What happens when gnome 3 is released

pfnorris · 2011-03-09 21:46:53

I am interested to know what the Arch policy is going to be when Gnome 3 is released. Gnome is currently my desktop environment of choice, but I have not as yet made up my mind whether or not I want to move onto Gnome 3. And specifically I am unlikely to want to upgrade the moment it is released. Given the rolling nature of Arch, it would be interesting to know how quickly it will find it's way into the repositories, and if it will be an automatic upgrade, or something that you would obviously have to 'opt in' to.

Will it be possible to put a lock on certain package groups so that they are not upgraded until the user chooses, or will there be a policy that will allow users who choose to do so to remain on gnome 2 for the time being. I realise that's actually several questions, but they are all basically driving at the same point, which is establishing a bit of clarity about what the impact of the release of gnome 3 is going to be for the end user.

Thanks

Regards

Phil

chris-kun · 2011-03-09 21:50:08

I suspect the standard 'gnome' packages will be moved to gnome 3 fairly soon after it's deemed stable, and the current version of gnome will be moved to a 'gnome2' sort-of package set.

Last edited by chris-kun (2011-03-09 21:50:22)

wonder · 2011-03-09 21:54:40

everything depends on how good is the fallback mode.

Inxsible · 2011-03-09 21:54:48

Whenever a piece of software is deemed stable by its developers - that's when Arch moves to it (given of course the time required by one of the devs/TUs to package it)

You can put gnome in your IgnorePkg /IgnoreGroup under pacman.conf and that should bide you some time, but eventually there is going to be breakage with something else because gnome as such is a huge piece of software and somewhere down the line, you are gonna wanna use an app, that requires gnome3 or its dependency....

wonder · 2011-03-09 21:56:15

chris-kun wrote:

I suspect the standard 'gnome' packages will be moved to gnome 3 fairly soon after it's deemed stable, and the current version of gnome will be moved to a 'gnome2' sort-of package set.

no. we won't support two gnome releases instalable in the same time because this is impossible. We might have it in a separate repo, like it is right now

Inxsible wrote:

You can put gnome in your IgnorePkg /IgnoreGroup under pacman.conf and that should bide you some time, but eventually there is going to be breakage with something else because gnome as such is a huge piece of software and somewhere down the line, you are gonna wanna use an app, that requires gnome3 or its dependency....

this would cause a lot more problems than resolves. I won't encourage anyone to try this.

Last edited by wonder (2011-03-09 21:58:05)

drcouzelis · 2011-03-09 22:48:20

pfnorris wrote:

I realise that's actually several questions, but they are all basically driving at the same point, which is establishing a bit of clarity about what the impact of the release of gnome 3 is going to be for the end user.

First of all, I'm sure the Arch Linux developers will make an announcement before before forcing a major update from GNOME 2 to GNOME 3. It should be impossible to not that GNOME 3 is about to be installed on your computer.

Second, now that I think about it, updating (in theory) shouldn't be that big of a deal, right? I'm assuming you want to avoid GNOME Shell, but not GNOME 3 in general. Is that right? If that's the case, after you boot into your new GNOME 3 desktop, you change the setting to "classic mode" and use it like you used GNOME 2. The update will probably be like any other major update: backup your data, probably remove your settings from the old version, and update.

If you do want to continue using GNOME 2, then you'll probably have to use a slightly older, alternative Linux distribution.

...well, those are my thoughts, at least.

ngoonee · 2011-03-09 23:56:32

drcouzelis wrote:

pfnorris wrote:
I realise that's actually several questions, but they are all basically driving at the same point, which is establishing a bit of clarity about what the impact of the release of gnome 3 is going to be for the end user.
First of all, I'm sure the Arch Linux developers will make an announcement before before forcing a major update from GNOME 2 to GNOME 3. It should be impossible to not that GNOME 3 is about to be installed on your computer.

I'm not very sure this update warrants an announcement. It may very well be made, but kernel updates etc. are much 'bigger' in impact than an update for a DE that has been coming (and known to be coming to most) for months, plus with [gnome-testing] available the update shouldn't affect very many (in terms of functionality lost, broken systems etc.).

Second, now that I think about it, updating (in theory) shouldn't be that big of a deal, right? I'm assuming you want to avoid GNOME Shell, but not GNOME 3 in general. Is that right? If that's the case, after you boot into your new GNOME 3 desktop, you change the setting to "classic mode" and use it like you used GNOME 2. The update will probably be like any other major update: backup your data, probably remove your settings from the old version, and update.
If you do want to continue using GNOME 2, then you'll probably have to use a slightly older, alternative Linux distribution.
...well, those are my thoughts, at least.

Well, even when not upgrading backups should be kept . And someone will probably eventually maintain gnome2 related stuff somewhere (see the 'trinity' set of PKGBUILDs being discussed on Arch ML from time-to-time) if gnome3 really proves all that unusable.

chris-kun · 2011-03-10 00:20:44

wonder wrote:

chris-kun wrote:
I suspect the standard 'gnome' packages will be moved to gnome 3 fairly soon after it's deemed stable, and the current version of gnome will be moved to a 'gnome2' sort-of package set.
no. we won't support two gnome releases instalable in the same time because this is impossible. We might have it in a separate repo, like it is right now
this would cause a lot more problems than resolves. I won't encourage anyone to try this.

well I didn't necessarily mean officially, but I'm sure somebody will be maintaining it

pfnorris · 2011-03-10 09:04:03

Thanks to all respondents. @drcouzelis: I think you have put your finger on it. It's not gnome 3 per se so much as the gnome shell interface that I am unsure about, and I was hoping to buy a bit of time to evaluate it and make my mind up before being committed to it. I know I could do that with beta versions, but I really want to have a look at the finished product. In the meantime I would prefer to continue to work in the manner I am used to on my day to day machines. So a 'classic mode' if it is going to be there would be ideal.

I understand the point about app dependancies and breakages etc, so I know I have to consider what to do about leaving Gome 2, but it's useful to have a clear view as to what your options are.

Thanks again all

agapito · 2011-03-10 09:06:01

gnome 2 = kde3

soon

santodelaespada · 2011-03-26 02:26:07

you can also consider a slightly different desktop, such as Xfce4 or LXDE. They provide most functionalities today available on Gnome and they should remain in GTK2 for some time.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-09 21:46:53

What happens when gnome 3 is released

#2 2011-03-09 21:50:08

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#3 2011-03-09 21:54:40

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#4 2011-03-09 21:54:48

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#5 2011-03-09 21:56:15

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#6 2011-03-09 22:48:20

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#7 2011-03-09 23:56:32

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#8 2011-03-10 00:20:44

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#9 2011-03-10 09:04:03

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#10 2011-03-10 09:06:01

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

#11 2011-03-26 02:26:07

Re: What happens when gnome 3 is released

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