Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:14:27 +0200 From: Lars Engels <lars.engels@0x20.net> To: Zhihao Yuan <lichray@gmail.com> Cc: FreeBSD Hackers <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, Lorenzo Cogotti <miciamail@hotmail.it> Subject: Re: Providing a default graphical environment on FreeBSD Message-ID: <20120917161427.GB11773@e-new.0x20.net> In-Reply-To: <CAGsORuAbLJOU2Nr0jishLmHN22kro3Jf63U5vN%2B4MsYrbniOxw@mail.gmail.com> References: <BLU0-SMTP510B16745B704C714268E2D5950@phx.gbl> <CAGsORuAbLJOU2Nr0jishLmHN22kro3Jf63U5vN%2B4MsYrbniOxw@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
--Qtzb1h6tVL0ohdDu Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 11:00:21AM -0500, Zhihao Yuan wrote: > On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 10:35 AM, Lorenzo Cogotti <miciamail@hotmail.it> = wrote: > > Hi, > > I was wondering about the possibility of FreeBSD to provide an official > > supported graphical environment. > > > > Currently FreeBSD doesn't provide any standard desktop environment, this > > means that, in a way much similar to Linux, a developer cannot know in > > advance which GUI will be available on the system. This leads to another > > problem, again much similar to Linux, tools are usually provided in a > > text based fashion only, because that's the only sure and reliable way a > > tool can work in a relatively dependency free and independent way. As > > another effect, many utilities and graphical tools are provided for a > > toolkit, but not for another, needlessly duplicating efforts and > > applications, achieving barely half the result. > > > > Though, in a different way than Linux, FreeBSD doesn't get much support > > from developers in this regard, mainly because development focuses over > > Linux rather than FreeBSD, which remains known only as a good and > > reliable server platform, many technologies remain relatively unknown > > and doesn't get attention from developers, like devd vs udev, and other > > solutions that FreeBSD provides since a very long time. > > > > The idea would be choosing a default desktop environment and providing > > it as the official supported way to develop GUI applications on FreeBSD, > > thus tools provided on FreeBSD would be able to get official GUIs and > > supported graphical tools in a standard and non-redundant fashion, like > > a GUI for tools like pkgng, geli(8), gpart(8). This choice would also be > > motivated by the fact that often technologies move toward Linux support, > > like GNOME3, dbus and consolekit, without taking into account BSD. > > > > In this regard CDE[1] is could be an interesting choice, since it was a > > diffuse and reliable UNIX environment, and it is lightweight, relatively > > Linux-like dependencies free solution, which could be updated to today > > standards and extended to support FreeBSD features. > > CDE was just recently released with open source license[2] and some > > effort is being made to support FreeBSD. > > > > Of course CDE isn't the only possibility, the idea is "desktop > > environment agnostic", also I don't mean that FreeBSD shouldn't work > > with other environments, which could still be installed and used as long > > as they support the platform properly. I don't mean forcing a graphical > > environment over installed FreeBSD systems either, which could be > > unwanted for server installations. > > > > [1] http://sourceforge.net/p/cdesktopenv/wiki/Home/ > > [2] > > https://sourceforge.net/p/cdesktopenv/code/ci/978aff3dc9c7d009423a3d7fd= 0624d12f9df0734/tree/cde/COPYING?format=3Draw > > > > I see this as an interesting opportunity to let FreeBSD gain more > > visibility in the desktop field, would this idea be useful and worth > > implementing? > > > > Thanks, > > > > -- > > Lorenzo Cogotti > > > > _______________________________________________ > > freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list > > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers > > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe@freebsd.o= rg" >=20 > I definitely agree with this. Sun has a book, "UNIX Essentials > featuring the Solaris...", and GUI takes a big part in the book. A > default GUI is essential to a modern UNIX. FreeBSD can no longer > regard GUI as a third-party bonus. If you want a default GUI, install PC-BSD. It provides several graphical management tools for FreeBSD. --Qtzb1h6tVL0ohdDu Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.19 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAlBXTGMACgkQKc512sD3afjF4gCfWXa9r7KEjgC/JqKuN2OQQ486 SPYAnjfJhvKfNrebwElV8DNmbVIg5Yzf =/7uL -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Qtzb1h6tVL0ohdDu--
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20120917161427.GB11773>