Date: Fri, 27 May 2016 09:37:15 -0700 From: Alfred Perlstein <alfred@freebsd.org> To: Craig Rodrigues <rodrigc@FreeBSD.org>, Allan Jude <allanjude@freebsd.org> Cc: "freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org" <freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Add option to sysinstall to install an X desktop, similar to Debian? Message-ID: <cc62fd22-00a8-ac52-8d08-9b0187b1713b@freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <CAG=rPVeTU4zFkwTok6fM3j3Yxkg3rtQ0ycrihdmT3JCBYamVaw@mail.gmail.com> References: <CAG=rPVcYbxG%2BpsB5XQCxq8YktMYQn3=DM42zLxT5yZGuaSb5Eg@mail.gmail.com> <CAG=rPVdPmpANEQd2H0m_7t9NAPb67TrwuN0PCf9xwpnk68KdYg@mail.gmail.com> <43826ffc-baef-a625-596a-71585e33b35d@freebsd.org> <CAG=rPVeTU4zFkwTok6fM3j3Yxkg3rtQ0ycrihdmT3JCBYamVaw@mail.gmail.com>
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Allan, From a product manager's perspective (I've done this a few times), I would suggest surfacing (showing to the user) the ONLY option that works the best and that you have the time to maintain. Think of it this way: New user -> just give them something that definitely works and is comprehensive and requires little "thought". If they need to edit weird dotfiles to customize, then it's not the right default choice for users. Average user / power-user -> Give them nothing, if they don't want the default, they will find a way. Expert user -> same as average/power user. Along those lines, the only option should be KDE or gnome. Pick one. If you feel you must include the other options the mark them "for experts only", and trust me, an expert should be able to take the time to install what they need by hand. -Alfred On 5/27/16 8:02 AM, Craig Rodrigues wrote: > > > On Friday, May 27, 2016, Allan Jude <allanjude@freebsd.org > <mailto:allanjude@freebsd.org>> wrote: > > On 2016-05-27 05:28, Craig Rodrigues wrote: > > [Resending due to message size restriction of > > freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org <javascript:;> > <mailto:freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org <javascript:;>>] > > I started building something like this after our interview with > Alfred. > > It has gnome3, MATE, KDE4, and xfce4. > > I ran into a few problems with things not working out-of-the-box. > > If you install mate and gdm, it defaults to logging you in to a very > very stripped down gnome-shell that is pulled in as a dependency > of gdm. > If you actually install the gnome3 metapackage, it adds like 300 more > packages, and then the gnome-shell actually has applications in it. > > KDE4 works ok. > > xfce doesn't have a login manager. xdm doesn't have a startup script, > you'd have to edit /etc/ttys to make it start at boot. kdm4 can't be > installed as a separate package. gdm will default to starting gnome > instead of xfce, even if the gnome package is not installed. I tried > 'slim', but it always launches: 'exec /bin/sh - ~/.xinitrc > %session' and > files if that file does not exist in the user's home directory. > > So I got a little stalled out on it. > > > > Thanks for blazing the trail on this. > This is "boring" usability stuff, but important. > Even by trying this stuff out and hitting roadblocks, you have done a lot. > > Can the MATE and xfce4 issues be solved in the port installation > scripts? Or are there more fundamental issues in FreeBSD blocking > things? Are there solutions to these problems in PC-BSD that we can > import? > > -- > Craig
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