low-hanging fruit

[Jon Nettleton]

On 8/15/07, Matthias Clasen <mclasen at redhat.com> wrote:
>
> As discussed in the meeting, here is my personal
> "laundry list" of low-hanging fruit. Note that some of
> these are being worked on for F8 anyway.
>
> - enable nss-mdns by default
> - clean up emblems in nautilus
> - remove obsolete applets
> - reconsider default panel config (launchers)
> - unlock keyring on login


This should be included in gnome 2.20 with the new gnome-keyring.
It includes a pam module to do this.  If it doesn't then I can finish
hacking
pam_keyring to do what we want.


- use xdg-user-dirs consistently
>
- disable root login


I don't know why.  I think the goal is ot make security seamless enough
that people don't feel the "need" to log in as root.

- get rid of xfs
> - get rid of pam_console


In the long run YES!  This is probably not happening for Fedora 8.
Should we instead use the UGROUPS property to allow users to
have administrative gui privileges in the short term.  Could win
back some popularity among reviewers.  Yes I know how awful
that sounds, but it is a fact of life.


- NM by default


Would love to see this.  Don't know if we can make it


> - PA by default
> - get rid of a bunch of services that we don't need on a
>   live cd, like nfs/rpc/autofs
> - have a close look at the system-config tools we install
> - cleaned up artwork packaging
>
> And here are some larger things:
>
> - rethink installation and updates (see hughsie's
>   recent work)
> - desktop background stuff:
>    slideshows, channels, per-workspace
> - no lvm/raid in livecd installer
> - good xrandr 1.2 support
> - no root user
> - replace init system


I don't know if the init system needs to be replaced or just rethought.
I have been hacking on this on and off for the past 3-4 days and my
conclusion is that the perception of the boot process is more important
than what actually happens.  The first 17 seconds of boot is tied to
hardware and display initialization.  From there everything leads up to what
"needs" to be running when a user logs in.  I am working on a proper
write up


> - new graphical boot


Since we have to start X eventually I don't see the big problem with rhgb.
I am trying to finish up my work getting rhgb to start in the gdm init
scripts.
This allows rhgb and gdm to share an initial xserver and give a smoother
boot process.

- composited desktop by default


Would love to see this.  For my own personal use I have started hacking
more gnomish features into xfwm4.  Basically a new config gui and gconf
functionality for storing settings.  I know most people could care less but
I think it will give a good 2d composited desktop option based on some
solid window manager work by the XFCE guys.

- rethink user account handling:
>    kiosk mode (?), guest accounts



I think our problem has become looking for a magic bullet solution for
everything,
and neglecting good ideas waiting on that idea.  NetworkManager is the
future of
networking for linux but we have been neglecting other solutions for years
waiting
on it.  Composited desktops, init-system, and graphical booting are going to
be
the new ones.  Perhaps it is time to start planning in smaller steps.  It is
great to
have the grand vision but we tend to fall behind waiting for that to happen.

Jon
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