Hi, What about if some next xmonad release comes with an automatic configurator? It could work like that: xmonad-config --default xmonad-config --gnome xmonad-config --ubuntu-gnome xmonad-config --kde xmonad-config --arossato xmonad-config --dons xmonad-config --droundy xmonad-config --sjanssen etc. Such utility would just generate a xmonad.hs in the proper place that we could use as a template that is supposed to work without changes under different environments or supporting a list of features. Best, Maurício
Maurício wrote:
Hi,
What about if some next xmonad release comes with an automatic configurator? It could work like that:
xmonad-config --default xmonad-config --gnome xmonad-config --ubuntu-gnome xmonad-config --kde xmonad-config --arossato xmonad-config --dons xmonad-config --droundy xmonad-config --sjanssen etc.
Such utility would just generate a xmonad.hs in the proper place that we could use as a template that is supposed to work without changes under different environments or supporting a list of features.
Best, Maurício
I like the principle but not the execution of this idea. What would the internals of that program look like? It's just a list of pre-made xmonad.hs files, and it spits one out based on the command-line argument. I think it would be better done with a directory with such example files in it. Currently, source distributions of xmonad come with the standard default config in man/xmonad.hs. There is no reason why we can't expand this to include xmonad-default.hs, xmonad-gnome.hs, etc., perhaps with a README to explain how to use one of them yourself. If our binary distributions also have such a directory, I think that's the best place. If they don't, I'm not certain where the best spot is. It's certainly far more user-friendly (and makes an excellent first impression) for a new user to just copy that config file into place, mod+q, and it works. Braden Shepherdson shepheb
Hi,
What about if some next xmonad release comes with an automatic configurator? It could work like that:
xmonad-config --default xmonad-config --gnome xmonad-config --ubuntu-gnome xmonad-config --kde (...)
I like the principle but not the execution of this idea. What would the internals of that program look like? It's just a list of pre-made xmonad.hs files, and it spits one out based on the command-line argument.
Sure, that's the idea! That program would select from a list of pre-made xmonad.hs files, and then do the most difficult thing when configuring xmonad: place it in the right place. This is actually the main problem I would like to solve. I needed just a few attempts to get a working configuration file, but hours to find where it should be. 'man' files, xmonad web page and my distribution package use different and contradicting conventions about that. The nice thing about a "xmonad-config" is that it could be adapted to different distributions, without messing with the main source. Maurício
On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 06:54:35PM -0300, Maurício wrote:
Hi,
What about if some next xmonad release comes with an automatic configurator? It could work like that:
xmonad-config --default xmonad-config --gnome xmonad-config --ubuntu-gnome xmonad-config --kde (...)
I like the principle but not the execution of this idea. What would the internals of that program look like? It's just a list of pre-made xmonad.hs files, and it spits one out based on the command-line argument.
Sure, that's the idea! That program would select from a list of pre-made xmonad.hs files, and then do the most difficult thing when configuring xmonad: place it in the right place. This is actually the main problem I would like to solve. I needed just a few attempts to get a working configuration file, but hours to find where it should be. 'man' files, xmonad web page and my distribution package use different and contradicting conventions about that.
The nice thing about a "xmonad-config" is that it could be adapted to different distributions, without messing with the main source.
Maurício
Please point out any documentation that contradicts "~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs". Cheers, Spencer Janssen
(...)
Please point out any documentation that contradicts "~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs".
Cheers, Spencer Janssen
My distribution uses version 0.6 of xmonad. It's 'man' page says: "CUSTOMIZATION xmonad is customized by creating a custom Config.hs and (re)compiling the source code. After recompiling, ’restart’ is used to fork the new version, with changes reflected immediately." But the point is that distributions sometimes do have to change some code. Configuration examples in documentation are not supposed to "just work". An automatic configuration, however, is. For instance, installing xmonad-config package would require xmonad-contrib, so that any generated configuration would find required modules. Best, Maurício
* Maurício
(...)
Please point out any documentation that contradicts "~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs".
Cheers, Spencer Janssen
My distribution uses version 0.6 of xmonad. It's 'man' page says:
"CUSTOMIZATION xmonad is customized by creating a custom Config.hs and (re)compiling the source code. After recompiling, ’restart’ is used to fork the new version, with changes reflected immediately."
Which distribution do you use? This is probably maintainer's mistake. Point that to him, and remind about 0.7 is out for several months ;)
But the point is that distributions sometimes do have to change some code. Configuration examples in documentation are not supposed to "just work".
Then they can distribute modified (but correct) documentation and examples as well. -- Roman I. Cheplyaka (aka Feuerbach @ IRC)
On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 12:44:42PM -0300, Maurício wrote:
(...)
Please point out any documentation that contradicts "~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs".
Cheers, Spencer Janssen
My distribution uses version 0.6 of xmonad. It's 'man' page says:
"CUSTOMIZATION xmonad is customized by creating a custom Config.hs and (re)compiling the source code. After recompiling, ’restart’ is used to fork the new version, with changes reflected immediately."
I do know that this is not the case in the current darcs version. I don't know whether we made a mistake in 0.6, or if your distro incorrectly modified the manpage.
But the point is that distributions sometimes do have to change some code. Configuration examples in documentation are not supposed to "just work". An automatic configuration, however, is. For instance, installing xmonad-config package would require xmonad-contrib, so that any generated configuration would find required modules.
Best, Maurício
Why shouldn't configuration examples in documentation "just work"? Any distro package that isn't compatible with example configs is broken. Cheers, Spencer Janssen
* Spencer Janssen
On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 12:44:42PM -0300, Maurício wrote:
(...)
Please point out any documentation that contradicts "~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs".
Cheers, Spencer Janssen
My distribution uses version 0.6 of xmonad. It's 'man' page says:
"CUSTOMIZATION xmonad is customized by creating a custom Config.hs and (re)compiling the source code. After recompiling, ’restart’ is used to fork the new version, with changes reflected immediately."
I do know that this is not the case in the current darcs version. I don't know whether we made a mistake in 0.6, or if your distro incorrectly modified the manpage.
Manpage was correct, just checked it. Maintainer probably just forgot to update it. -- Roman I. Cheplyaka (aka Feuerbach @ IRC)
participants (5)
-
Braden Shepherdson -
brian -
Maurício -
Roman Cheplyaka -
Spencer Janssen