Re: gnome compliant window managers

[jg pa dec com (Jim Gettys)]

I think drmike has made a cogent argument about the advisability of bundling 
enlightenment.  One hopes that other window managers get updated to conform, 
and make this less necessary, but shipping software that might not work 
"properly" out of the box seems like a very risky thing to do...

				- Jim Gettys


> From: Michael Fulbright <msf@redhat.com>
> Resent-From: gnome-list@gnome.org
> Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 11:33:51 -0500
> To: Maciej Stachowiak <mstachow@alum.mit.edu>
> Cc: Michael Fulbright <msf@redhat.com>, sds@goems.com, gnome-list@gnome.org
> Subject: Re: gnome compliant window managers
> -----
> If the main problem we are discussing here is that the donated RPMS I
> build for ftp.gnome.org require enlightenment by default, we can fix that
> problem by removing the requirement. I'm not sure that is what we want to
> do however (read below).
> 
> The requirement will remain in the Starbuck release and next release of
> the distribution because of our decision to use Enlightenment by default.
> But I agree there is no reason to force people who are trying out GNOME
> from the RPMS on ftp.gnome.org to have to use Enlightenment.
> 
> However, since users of all backgrounds are trying out the GNOME RPMS for
> the first time, I think it wise to bundle a window manager that will
> actually work properly with the pager/etc with the GNOME RPMS. Requiring the
> user to install said WM will insure they get it up and running. Remember,
> these people may not even know what a window manager is.  Starting GNOME w/o
> a window manager is a BAD thing, especially for new users who will not
> know how to start one from a command line.
> 
> I'm open to other technical solutions, but at the moment I think the
> benefits from requiring Enlightenment far outwiegh the 3.6 meg of
> disk space it uses ( $0.10 US dollars at current HD prices :)
> 
> The GNOME user's guide that we've written at RHAD mentions exactly how to
> change the window manager:
> 
>   http://www.gnome.org/users-guide/gccdesktop.html#GCCWM
> 
> 
> Michael Fulbright
> drmike@redhat.com
> Director - Red Hat Advanced Development Labs