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207 lines
9.6 KiB
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<title>XFce3: Now 100% Free Software! LG #43</title>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0000AF"
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ALINK="#FF0000">
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">XFce3: Now 100% Free Software!</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:normj@aa.net">Norman M. Jacobowitz</a></H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<EM>The long-awaited and much-needed "third choice" in Desktop
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Environments for X ...</EM>
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<p>One of the biggest debates in the Free/Open Source Software community
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over the past year has been over KDE and GNOME. Perhaps the major
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bone of contention between the two camps was the issue of licensing,
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specifically the proprietary nature of the Qt library used by KDE.
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<p>During these debates and outright flame wars, an alternative was
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lurking in the background. Called XFce, it was a lighter-weight
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desktop environment. One could reasonably consider it a middle-ground
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solution: more configurable than running a window manager such as
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FVWM, but not the behemoth of KDE or the then-nascent GNOME.
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Unfortunately, XFce suffered from the same flaw -- a fatal flaw in the
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eyes of many -- as KDE: XFce was based on the Xforms library, a
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proprietary widget set for the X Window System.
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<p>Well, there is now some very good news for Free Software enthusiasts!
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Olivier Fourdan, author of XFce, has taken the dramatic step of
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rewriting the whole project, using the GIMP toolkit. Finally, we have
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what many consider the "holy grail" of desktop environments for X:
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a lightweight, highly configurable, reliable, attractive and
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<b>100% free</b> alternative to KDE and GNOME.
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<p>Recently, Olivier was kind enough to agree to an e-mail interview
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and discuss these important developments.
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<h3>Q: When and why did you first decide to write XFce?</h3>
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<p>A: In late 1996, I started to work as a help desk analyst. As part of
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this job, I was working with HP X terms running CDE. I really loved that
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environment, and tried to find something similar on Linux.
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Unfortunately, the only thing I found was the commercial port of the
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real CDE to Linux, and it was really much too expensive for me.
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<p>Then in early 1997, I started to play with XForms and fdesign, the
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GUI designer. One real cool thing about fdesign is its ability to
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generate compilable C code from scratch. The XFce project had started,
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but as usual, I really didn't think it could go that far! I just started
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coding a very basic toolbar with Xforms, and when I released the first
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version on SunSITE (now called Metalab), people started asking for more
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and more features.
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<p>Initially, XFce was just the toolbar, without the window manager and
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all the goodies. In 1998, I released XFce 2.x with xfwm, the window
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manager. The rest of the goodies came from release to release ...
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<h3>Q: What compelled you to rewrite XFce using the GIMP toolkit? Was
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it for technical reasons, licensing reasons, or some mix of both?</h3>
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<p>A: I was thinking of porting XFce to GTK+ (the GIMP toolkit) for a long
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time. When the GNOME project started, somebody from the team sent me a
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mail from Mexico telling me they were starting a new desktop project
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with the GIMP toolkit and were looking for such a toolbar.
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Unfortunately, I did not know anything about GTK+ at that time and my
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skills in X programming were not as good as they are today.
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<p>Last year, when I released XFce 2.x, I talked with the people from
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Red Hat to see if they could use XFce in their distribution, but they
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did not want Xforms-based applications because of the license the
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library uses (it's free for private use and free applications, but the
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source code is not available).
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<p>As time passed, more and more projects were being based on the GIMP
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toolkit. I had to make something really new with XFce, include drag and
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drop, native language support, improve configurability, etc. So, at the
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end of March 1999, I decided to start XFce 3.0 and rewrite it entirely
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from scratch with GTK+.
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<p>Now I'm really glad I did that, XFce 3.0 is still fast and stable,
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and it features all I wanted for XFce, under the GNU General Public
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License, based exclusively on GNU tools (NLS, autoconf, automake, etc.)
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<h3>Q: Do you know which Linux distributions ship with XFce? And do
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you know of any that will now ship with XFce3?</h3>
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<p>A: I think Red Hat and SuSE both ship XFce 2.x on their additional
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software packages, and Kevin Donnely has made a package for Debian. But
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still, as XFce 2.x was based on Xforms, none of these distributions
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include XFce in their base system. I know FreeBSD also provides XFce 2.x
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as an additional package.
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<p>XFce 3.0 is now all GPL, but I guess it is still much too recent
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to be included in any distribution -- although I really hope some
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distribution will include XFce 3.0 in their base packages, among other
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choices for the user.
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<h3>Q: What do you think of GNOME and KDE, in general? Can you briefly
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summarize the relative merits of each versus XFce3?</h3>
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<p>A: KDE is the first attempt to provide Linux with a fully integrated
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desktop environment. I've been impressed by KDE 1.1! Unfortunately, KDE
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is too close to Microsoft Windows; I really don't like the "Start
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menu" style. Sometimes you have to go through several submenus to
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launch what you want (but this is a matter of taste). Moreover, KDE uses a
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lot of system resources. For example, I was not able to use KDE on an X
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terminal through a 10MB local network, whereas XFce works like a charm in
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such a configuration.
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<p>I don't know much about GNOME, as I could not make it work on my
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computer. But what I saw from it was very close to KDE, so the same
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remarks apply to GNOME. It seems to be so close to KDE that I don't
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understand what the need was for two similar environments on Linux.
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<p>I believe the desktop environment should be made to increase
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user productivity. Therefore, the goal is to keep most system resources for
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the applications, and not to consume all memory and CPU usage with the
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desktop environment. For example, does KDE or GNOME fit on a 1.44 MB
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floppy?
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<p>GNOME and KDE both provide a lot more integrated tools than XFce
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(although most of the time, separate tools are more powerful than the
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integrated ones; for example, I believe NEdit is better than any
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other Kedit or whatever). The exception is KFM, the KDE File Manager,
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which is far ahead the best program of all in KDE, in my opinion.
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<p>Some people say XFce is for the little systems, while GNOME and KDE
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are for bigger ones. I don't agree; the more memory and CPU you save for
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your applications, the better it is. And if you still want to use KDE
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and GNOME tools, because they are convenient for you, you can use them
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under XFce, as its window manager is supposed to be compatible with
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these applications, too.
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<h3>Q: XFce3 -- could it be your new desktop environment?</h3>
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<p>A: If you are looking for an alternative to KDE or GNOME, I strongly
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recommend investigating XFce3. It's small and efficient. It's
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functional and attractive. And now, it's 100% GPL software. Olivier
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has just completed an upgrade to the XFce main page. It includes links
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for downloading mirrors and the HTML on-line manual for XFce3.
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<p>Hopefully, all of the distributions will start shipping XFce as an
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optional desktop environment. It would be even better if at least one
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of the distributions would ship XFce3 as the default option. The Free
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Software community is famous for giving users a choice. XFce3 is now a
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fantastic choice for people who want a free option other than KDE or
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GNOME. By shipping XFce3 as a default desktop, perhaps one of the
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smaller, more up-and-coming distributions could make itself stand out
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from the KDE/GNOME crowd. XFce is a natural fit for any distribution
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trying to make itself known as a faster, lighter-weight Linux option.
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<p>In any case, XFce3 is worth a look.
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<h2>XFce3 Resources</h2>
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<p>Olivier Fourdan's <a href="http://www.xfce.org">XFce3 home page</a>,
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with the download section and on-line manual. Available are sources and
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pre-compiled platforms for Linux and other platforms.
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<p>The <a href "http://www.gtk.org/">GIMP Tool Kit home page</a>, with
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important information about this free library.
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<p>Special thanks go to Chuck Mead of <a
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href="http://www.moongroup.com/">Moongroup Consulting</a>, who hosts and
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maintains XFCE.org and the XFce Mailing List. Highly recommended
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whether you are a novice or expert user. To subscribe, email
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<a
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href="mailto:xfce-list-request@xfce.org">xfce-list-request@xfce.org</a>
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with the word "subscribe" (no quotes) in the subject line. Chuck Mead
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is also a board member of the <a href="http://www.lpi.org/"> Linux
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Professional Institute</a>.
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1999, Norman M. Jacobowitz <BR>
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Published in Issue 43 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, July 1999</H5></center>
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