Lubuntu work items for Q

Registered by Julien Lavergne

All development work items for Lubuntu 12.10

Blueprint information

Status:
Started
Approver:
Lubuntu Developers
Priority:
Medium
Drafter:
Julien Lavergne
Direction:
Approved
Assignee:
Lubuntu Developers
Definition:
Approved
Series goal:
Accepted for quantal
Implementation:
Started
Milestone target:
milestone icon ubuntu-12.10-beta-1
Started by
Kate Stewart

Whiteboard

[pascual] xfce4 power-manager doesn't work well in Lubuntu 12.04. There is no control of screen brightness, we cannot set brightness default on startup (actually now my brightness keys FN+F6 FN+F7 don't work, like it worked on Lubuntu 11.10 in the same cuputer) wake up doesn't work. I uninstalled and there was no difference, it is an useless program at this moment. Perhaps, if we want something light, we might think on TLP and Jupiter (notice that Jupiter allows us to change settings without having to run the program on startup, so no "heaviness" here).
[gilir] At least, please report a bug report about those issues, they may not be directly related to xpm. If you want to propose something, you need to provide a detail description of the replacement you propose.

[pascual] An example of problems with power management. Our default video player is GNOME-mplayer, right? But in order to implement its feature of disable screensaver when running the program, it demands to have gnome-power-manager installed. What??
[gilir] No, it's a known bug in gnome-mplayer, it should disable Xscreensaver if it's detected. It should be fixed in 12.10

[pascual] Lubuntu default font is too big, perhaps we can use Ubuntu 10 for desktop and Menu Application Items. Of course, you can change it once you use Lubuntu, but it is always nicer to have a good first impression (and precisely that's the reason we have seen nice polishing in the User Interface).
[gilir] It's the same than in Ubuntu. Artwork team of Lubuntu may have a opinion on this.

[pascual] Check some dependencies in the lubuntu-desktop package. One concrete example, I don't have bluetooth in my computer, yet in Synaptic files like libbluetooth cannot be removed because apparently, lubuntu-desktop and sylpheed depend on it (not even Thunderbird has this dependence that Sylpheed does). In general, there are other programs that cannot be removed because lubuntu-desktop depends on them and some of them might be "useless programs" ... that would make the system lighther on resources and startup, for example. That might be the reason why Lubuntu startup times and battery life are not really superior to Ubuntu's default despite being "a lighter version"
[gilir] lubuntu-desktop can always be removed, it's just a meta-package. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/Documentation/RemoveLubuntuDesktop

[pascual] Lubuntu currenlty misplaces application tray icons ... the default should be to create each new tray icon of a program to the left of a previous one that was opened. Currently, it happens at random; sometimes the network manager button is at the left, sometimes at the middle, etc ...
[gilir] It's a limitation of the notification-area and lxpanel. You can report a bug / feature request about it.
[ikem] Where do I report bugs for LXPanel?
[ikem] You report them here: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=180858

[pascual] Audacious team is developing Audacious 3.3 and is going to get rid of GTK2.x, following the trend of using GTK3+ instead ... so it would be good to make sure the latest version of Audacious would be on the official repositories (and not an old one), given that is is our default program for music. And it is a very stable program, so no problem of adding it to the repositories. And the new theme (I have seen screenshots of pcmanfm with the new theme) should include changing the default colors of buttons for GNOME-Mplayer and Audacious.
[gilir] We are in sync with debian about audacious. If Debian package the new version before Feature Freeze, we will have it in 12.10.

[pascual] Abiword is our default program instead of LibreOffice in the "Office section". However the latest version of Abiword that came into the repositories 2.9.2 was quite buggy and should not have been released into the official repo (for citing the most basic example, mouse scrolling doesn't work). So, it is important to make sure a stable version is on the official repositories (2.8.6 from Lubuntu 11.10 was fine) or remove Abiword and take LibreOffice instead. Currently, because of these issues, most people is installing LibreOffice and ditching Abiword. In my case, I had to remove Abiword and install the version of Lubuntu 11.10, with the problem that I had to unckeck Abiword in every update, because Update Manager suggest to install the buggy latest version.
[gilir] See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/abiword/+bug/1019621 for the complete discussion.
[ikem] I don't want to see LibreOffice in Lubuntu. It's not really "lightweight". It would be better to fix Abiword, or use an older version that worked the way we want it to be.

[jthompson87] Perhaps a change in network manager might be nice. WICD is a touch advanced, but does not carry any GNOME dependencies. Also, its use as my manager resolved a nasty bug I was having with my home WPA network. I found a forum post (http://boardreader.com/thread/Network_manager_shows_wpa_network_as_wep_1h77X1gxn.html) in which someone else was having a similar issue, which directed me to do so.
[ikem] The network manager is far easier to use, then WICD. I think it's better to fix them, then to rewrite WICD.
[jthompson87] If the bug is resolved, I would be happy to continue to support network-manager, but it is rather obscure and only started for me sometime during the Lubuntu beta 1. Not many others seem to experience this particular bug, so reproduction is difficult. Also, the benefits of abandoning GNOME dependencies cannot be ignored.
[jthompson87] Please disregard my notes of a bug. Embarassing as it may be, I must admit that it was a problem with compatability concerning my laptop's wireless card and the security protocol used with my network. I believe that some of my other points carried merit, such as the lack of GNOME dependencies, and perhaps work on another frontend without such requirements would be in order.
[jthompson87] I was not sure where to put this, but I finally realized what was causing me to actually have that bug I initially described. Its off-again, on-again nature was actually due to a nasty regression suffered in Ubuntu (and perhaps others) kernel 3.2 with regard to the ath5k driver. I was forced to create a file, "/etc/modprobe.d/ath5k.conf", and give it the text "options ath5k nohwcrypt=1". I am unfamiliar with any side effects (and have yet to experience any) of this particular modification, but it resolved my problems immediately. If we could push this small change for Lubuntu 12.10, it would surely aid anyone with a similar wireless chipset to mine (Atheros AR2413/AR2414), unless of course the regression has since been resolved in kernel 3.5.

[jebril] I wouldn't mind seeing a wallpaper changer finally being integrated into Lubuntu, I have already developed a script for it that's very small and integrates very well with Openbox. If you are interested.

[kanliot] this is an actual problem, not a wishlist. if we installed a .desktop shortcut to alsamixer. noobs would be able to find it. I just encountered such a person on the forum.
[gilir] The problem is why it needs to access directly the mixer. Normal user just need the capability of the volume applet, and the option to access more options are also available at the same place.
[ikem] Would be nice if I can right click on the volume applet and get an option like "Open sound mixer" and it starts "gnome-alsamixer".

[phillw]
As xxxterm is less resource hungry than Chromium & is already in Universe, what are the thoughts to switch to this as 'default', or even include it as an option if disk space on the install CD's allows?
[gilir]
Ressources is not the only factor to compare. We need also to compare the features and the speed between the browser. Also, a browser need a strong upstream support, for example to fix security issues.
[leszek]
xxxterm is a nice lightweight browser but it misses some comfort (i.e. Bookmarking support & Extensions). So I agree with Julien here.
[phillw]
If Chromium is not, as Julien has mentioned, currently getting regular builds; we may
have to think of other options. I'm quite happy to have just have it mentioned on the
minimal install page as a low resource browser (with less bloat, comes less functions).
[ikem]
I vote for Midori. It's small, it's fast, supports adblock and flashblock (via userscript). The only thing need to be improved is crash handling (right now it recovers only the first open window).
[shiki-]
Midori is not that stable, cannot be used for daily browsing. At least, it crashes for me all the time. I wanted to use it, as it is a lightweight GTK browser, but it failed to replace Chromium (or Chrome) or even Firefox.
[ikem]
How about QupZilla: http://www.qupzilla.com/

[Pierre Gobin]
Use (create) a Lubuntu Control Center to gather different System and Preferences options, and delete System and Preferences categories in the menu in favor of only two items : Lubuntu Control Center ans Lubuntu Software Center.
[gilir]
Ideally, it should also include integration in a single window, like most of control center do. It's not trivial to implement.
You can also use the lubuntu control center, which is only a launcher for others preferences programs. The ideas is interested, but it needs more work to be more useful than a replacement for the Preference Menu.
[StephenSmally]
I'm working on lxde-control-center at the moment, email me for info.

[Pierre Gobin]
In PCmanFM, create default bookmarks for personal folders (Documents, Music, Pictures, etc.) and use custom icons for them.
[gilir]
Adding shortcuts is done for quantal, having custom icons need a modification in pcmanfm itself.
[ikem]
When I add a shortcut, I want an open window where I can click on a program/folder/whatever and it creates a shortcut and launches "lxshortcut" to edit them further (or discard them finally).

[johnkeel105] A suggestion I mention a while back, make it easy to change the format of the clock, just having a dropdown box under Digital Clock Settings to select between 12-hr and 24-hr would be helpful.

=== Closed discussions ===
[Michael Rawson]
If we're going to add catfish to the seed, what happened to lxfind? I seem to recall that being relatively stable when I last used it...
[gilir]
I updated the task to reflect the choice between catfish and lxfind

[kanliot]
i know this is impossible, but i'd love to be able to install lubuntu on xfs. I don't think you can, right now (it's missing from the liveCD)
[leszek] (You can if you install xfs-tools from inside the live system before starting the installer)
[cjwatson] This is a straightforward seed bug and easy to fix; probably the live seed ought to inherit from live-common, but failing that, include the necessary packages by hand.
[gilir] thanks cjwatson, I added a task to look at this during q cycle

[Mörgæs]
Under 'Work Items' it says: Investigate new image viewer (Viewnior?)
I suggest also considering Eye of Gnome.
Gpicview, the present image viewer, is buggy and does not seem to be in much development. There are several better (and light) alternatives.
[gilir]
eog depends on GNOME components, I don't think we need them to find a good alternative. Anyway, that could be part of the discussion for the image viewer
[gilir]
Discussion started on the mailing list, please add your arguments to the discussion
[moonsdad] I suggest Mirage to replace Gpicview.

[Pierre Gobin]
If it is possible, in lxpanel, to automatically center icons on the panel : it would be interesting when we create a second panel as a dock. Currently icons remain attached on a side.
[gilir]
It's a bug to report to lxpanel.
[Pierre Gobin]
Bug reported here : https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lxpanel/+bug/997179

[boamaod]
Software center main page with categories not translatable makes Lubuntu hardly usable in non English contexts. https://bugs.launchpad.net/lubuntu-software-center/+bug/1006801 Fixed and commited to trunk.
[gilir]
Thanks, in progress to include it in 12.10

[boamaod]
When not used in English, lubuntu-software-center fails in essential functionality, that is installing software: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lubuntu-software-center/+bug/1031346 It was so in Precise, it's still not fixed in Quantal beta. Fixed and commited to trunk.
[gilir]
Thanks for the fix.

[ikem] I like to see Sylpheed using the system icon theme.
[ikem] This guy made a Sylpheed icon theme: http://coonsden.com/?p=184
[gilir] It's done in 12.10

(?)

Work Items

Work items:
Update Xpad to 4.1 (bug 917356) : DONE
[gilir] Enable translation on package we added strings in patches (pcmanfm / libfm) - no string in the patches in quantal : POSTPONED
Investigate and enable translation in launchpad (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Translations/Universe_Translations_in_LP): POSTPONED
[gilir] lxsession : Add basic replacement for current autostarted application in autostart conf file: DONE
[gilir] lxsession : Add ability to configure screen resolution with external tools : DONE
[gilir] lxsession : Add ability to configure keymap + autostart feature : DONE
Investigate new image viewer (keep existing one, unless viewnor packaging is submitted) : DONE
[gilir] Finish the possibility to customize Chromium (patch source + JSOn preference, see bug 570812) : POSTPONED
Discuss adding catfish or lxfind to the seed (add catfist unless lxfind is finish for A3) : DONE
Sync / Merge from Debian lxde-common 0.5.5-1 : POSTPONED
ITP LXScreenshot (most of the work is done in upstream branch) : POSTPONED
Use Debian git to host packaging - Debian diverge too much from us for now to host packaging in the same git : POSTPONED
[stlsaint] Add Apport hooks lxdm : POSTPONED
Add Apport hooks lxsession : POSTPONED
Add Apport hooks lxtask : POSTPONED
Add Apport hooks lxterminal : POSTPONED
Track important bugs with rls-q-incoming tag instead of the wiki page: TODO
[gilir] Discuss replacement for notification-daemon (xfce one): DONE
Discuss and add indicator support by default (to fix empty icons bugs): DONE
[michael.rawson] Make lxpanel follow icon spec instead of hardcoding icons location (work on https://github.com/MichaelRawson/lxpanel-icon-fixes): DONE
[gilir] Update the seed with live-common (and check if other *-common seed exist): DONE
[gilir] Re-enable daily build of LXDE trunk and other components, to test easier with last upstream version: DONE
[gilir] Sync LXDE packages with Debian sid, and push changes to lxde-debian lxde list: INPROGRESS
Patch to enable monochrome systray icon Osmo - Osmo is dropped from default installation : POSTPONED
Patch to enable monochrome systray icon Xpad (bug 907705) : DONE
Patch to enable monochrome systray icon Sylpheed (http://sylpheed.sraoss.jp/redmine/issues/87) : DONE
[gilir] Migrate osmo to GTK3 (to get rid of webkit + gtk2) - Osmo is dropped from default installation : POSTPONED
Glade: Migrate galculator (done upstream, see svn) : POSTPONED
Glade: Migrate obconf : POSTPONED
Glade: Migrate xfburn / libxfcegui4-4 (already done by migration to libxfceui) : DONE
Glade: Migrate xscreensaver (?) : POSTPONED
Introspection: Evaluate removing python-gtk2 : POSTPONED
Introspection: Evaluate removing python-vte : POSTPONED
Introspection: Evaluate removing python-notify : POSTPONED
Evaluate specific work items for python3 only on CD for us (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Python/3) : POSTPONED

Dependency tree

* Blueprints in grey have been implemented.