Excerpts from Allen S. Rout's message of Mon Nov 07 10:59:59 -0700 2011:
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But I think it's reasonable to point out that, in effect, xmonad positively repels new converts. As in, aggressively discourages them.
Here's the path I've trod so far:
- install vendor packages. Understand that I'll need to dog-paddle in haskell to function in xmonad. Tinker. Get frustrated
- go learn about cabal, because bluetile suggests that it's a better way to get up-to-date code. On the way to bluetile, get enough xmonad functioning to not need it. Think "Ah, OK. vendor packages out of date, use the CPAN-equivalent for haskell, and all will be good".
- Find that the haskell platform hasn't been updated in 7 months, despite the claim it'd get love in July. Get nervous about the entire haskell community.
- See that cabal xmonad is -2 years!- out of date. Shudder. Understand that I need to learn darcs.
Point taken; your experience could have encouraged you to throw up your hands in disgust and give up at several points. Aside from our needing to fix the broken release schedules, I'm seeing that we also need to address documentation and communication problems: The installation instructions on xmonad.org should be much clearer for people who know nothing about and don't care about the haskell ecosystem, and just want to use xmonad. In reality you don't need to learn darcs. (See below re. installing darcs version.) You do need to install darcs, of course, which is problematic or frustrating for some. In my experience installing using darcs and cabal-install is much smoother and simpler than autotools based installs.
So, in order to use your WM, I have to completely bathe in haskell, down to learning the ideosyncratic, haskell-only VC you guys have cooked up.
It's really not very difficult to install from darcs, although it's not spelled out at all well on xmonad.org. The only darcs command you need is `darcs get': Installation Steps * Install ghc, darcs, and if available, cabal-install through your distro. Any combo of versions from the past 4 years or so that your distro has decided are compatible with one another are fine. * If cabal-īnstall isn't available in your repos, follow the simple instructions linked from the installation page: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Cabal-Install#Unix * In a convenienct directory like ~/repos or the like, run the following commands: $ darcs get http://code.haskell.org/xmonad $ darcs get http://code.haskell.org/XMonadContrib http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Cabal-Install#Unix * Ensure that the C X11 libraries are available on your machine if you don't have them already. ( i.e. libXinerama libXext libX11 -- libx11-dev on debian based distros). * Then build and install xmonad and xmonad-contrib with the commands: $ cd $reponame $ cabal install
But insisting that new users be baptized into your church (or at least attend sunday school for a few months) is really bad for adoption.
What would you suggest to improve this situation? My experience with the xmonad community is that it's pretty friendly and responsive, so any suggestions you share should at least get a fair hearing. Best regards, -wmw