Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:32:12 -0700 From: Garrett Cooper <yanegomi@gmail.com> To: Zhihao Yuan <lichray@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@phk.freebsd.dk>, Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> Subject: Re: Providing a default graphical environment on FreeBSD Message-ID: <CAGH67wTzeUmASd_UCKwQ7BUAKnz6_qjUdDAVe_8XDFf3aaOcqQ@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <CAGsORuAzXzb1XURUbOhMEHAvf581swpFqUxSUrQXLPamii4Mzw@mail.gmail.com> References: <CAGsORuBqiodwt_EmVqB%2BfO=tgOVeZOERopSE2y=mLa8Jp6ZOjQ@mail.gmail.com> <63507.1347905101@critter.freebsd.dk> <CAGsORuAzXzb1XURUbOhMEHAvf581swpFqUxSUrQXLPamii4Mzw@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 11:09 AM, Zhihao Yuan <lichray@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 1:05 PM, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@phk.freebsd.dk> wrote: >> In message <CAGsORuBqiodwt_EmVqB+fO=tgOVeZOERopSE2y=mLa8Jp6ZOjQ@mail.gmail.com> >> , Zhihao Yuan writes: >> >>>Well, let's make it more straightforward. I hope people can agree with >>>this: a default, officially supported modern desktop environment is >>>essential to FreeBSD. >> >> No, it is not. >> >> It would certainly be nice to have as an option, but I would hate >> to have to deal with it, when I squeeze FreeBSD into embedded systems >> which have neither graphics outputs nor keyboard or mouse inputs. > > "Default" does not mean you "have to" install it. Default means when > you are looking for a DE, bsdinstall, handbook, official site, all of > them answers "*DE". *gathers breath for really tangential/OT rant* <joking> Sounds like we have someone volunteering to write a chapter in the handbook and do some X11 development to make Gnome, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Fluxbox, [...], or etc work better on FreeBSD! </joking> To be succinct: this is not OSX/Windows. True Unix and Unix clones can be decoupled from a desktop environment enough that forcing everyone to have one choice for desktop user experience doesn't make sense, and the fact that there isn't a common GUI development toolkit (GTK, QT, etc) encourages fragmentation of effort further (I think it's called the Bazaar model of development :P). It honestly sounds like what you're looking for is a custom FreeBSD-based distribution (and PCBSD is one of those options) as FreeBSD is a generic project. Even the Linux kernel//GNU/Linux OS doesn't have a single adopted DE as its flagship DE. With all of the choices I listed above (and more), getting everyone to agree on working with one DE is like herding cats, in part because end-users/developers have different requirements, opinions, work styles, etc. It makes more sense to provide hooks into several DEs (like Linux, PCBSD, etc has done) to accomplish various tasks in a GUI-ish manner (setting up networking, wireless, etc) and upstream those changes if and when one has the chance to do so. Finally, one should then become a devoted "testing resource"/"advocate" FreeBSD OS integration in the future if one has interest in continuing to use said DE on FreeBSD. Thanks, -Garrett
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?CAGH67wTzeUmASd_UCKwQ7BUAKnz6_qjUdDAVe_8XDFf3aaOcqQ>