[OE-core] [Openembedded-architecture] Future of sato and X in oe-core

[Adrian Bunk]

On Tue, Feb 11, 2020 at 01:49:27PM +0100, Alexander Kanavin wrote:
>...
> - matchbox is reliant on gtk3 (to be obsoleted by gtk4 this year), and does
> not have a Wayland compositor. Yocto project does not have the resources to
> do the gtk4 port, or add a compositor.
> 
> - no 'lightweight Wayland compositor with a desktop/launcher experience"
> has emerged in the open source space; I think the only realistic choice at
> the moment is the reference compositor Weston which provides a blank
> desktop with ability to open terminal windows.
> 
> So the way I think things should be going (seeking opinions/inputs of
> course):
>...
> - oe-core continues to support and runtime-test X for as long as possible;
> for this a new image (say, 'core-image-sato-xorg') is created which will
> provide matchbox under X. However, once upstream bitrot sets in, and pain
> threshold is exceeded, this will be removed and/or relegated to a legacy
> layer.
> 
> Thoughts?

matchbox made sense at a time when you could go into a shop and buy an
internet tablet with Linux running on 256 MB flash with 256 MB RAM.

Part of the problem is that the only remaining usage of this branch
of matchbox development seems to be as example UI for Yocto.

For matchbox/sato I am wondering whether replacing it with parts of
meta-xfce from meta-openembedded would be a good way forward.

Upstream Xfce still seems to be 2-3 years away from gtk4 and Wayland 
support, but at the point where supporting X might become a problem
this should be available.

Xfce was my first thought as replacement since it appears to be 
well-maintained in meta-openembedded, no strong opinion whether
it is actually the best option.

> Regards,
> Alex

cu
Adrian