Results: upgrade from Breezy using update-manager

[Carlos Ribeiro]

On 5/21/06, Conrad Knauer <atheoi at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 5/20/06, Carlos Ribeiro <carribeiro at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 4. My biggest complaint is something that many people don't value... the
> screensaver. The switch to gnome-screensaver means that I can't preview or
> configure screensavers. I miss part of the fun factor. I noticed it because
> I'm used to checking the 'ant-spotlight' screensaver to see how many FPS am
> I getting after an upgrade (important also so I can check if the driver is
> performing as expected, etc.). The solution was to remove the
> gnome-screensaver and to install the xscreensaver, so I could check it.
>
> The lack of configuration annoyed me too; see
> https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/gnome-screensaver/+bug/22007
>
> BTW, the reason that gnome-screensaver doesn't have a configuration
> ability is because the gnome developer in charge of it feels that "any
> screensaver theme that requires configuration is inherently broken"!
> Seriously; this is a good example of what Linus Torvalds was talking
> about when he parodied the mentality of Gnome developers as "users are
> idiots, and are confused by functionality'"
>

Being practical, what can be done about that? I checked it, and the problem
was reported about five (!) months ago. It's not a trivial patch, it's new
functionality that must be implemented. What can be done?

a) Implement the new functionality (effectively branching the development of
gnome-screensaver, as upstream does not recognize this as a valid
requirement). Will take a lot of time & cause a lot of noise;

b) Scrap gnome-screensaver from the install in favor of xscreensaver (it
would be the easiest think to do, but I fear it's too late now);

c) Instruct users (in a FAQ, for example) to remove the gnome-screensaver
and install the 'old' xscreensaver. Biggest problem IMHO is that by doing it
we need to remove some meta-packages: gnome and ubuntu-desktop, that depend
on gnome-screensaver. This will probabluy make my life harder at some point
in the future.

It's a shame that, as we approach Dapper turning 'gold', there's still such
things opened. This removes part of the fun, and of the flexibility, and is
actually a *loss* of functionality that was previously present. Sigh.

-- 
Carlos Ribeiro
Consultoria em Projetos
blog: http://rascunhosrotos.blogspot.com
blog: http://pythonnotes.blogspot.com
mail: carribeiro at gmail.com
mail: carribeiro at yahoo.com
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