Gimp menu does not conform to Debian policy

[Cyril Soldani]

Binary package hint: gimp

Ubuntu 7.10 (gutsy)
Gimp 2.4.0~rc3-1ubuntu7

The menu entry /usr/share/menu/gimp provided by the gimp package for use with the menu package does not conform to Debian policy.

More specifically, it uses "Applications/Graphics" as section instead of "Apps/Graphics". It results in update-menus creating a sub-menu "Applications" containing only "Graphics" which in turn contains only "The GIMP". This affects the menus of all window managers depending on the menu package (e.g. Fluxbox).

[Andrea Colangelo (warp10)]

I confirm this bug for Gimp 2.4.0~rc3-1ubuntu7

[Andrea Colangelo (warp10)]

Builded, Installed and tested: everything ok.

[Cesare Tirabassi (norsetto)]

This is not a bug on Gimp; the menu policy changed [1], and the gimp menu reflects correctly this change.

[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2007/07/msg00000.html

The bug is on menu that should be updated to version 2.1.35 in gutsy.

[Cesare Tirabassi (norsetto)]

Actually, I think I was even to hasty to classify this as a bug in menu.
In reality, the new and old menu entries will coexist together; as a matter of fact in menu 2.1.35 there are only documentation changes and a translate_menus method that can be used to move those applications that have not yet migrated to the new structure.
I attach the method here in case it could help you; you have to install this in /etc/menu-methods/ or in ~/.menu-methods/ and to use the method simply update your menu with this command:

update-menus translate_menus

Be aware that if you use ~/.menu-methods/ you override the system-defaults of /etc/menu-methods. If this directory exists, no files in /etc/menu-methods are read any more.

Please report here any problem you may have with this method if you decide to use it.

[Cyril Soldani (cyril-soldani)]

I tested your translation method and it works well on my systems (gusty), thanks.

It would be nice to have something like this enabled by default in the menu package to allow for easy transition. We cannot hope having all packages conforming to the same menu structure any time soon.

Although I prefer the new menu structure and I support your translation which is looking forward, it is a bit confusing. Package maintainers referring to current debian policy (3.7.2.2, /usr/share/doc/debian-policy/menu-policy.txt.gz) will continue to use the old structure while seeing their package appearing at other places in the menu. This can be confusing. It is not critical as the menu will remain coherent (thanks to translations), but it could slow down adoption of the new menu structure.

Possible solutions are :
- upgrade to a newer debian policy including the new structure (if it exists)
- add a special notice for menu transition in /usr/share/doc/debian-policy
- rewrite the translations the other way round (e.g. from "Applications" to "Apps"). Users of the new
  structure are more likely to be aware of the translation for transition purpose. This one would solve
  the confusion problem, but would not help the transition to the new menu structure, so I
  personnaly prefer Cesare's solution.

[Cesare Tirabassi (norsetto)]

I think we can safely close this now.