets change
with it, and so you get exactly the same look & feel.  

I /want/ to like & love & use gnome, it has a lot of good stuff, but I
don't feel it can compete with the integrated feel of other desktop
environment until it addresses this point.

> RedHat has chosen to do it this way, to make sure that the user always
> have at least one gnome-compliant window manager. There has been variuos
> discussions here on this matter.

Yes, I can see the reasoning behind this.  RPM doesn't have a requires "A
or B" feature does it?  If not, another way to do it is to have the
installation for both Window Manager and E (they're both part of the
RedHat distro) touch a file, and then the Gnome installation checks for
it.

> What we should remember is that the rpms are something that RHAD labs are
> providing is kind of a bonus. They are not part of the gnome project. If
> anyone wants rpms that are packaged in a different way, they are free to
> do so...

I appreciate this.  Perhaps I am overly paranoid.  New users are going to
go the RedHat/RPM route, so new users are going to end up with E (which I
guess is better than ending up with Gnome + no wm at all!). That said, I
am grateful for the RPMs - it would be sometime before I would go to the
effort of compiling gnome myself.

yours,

Paul