1 Introduction
2 ------------
3
4 The desktop module provides desktop environment detection and resource opening
5 support for a selection of common and standardised desktop environments. See
6 the module docstring for a more extensive introduction. See also the following
7 patch registered in the Python SourceForge project:
8
9 http://www.python.org/sf?id=1301512
10
11 Contact, Copyright and Licence Information
12 ------------------------------------------
13
14 No Web page has yet been made available for this work, but the author can be
15 contacted at the following e-mail address:
16
17 paul@boddie.org.uk
18
19 Copyright and licence information can be found in the docs directory - see
20 docs/COPYING.txt and docs/LICENCE.txt for more information. Whilst I would
21 prefer to release my software under the LGPL or GPL, the Python Software
22 Foundation insists on other licences, and I have chosen one of those in the
23 hope that this module becomes a part of the Python standard library.
24
25 Notes
26 -----
27
28 Notes on desktop application/environment support:
29
30 KDE Supports file and URL opening using kfmclient, where the openURL
31 command opens the resource and the exec command runs the
32 resource.
33
34 GNOME Supports file and URL opening using gnome-open.
35
36 ROX-Filer Supports file opening using "rox <filename>" but not URL
37 opening.
38
39 New in desktop 0.2.1 (Changes since desktop 0.2)
40 ------------------------------------------------
41
42 * Added Debian/Ubuntu package support.
43
44 New in desktop 0.2 (Changes since desktop 0.1)
45 ----------------------------------------------
46
47 * Added support for waiting for launcher processes.
48 * Added a tests directory.
49
50 Release Procedures
51 ------------------
52
53 Update the desktop __version__ attribute.
54 Change the version number and package filename/directory in the documentation.
55 Update the release notes (see above).
56 Update the package information.
57 Check the release information in the PKG-INFO file.
58 Check the setup.py file.
59 Tag, export.
60 Archive, upload.
61 Update PyPI, PythonInfo Wiki, Vaults of Parnassus entries.
62
63 Making Packages
64 ---------------
65
66 To make Debian-based packages:
67
68 1. Create new package directories under packages if necessary.
69 2. Make a symbolic link in the distribution's root directory to keep the
70 Debian tools happy:
71
72 ln -s packages/ubuntu-hoary/python2.4-desktop/debian/
73
74 3. Run the package builder:
75
76 dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
77
78 4. Locate and tidy up the packages in the parent directory of the
79 distribution's root directory.