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

[Alexander Kanavin]

Specifically (sorry for the rapid-followup), I think the main value
proposition of core is integration and testing of various language
toolchains and core libraries. UIs in embedded space can mean pretty much
anything, and so I'd leave that to specialised layers.

Alex

On Tue, 11 Feb 2020 at 14:57, Alexander Kanavin <alex.kanavin at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The question is: what are the use cases for an 'example/reference UI'? Why
> have one at all at this point? Remember, the core project is severely
> under-staffed and we need to commit our limited resources wisely.
>
> Alex
>
> On Tue, 11 Feb 2020 at 14:53, Adrian Bunk <bunk at stusta.de> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openembedded.org/pipermail/openembedded-core/attachments/20200211/1f749e09/attachment.html>