From owner-freebsd-hackers Wed Apr 28 6:43:25 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from quackerjack.cc.vt.edu (quackerjack.cc.vt.edu [198.82.160.250]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 878CD14DC4 for ; Wed, 28 Apr 1999 06:43:22 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jobaldwi@vt.edu) Received: from sable.cc.vt.edu (sable.cc.vt.edu [128.173.16.30]) by quackerjack.cc.vt.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA04091; Wed, 28 Apr 1999 09:43:09 -0400 (EDT) Received: from john.baldwin.cx (jobaldwi.campus.vt.edu [198.82.67.63]) by sable.cc.vt.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA23860; Wed, 28 Apr 1999 09:43:09 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: X-Mailer: XFMail 1.3 [p0] on FreeBSD X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <55586E7391ACD211B9730000C11002761795F3@r-lmh-wi-100.corpnet.at> Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 09:43:08 -0400 (EDT) From: John Baldwin To: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: Adding desktop support Cc: John Birrell , Joe Abley Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On 28-Apr-99 Ladavac Marino wrote: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Joe Abley [SMTP:jabley@clear.co.nz] >> Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 1999 12:20 PM >> To: John Birrell >> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG; jabley@clear.co.nz >> Subject: Re: Adding desktop support >> >> On Wed, Apr 28, 1999 at 04:47:35PM +1000, John Birrell wrote: >> > >> > [idea to imbed relevant .xpm icon data in ELF executables] >> > >> >> Every response so far has been pretty negative, so I thought I'd break >> the running theme and say, for what it's worth, I like the idea. >> > [ML] Seconded. > [ML] ... >> An application such as a file manager could then select an icon for >> display which is appropriate to the number of available colours. >> > [ML] would be a nice touch, yes. If .icon exists, a 4-bit > version is mandatory, the others are optional. Thirded. >> In fact, running amok with this idea, perhaps an xml section >> describing >> the command-line parameters of the executable with a known (minimal) >> DTD >> would be useful for applications for which an ability to pre-parse >> command-line syntaxes would be useful (like file managers, once >> again). > [ML] .usage is probably what you are thinking about. > .purpose is another one (what does this executable actually do). I think these are nice too. To the list: remember that these are simply *optional* data stored in the executable, no kernel hacks involved. The only change that might be made would be support in the bsd.*.mk Makefiles so you can have ICON=blah.xpm, or USAGE=blah.xml, etc. to make it easier for developers to use this feature, but it wouldn't be required, just a nice touch that desktops have the option of using. >> This all sounds very non-unixy. But I don't really know why. > [ML] Well, it sounds like MacOS, or OS/2 with their structured > files. It sounds like Windows, too. But these capabilities are not bad > (in fact, a colleague of mine has been recently complaining about > missing desktop support under X11--he is a OS/2 fan). Until ELF, UNIX > didn't really have support for structured executables; now it does, this > meta-info does not cost much, is completely backwardly compatible (image > loader ignores unknown ELF sections) and it opens a way for unified > executable desktop representation. > > Shortly, a GoodIdea John. > > /Marino > >> Joe --- John Baldwin -- http://members.freedomnet.com/~jbaldwin/ PGP Key: http://members.freedomnet.com/~jbaldwin/pgpkey.asc "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.freebsd.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message