Re: [gentoo-osx] Followup to: The road ahead?

[Grobian]

On 27-11-2005 14:32:56 +0100, dirk.schoenberger@×××××××××.de wrote:
> > > - image to vector applications like autotrace resp. potrace
>
> > Ok.  Now I get what you want.  For the image converting applications,
> > you might want to go for some 'drop file on' solution, like
> > Photoshop has.  You simply drop a file on the icon, and it's being
> > converted somehow.  I think this is quite generic somehow.  Interesting!
>
> Nice idea, but currently not doable, I am afraid. My ObjectiveC / Cocoa
> knowledge is not upto task to do something as complicated as drag-and-drop
> programming ;)

I think the OS is your big friend here.  If I'm not mistaken a drop
action is equal to typing on the command line:
open -a <app being dropped on> <file you dropped>

> > For sure!  But aren't there attempts for this yet?  I mean, is this idea
> > brand new, or are there already a few apps that are some sort of skin
> > for ImageMagick, but just written in something that doesn't work very
> > well on OSX?
>
> Most (GUI) attempts I know try to wrap around the Image Magick API and try
> to build a document centric (or a type manager / image database)
> For document centric there exists GraphicConverter, while for type manager
> there exist iPhoto.
> Both are not really interesting to me.
>
> What I miss on Mac is something like IrfanView's (on Windows) batch
> conversion GUI.

Ok.  Question then is how Gentoo specific this is.  Such application
would more or less sound like something which has it's own ebuild and
depends on imagemagick.

> I think Automator is a dead end, at least currently.
> - Tiger only
> - only linear workflows
> - I have not so many recurring tasks which would require building automator
>   like workflows.

Ok.

> > > - a simple list where you can see the list of latest ebuild changes,
> > > something like "keep your system uptodate"
>
> > Like the FinkCommander screen, right?
>
> In fact more something like that ;) http://www.gnomejournal.org/images/45.png

Ah... (a lot) like SoftwareUpdate, or a tiny little bit like MS Windows Update.

> > > I have never seen FinkCommander
>
> > Good, good, good!!!!  :)  However, you should take a look at their
> > screenshots, because it's exactly what you describe.
>
> FinkCommander seems to be a good candidate for a "data waste / information
> overload"  type application. I don't think such a GUI is really suitable
you got it!
> for a large repository like Gentoo, with thousands of applications.
I think their repo is larger at the moment, but it sucks, yes.
> Besides, I am more a fan of icon list views or OpenStep like multi-column
> lists, instead of table based lists...
I like the Finder giving you three views on the same data.  For every
occasion it's own view ;)

> > OT: did you install Python 2.4 in the end?
>
> No. If I currently need source packages which are not available for
> Gentoo, I either install manually into /usr/local, or into really parallel
> branches like /gnu.
> progressive mode, or a Fink style managed /sw hierarchy, ar currently no
> option for me.

Why is a prefixed hierarchy (like Fink's /sw) not an option for you?
What is different in there from installing into /usr/local or /gnu?

> > The keyword aqua comes to mind...   Kito and I had a discussion about it
> > the other day, but the idea is right I think.
>
> Fine. What is needed to get this started? I could try to compile / emerge
> Renaissance and try to extract suitable flags for a Cocoa based ebuild.

Sure!  If you want to use it, (and it looks nice for Python people) we
should first port it.  Perhaps grab the patches from those that made it
work on OSX, then see if we can put them in one ebuild, or need a
separate one.  Having compiling sources that's always useful.

> > Sure.  Objective-C is just something which you should have compiled when
> > emerging gcc, but GNUstep users (like me, surprise, eh?) will probably
> > be able to benefit from these efforts.
>
> I would much prefer to be able to use a package.provided ObjectiveC
> compiler...

You already have one.  But Linux users by default don't.

> > Question remains who else could benefit from it, because the number of
> > Gentoo/GNUstep users is rather small, IMHO.
>
> Good question, but something I cannot answer. My Python knowledge is
> nearly zero.

Same here.  And I'm not enough attracted to the appearance of the
language to actually try and learn it.  I can understand it, that's all.

> > If I recall correctly, there are special eclasses that for instance
> > allow to place an icon on the desktop of the user (transparently to what
> > window manager the user uses).
>
> If you use py2app, you get a app folder in the dist sub folder of your
> python app root. I thought it was a good idea to copy this app folder
> application into something like /Applications/Gentoo, in the installation
> step of emerge.
> No need to toy around with links, at least not on OSX, I think.

Hmmm... that's indeed interesting.

> > The GentooUI (pronounced as 'gentoo-e' ? :p ), or iGentoo can be
> > developed in a separate track from the others.  However, it would be a
> > waste if it would be developed such that nothing of it can be reused for
> > other Gentoo/X projects.
>
> Agreed on the "separate track".
> I am not quite sure about the other part. From what I see, a GentooUI tool
> (or at list something like a FinkCommander clone) is not much more than a
> emerge output parser and pretty printer ;)
> This means that the interesting / backend parts are already re-useable
> (even more so if there exist an API instead of having to grep console
> output), while the frontend part mostly are toolkit specific and not
> useable.

I follow your reasoning, and agree with it.  I personally think this is
not very important to have right now, so if nobody feels like doing it
yet, nobody has to put efforts in it.  Getting the Portage API would be
nice too, so we can wait I think.

-- 
Fabian Groffen
Gentoo for Mac OS X Project -- Interim Lead
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