Please backport focuswriter 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1 from oneiric to lucid, maverick, natty

[john Alatalo]

I would like to see Focuswriter (texteditor) in the repository. Got good reviews from many. I translated this with google translate from Swedish:

http://translate.google.se/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpavel.frimix.se%2F2010%2F10%2F05%2Ffocuswriter-den-perfekta-texteditorn%2F&act=url

Can anyone here make a request for it?
Thanks.

[john Alatalo (john-alatalo-deactivatedaccount)]

I would like to see FocusWriter to be included in the repository by default for Ubuntu 11.04
I can not find it here when search:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/

Its more easy for users to install applications from the software manager:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installingsoftware

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

New packages are only added to stable Ubuntu releases via -backports, so I've added natty-backports as an affected project, and I'm marking this Invalid in focuswriter in Ubuntu (which would otherwise be a needs-packaging bug, except focuswriter is already packaged for the next Ubuntu release, Oneiric).

[Scott Kitterman (kitterman)]

Someone will need to test that this package builds, installs, and runs on Natty. Then we can backport it.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

Focuswriter is provided for Natty in this unofficial PPA, so it seems that Focuswriter meets those requirements:
https://launchpad.net/~gottcode/+archive/gcppa

If additional build attempts are required for testing purposes before backporting, I'd be pleased to undertake them.

[Evan Broder (broder)]

For backports, it's important that the exact packages we'll be backporting are tested. I've generated backports of focuswriter from oneiric to natty, and uploaded those to my PPA (http://launchpad.net/~broder/+archive/backports-tests). Please verify that the packages build there, and that you can install and run them once the build has finished.

You can mark this bug as "Confirmed" once the testing has been done.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

I just tested focuswriter 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1~natty1~ppa1 from ppa:broder/backports-tests on a Natty amd64 system running a Lubuntu Desktop session, and a separate Natty i386 system running a Unity session. It installs and runs on both machines. Both installations occur without problems, as does using the application on the Lubuntu system. But with Focuswriter in a Unity session, no menu bar appears at the top of the screen, since Unity suppresses the menu bars and includes them in the top panel instead. As Focuswriter is a fullscreen application, the top panel is never visible when it is being used. Pressing the shortcut keys to raise individual menus in the menu bar (e.g., Alt+F for the File menu) does effectively raise them, and it's possible to move between the menus with the left and right arrow keys, but even when the menus are raised, their names (and the names of other menus) are not shown.

Therefore, while 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1~natty1~ppa1 installs and runs on Natty, it is difficult to use with Unity; thus, it seems to me that the Ubuntu version should perhaps be patched, to address this problem. I don't know if there is a way for applications to insist on keeping their menu bars in the usual place, but if so, this seems like the appropriate solution. (Alternatively, this might be considered a bug in Unity; perhaps there is a way to detect when an application is fullscreen, and not suppress its menu bar, and if so, perhaps Unity should do this.)

The above problem would presumably occur when running focuswriter 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1 on Oneiric, in a Unity session (and if so, should be reported as a bug against focuswriter in Ubuntu). However, my Oneiric system doesn't have a video adapter capable of running Unity, so I may not be able to test this.

Since it installs and runs and doesn't seem to have any problems that are specific to Natty, I'm marking this Confirmed as per Evan Broder's instructions.

By the way, if focuswriter test packages for Maverick and/or Lucid are produced, I'd be pleased to test those out too.

[Evan Broder (broder)]

Eliah, the thoroughness of your review is definitely appreciated, though in the future there's no need to test more than one architecture.

ACK from backports for natty.

I've also uploaded test backports to ppa:broder/backports-tests for lucid and maverick, and opened matching tasks on this bug. Feel free to do the same for them once they've been tested.

As far as the Unity-related issues, I'm not sure what the right solution is there. I'm looking into it, and I'll try to point you in the right direction when I figure it out. It does look like there's an outstanding bug to make appmenu-gtk handle fullscreen apps better (bug #591189)

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

I: Extracting focuswriter_1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1.dsc ... done.
I: Building backport of focuswriter as 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1~natty1 ... done.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

focuswriter 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1~maverick1~ppa1 from the PPA installed and ran without problems on a Maverick i386 system, though every time it launches it prints the following to stderr:

Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address.
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon

However, focuswriter in ppa:broder/backports-tests failed to build for Lucid (see https://launchpad.net/~broder/+archive/backports-tests/+packages and https://launchpad.net/~broder/+archive/backports-tests/+build/2524890) due to a dependency wait for debhelper. Once it's available, I'll go ahead and test it as well.

[Evan Broder (broder)]

Great, thanks for the verification. ACK from backporters for maverick.

I've uploaded a revision of the Lucid backport that drops from requiring debhelper 8 to only requiring debhelper 7 (which Lucid already has). Please test once it's built.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

I tested focuswriter 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1~lucid1~ppa2 from the PPA on Lucid. It installed and ran without problems. Unlike the Maverick version, no text was printed to stderr as it ran.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

(In case it's relevant, even though it doesn't have to be tested on multiple architectures--this Lucid system was also i386.)

[Evan Broder (broder)]

Great. ACK from backporters.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

I: Extracting focuswriter_1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1.dsc ... done.
I: Building backport of focuswriter as 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1~maverick1 ... done.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

I: Extracting focuswriter_1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1.dsc ... done.
I: Building backport of focuswriter as 1.3.2.git.69e4975b-1~lucid1 ... done.