Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[Mobeus]

Here is a taste of the project that I have been working on. The subject of the Puppy menu system came up again in the AlphaOS thread today, so I thought I would post this.

Here is a screen shot from my slacko 5.5. Notice anything? Is anyone curious?

[`f00]

First off, alphabetic sorting of top-level cats
2nd, no jwm basemenu (just my pref) for jwm-specific items
3rd, too many Caps (again my pref) with longish names in subcats
(one way around that)
4th .. cool sig

There's such a variety of ways to do menus, a glove for every hand

[Mobeus]

Hi ‘foo,

Point #1 is the difference. The screen shot is a menu generated by a freedesktop.org compliant xdg menu system I composed for Puppy.

Linux OS menus have always been a sore point for me. To say it’s too hard for the casual user to personalize a Puppy menu would be an understatement at least. There are a couple of good Puppy menu editors that let you add/remove/rename application entries but anything further like adding to or modding the root menu isn’t available that I know of. To complicate it further some panels used in Puppies have hard coded root menus that require editing of the source code to change. Then if you compile a newer panel, the menu doesn’t work. Not dissing the system developers here, hard coding the menus is one way these panels will work with the stock Puppy menu system.

I set out to create a menu editor for myself that would allow full editing of my Puppy menus including the root menu. Lightweight, compiled in C and only depends on gtk2 or gtk3 and gnome-menus, which are standard Puppy components. Menu editors from other OSs mostly have dependencies like perl or python or java. After studying the freedesktop.org spec I realized that Puppy’s menu system could be simplified and would actually conform to the spec better than it does now. So, I reworked it and built the menu generator that produced the menu in the screenshot above.

So far the system will generate menus for icewm, jwm, and openbox/lxpanel, which are the ones I use mostly. It even supports openbox/lxpanel with menu-cache. It should also support other desktops or panels that use freedesktop.org xdg menus. I plan to add fbpanel too, if there is any interest. The system and editor will support individual user menus too, should that ever be desired.

Anyway, I just wanted to toss this out here and see if there is any community interest in it.

[Jasper]

PupMenu-3.1 from radky is a flexible and brilliant menu
editor/launcher which works across a wide range of pups.

[Mobeus]

So Jasper,

Do you think the Puppy menu system could be better, for both users and system developers? Or no?

[Jasper]

Hi Mobeus,

Well my menu set up is perfect for me thanks to radky and
others. I'll be pleased to send you a PM which explains my
complete menu system together with screenshots if you wish.

I use Precise 5.4 on a multi-session-live-DVD, using what is
almost certainly a rare assembly of superb apps and tips
which are combined in a simple design to my full satisfaction.

My regards

[Mobeus]

Hi again Jasper,

I would like that but I don't want to be a bother, so it's up to you. I always like seeing what others have done with Puppy.

There doesn't seem to be much interest here, at least not yet. That's OK too. The project is a development experience for me, and it's teaching quite a bit. I am positive it would enhance the experience of Puppy so I will see it through. You never know.

One other thing I neglected to mention. Having a freedesktop compliant menu system would put an end to software installations from other distro repositories failing to show up in the menu. I get the feeling that people do not realize that the Puppy menu system is not that far off the mark. A drastic change isn't needed.

Well, maybe someone will find it useful when it's past the semi-vaporware stage

Regards,
Mobeus

[gulk]

Hi Mobeus,

the timing of your post is fantastic...
Few days ago, I posted a question about lxpanel and its menu structure in particular in the Slacko 5.5 thread and got no response yet (see http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=84157&start=360).

I was wondering why some apps show up in the menu and some don't. I'm not familiar with menu structures in general, but looking around in the filesystem a bit, I found the /etc/xdg/menus folder and started to try to understand the thing and force the applications show up in the menu (all the missing apps have an associated .desktop in /usr/share/applications, and I made sure these work fine by themselves).

What kind of stopped me in my track is the "template" file with a big "do not edit" comment at the beginning:

[playdayz]

[Buck Huffman]

Great idea!

I was just looking for such a tool a week or so ago for Fatdog 64.

Could not find one and ended up searching for hours for just the
right lines in just the right config files.

Felt like I was using a sledge hammer to drive screws.

Would like to see your program in action. it is sorely needed.

Buck

[Jasper]

Hi again Mobeus,

It'll be no trouble to PM you, but as it'll be comprehensive
I'll make a substantial start today though I'll not rush to
complete it.

My regards

[darkcity]

This is a great idea to make Puppy more compliant with xdg. is there a standard way to solve for the short comings 'foo mentioned, what do other distros do?

[L18L]

[stu91]

I think menu standardization plus a light weight editor is a good idea.

[Mobeus]

Thank you all for your interest. It’s very encouraging.

@gulk