Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 13:06:47 +0200 From: Ladavac Marino <mladavac@metropolitan.at> To: 'Joe Abley' <jabley@clear.co.nz>, John Birrell <jb@cimlogic.com.au> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: Adding desktop support Message-ID: <55586E7391ACD211B9730000C11002761795F3@r-lmh-wi-100.corpnet.at>
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> -----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. > 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). > 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 > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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