Cross-desktop helpers

[nf]

On Sat, 2004-12-11 at 06:07, Avi Alkalay wrote:
> I was getting ready to dive in some integration work like this.
> 
> The idea is to somehow integrate GConf and KConfig, so a KDE app can
> configure a Gnome app, and vice-versa.
> 
> When configuration layer is integrated, we can explore more shared
> capabilities: common desktop settings like fonts, background,
> screensaver. Plus shared user mail settings, browser proxy, bookmarks,
> last documents, home page, etc. And also user prefered apps for
> browsing, mail, terminal, etc.

This is definitely a cool idea! "Less is more" or "one library is better
than many" certainly is true for config-libraries like it is for
VFS-libraries. 

I would start with evaluating whether gconf could serve as a backbone
for the KDE configuration classes.

This should to be done soon - before things like KConfigXT happen, which
basically looks like duplicating gconf in a different language, "just to
be incompatible".

http://developer.kde.org/documentation/tutorials/kconfigxt/kconfigxt.html

Perhaps gconf should have a kind of top level domain separation, where
you have the traditional ".gconf" domain for gnome-only stuff, a ".kde"
domain for kde, ".desktopxyz" for other desktops, and a ".fdo-common"
domain for common stuff (to store the settings of a common-vfs library
for instance).

I almost expect responses like "People won't accept that" or "Please!
Can't we keep the Berlin Wall inside our desktops?". My answer in
advance: Every good desktop provides a large set of common libraries to
be used by all applications. Otherwise it is just immature and will
never work properly.

Sorry for being provocative again ;-).  

Norbert