* On 2015 20 Feb 09:03 -0600, Didier Kryn wrote:
>     Guys, I don't think there is contradiction between server and
> desktop. There is a difference in the user base and installed
> applications, not in the OS. dbus and udev/eudev/mdev/vdev/ are just
> useful services which make life easier if they are not poeterized, but
> could remain optional. I think most desktop users expect these
> services, but they understand it is not the top priority of the devs.

Once de-poeterized, these programs will become useful forks. Again,
it's about choice. If a server admin finds de-poetorized udev is
useful, fine, or if static dev is preferable, fine. I may, in fact,
choose to go back to static dev on my main desktop, but my laptop does
benefit from udev. The discussions on the *dev programs by Jude
et. al. have been encouraging. I'm looking forward to moving away from
the "one size fits all" world we've been led into.

>     By do-it-all desktops, I was targetting Gnome and KDE, not
> Xfce. It is too bad that xfce4 is now contaminated, But in my
> installed Wheezy servers and desktop, it is not. I've no complaint
> against it. Is there anything new in the Jessie version, appart from
> infection?

There are some visible tweaks in Xfce 4.10, mostly to some plugins as I
recall. The official Xfce ChangeLog is mute on systemd:

http://www.xfce.org/download/changelogs/4.10

I'm not certain at the moment, but it appears to me that the Xfce
support for systemd in Jessie was backported just to resolve the issues
with power manager and the shutdown menu.

>     Concerning dbus, there is a need for publisher/subscriber
> communication on the desktop. But I wonder why people have developped
> dbus instead of using a ready-made, well-tested, lightweight,
> language-agnostic middleware? Yes it exsts; there's at least one,
> ZeroMQ.

Most likely, a strong Not Invented Here syndrome.

IMO, polkit is another evil that should be excised along with systemd.
But, maybe I just don't understand it. packagekit should be dropped as
well as I do not understand its purpose in an apt based system. I do my
package management through Aptitude for the most part, once in a while I
use apt-get directly, and sometimes I install manually using Midnight
Commander.

- Nate

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