[Mageia-dev] Deprecating startx

Wed Mar 7 14:51:35 CET 2012

2012/3/7 Colin Guthrie <mageia at colin.guthr.ie>:
+> 'Twas brillig, and Wolfgang Bornath at 07/03/12 12:02 did gyre and gimble:
+>> 2012/3/7 Colin Guthrie <mageia at colin.guthr.ie>:
+>>> 'Twas brillig, and Wolfgang Bornath at 07/03/12 10:13 did gyre and gimble:
+>>>>
+>>>> Different from Guillaume I do care about the impact for the user.
+>>>> There are many out there who are used to startx and also docs and
+>>>> howtos which use it. Therefore we will need an explanation for
+>>>> switching off startx.  An explanation to be used in forums, which is a
+>>>> bit more than just a link to a bug report. In other words: to be
+>>>> understood by non-techie users.
+>>>
+>>> To answer Guillaume's question, I wasn't personally planning on removing
+>>> it fully. Just documenting that it is broken and that users should not
+>>> use this as a mechanism for starting X.
+>>>
+>>> I would propose just putting in "echo 'startx is deprecated. Here is
+>>> why.....   Press any key to continue anyway.' >&2; read -n 1" in the
+>>> startx script such that users using it will be warned. Does this seem
+>>> sensible?
+>>
+>> It is sensible and enough for the situation at hand (when the user
+>> actually punches in "startx" and the command does not work as
+>> expected). In principle on the same level of information like "file
+>> not found". That's all which is needed from the technical side.
+>>
+>> People more close to the users will have to think of an explanation
+>> without tech-talk, understandable for the user who comes to the forum
+>> complaining that the command he had been using for many years (or
+>> which is written in a documentation) does not work.
+>
+> For the avoidance of doubt, I would expect that hitting return would
+> still end up starting X, just that the afore mentioned (and dutifully
+> explained to the user) problems with ACLs etc. will be present.
+>
+> I'll be able to write some text here that is concise, so I'll do this
+> shortly.
+
+Great!
+
+Now I'll have to teach this waltzing greybeard in the mirror some new
+moves .... :)
+
+-- 
+wobo
+