XFCE 4.2.2 package

Forum: myDSL Extensions (deprecated)
Topic: XFCE 4.2.2 package
started by: yyyc514

Posted by yyyc514 on Aug. 28 2005,15:50

main packages
< xfce4.dsl > (1.5mb)
< xterminal.dsl > (0.7 mb) (requires xfce4.dsl)

supporting packages
< gtk2-0705-small.dsl > (5.8mb)
< post_install.dsl > (tiny)

A GTK2 DSL is needed... The GTK2-small that I provide is exactly the same as the full GTK2 extension but I have stripped out Perl 5.8.7 and removed non-English locales... for a savings of almost 9mb. If all you want is XFCE4 or you're low on memory, the small version may be all you need. It may or may not work with other GTK2 packaged apps.

GTK2-small also includes a post-install script to setup the GTK2 stuff if you've installed the post_install package above.

xterminal is a nice gnome-terminal like program for the XFCE environment and also includes mousepad, a tiny GTK2 editor. XFCE will determine at startup whether to use aterm or xterminal as the default terminal app (depending on whether xterminal is installed). If you're low on memory you probably should stick with aterm.

Yes, it does replace your .xinitrc... so that it can seemlessly be added to a CD and X will automatically start in XFCE... so if you're on a HD install you may want to backup your .xinitrc if you just want to try XFCE. I'm not sold on this approach, would be nice if DSL had some type of post-install feature, but it does not that I know of. As soon as I write a post-install script for XFCE this will be the recommended install path and your previous .xinitrc will be backed up automatically.

This is my first real packaging attempt, so I would love feedback from the community.

Notes

1. Does not include printing, file manager, or sessions due to the goal of keeping the size small (printing especially starting bringing in tons of dependencies)
2. Includes only one theme and backdrop (keep size down)
3. Does not include built-in help
4. There is an easter egg, see if you can find it (no, it's not on a menu)

I'm not opposed to releasing a larger version with more stuff, but the idea of this one is to be "light"...

Posted by Your Fuzzy God on Aug. 30 2005,15:30

I am interested in trying XFCE under DSL. I know there have been many problems trying to compile this particular WM before, but I would be more than happy to test it on a few different machines if you get it running. Let me know how the project goes.

Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Aug. 30 2005,16:56

If your irssi is just a single .deb, converting to .dsl is as easy as

Code Sample

ar -x <whatever>.deb
mv data.tar.gz <whatever>.dsl

-J.P.

Posted by yyyc514 on Aug. 30 2005,18:06

Quote (SaidinUnleashed @ Aug. 30 2005,12:56)

If your irssi is just a single .deb, converting to .dsl is as easy as

Thanks but I tend to do this manually... and I have a script for the larger packages I'm working on... but I may have to look into that.

And yes, it's a .deb, but I've recompiled it with different options to optimized for size and make it more suitable for DSL (I think it's 400kb executable)...

Mostly it's just finding the time to package then upload, not the ease of doing it. :-)

Posted by yyyc514 on Aug. 30 2005,18:08

Quote (Your Fuzzy God @ Aug. 30 2005,11:30)

Well, recompiling would be stage 2... right now I'm just trying to pull .debs over and re-packaged them trimming the fat along the way...

While it would be renice to recompile and remove some dependencies I don't have time to pursue that right now.

Hopefully later this week I'll have something to test... I really need to boot back into DSL to do the testing, but my actual work happens outside of DSL... and qemu is so slow for adequate testing of larger packages (if you ask me).

Posted by yyyc514 on Sep. 01 2005,04:43

see first post for details

Posted by yyyc514 on Sep. 01 2005,04:59

FYI... not included: xffm (file manager), session support, printing (because it added too many dependencies to keep things small)

Also you get a single nice default theme and wallpaper...

The mixer wasn't working on my setup... I'll be looking more into that later...

Posted by yyyc514 on Sep. 01 2005,19:51

Ok, if you're using persistent/non-persistent storage (a CD in combo with a pen drive, etc) don't customize the heck out of anything... reinstalling the DSL will overwrite your configuration...

I'm going to boot DSL this evening and give this package some final polish and testing... when I declard it stable I'll pass it on for the main repository of packages.

Posted by yyyc514 on Sep. 02 2005,01:12

Ok, I still need to look into mixer/sound and the automatic running of start_gtk2, but most other things have been polished.

.xinitrc is now the only file copied to /home/dsl... other setting files are created at run-time and will not be overwritten by future updates or reinstallation of the .DSL

Also, there is an easter egg... in the form of a really cool extra program that's not technically a part of XFCE, but was light, so I added it...

Posted by Your Fuzzy God on Sep. 02 2005,14:39

When do you plan on releasing this? I would like to test it out on a fresh HDD install and see how it works!

Posted by yyyc514 on Sep. 02 2005,14:56

Not sure. I think like Google I believe in long betas and perfection... it's usable and stable now though not perfect yet... the disclaimer serves the purpose of any disclaimer of course.

Install it and give it a shot... just keep your old .xinitrc around if you want to go back to flux.

Posted by undertow on Sep. 11 2005,02:28

anything new happening on this? ive been using it without a hitch on 1.4 for a bit now. WIll this go into the myDSL repository at some point?

Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Sep. 11 2005,05:36

It hasn't even been submitted for review yet.

Still lookig forward to playing with this.

Posted by yyyc514 on Sep. 11 2005,06:04

I still need to test it on 1.5 and make sure all the kinks are out... then there is the question of installing... I've made it to work great with my post-install scripts...

I'm certainly no fan of wrappers, hence my post-install script in the first place. Not a single gtk2 app will start until start_gtk2 is run... it's silly to include start_gtk2 in the wrapper of _every_ gtk2 app (this isn't even done) when really it just needs to automatically be run after.

The post-install I'm really talking about is with XFCE4 to replace the xinitrc and back it up... maybe DSL's stance is that's a user job so under their policy and automatic install wouldn't be possible... and you have to copy the new file manually from /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc...

I'm a programmer, admin, systems guy, etc... the idea that I just submit my packages to ke4nt and they go into and come out of a black box however he likes them isn't very appealing. I'd rather know the exact criteria and submit them exactly myself... I have build scripts that build most of the packages for me starting with .debs and then customizing them for size, etc... I pride myself on the quality of the package... if it's not perfect I want to know so the next version will be, etc... (though I have submitted irssi and one other I think already)

Maybe they'll come out exactly the same, just when asking about it the answer I got seemed a little chilly and less than friendly (no offense ke4nt)...

So, anyone testing on 1.5 yet?

Posted by s_t_bris on Sep. 13 2005,23:02

I mucked around with it in 1.4 for a while and no go (though I'm no linux expert).

It wouldn't load the xfce panel, with the only option being to try again. The problem seemed to be related to gtk2. I was using the full version of gtk2 in the repository - whcih should work just as well as the cut down version by the OP?

I would like to get it going as I can't stand one particular aspect of fluxbox (the windows list in the 'bar' that only displays minimised windows :angry:

Posted by Your Fuzzy God on Sep. 13 2005,23:23

If things settle down a little I will set up a machine to test this extension. I have never used XFCE before, so it will be a learning experience for all.