Subject: better explanation of config options

From: Dominik Vogt <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 12:11:10 +0200

The message from Malte Schuenemann made me think about the
configure summary we have.  His question demonstrates a common
problem:  some library option is disabled and the user wonders
what it is good for in the first place.  Even I don't know which
features are disabled if a certain option is turned off.  Let's
take a look:

  With Bi-directional text support?
    "Bi-directional" may be the right term, but I don't think
    everybody thinks of "hebrew" or "arabic" fonts immediately.

  With Extended Window Manager Hints?
  With GNOME Window Manager Hints?
    The typical user has probably no idea what these do.

  With GTK support for FvwmGtk?
  With GDK Imlib support in FvwmGtk?
  With GNOME support in FvwmGtk?
    None of these is clear.  What happens if they are off?

  With PNG support?
    Ok.  Perhaps "With PNG image/icon support"

  With ReadLine sup. in FvwmConsole?
    What is readline good for?  (Well, *I* know, but many others
    don't).

  With RPlay support in FvwmEvent?
  With Shaped window support?
    Okay.

  With Session Management support?
    Very vague.

  With Stroke support?
    You have to know libstroke to understand this.  Maybe mention
    the commands that are disabled w/o libstroke.  Also, compiling
    w/o libstroke reduces network traffic a lot because
    MotionNotify events are no longer sent.

  With Xinerama support?
    Clear for me, but 

  With Xft aa font support?
  With Xrender support?
    ?

  With XPM support?
    Ok.  Perhaps "With XPM image/icon support"

I'm not sure how to provide some additional information.  The
config summary should fit on a single screen, but it won't with
all the new text.  How about putting a note at the end of the
summary:

  For a full explanation of above options, run
    ./configure --help-summary

and dump the full descriptions with the --help-summary option?

Bye

Dominik ^_^  ^_^

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---

From: Mikhael Goikhman <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 10:44:07 +0000

> features are disabled if a certain option is turned off.  Let's

The problem is this. Every support line including a descriptive name and a
descriptive error message should be on a single line. Otherwise you end up
with a lot of lines to be able to read anything. You may probably add one
more character to an option name and one more character to an error
message, but it is already 79 or 80 in some cases.

>     everybody thinks of "hebrew" or "arabic" fonts immediately.

"With Asian Bidi text support" better?

>     The typical user has probably no idea what these do.

I don't think there is a better description.

>     None of these is clear.  What happens if they are off?

If the first is off, there is no FvwmGtk, so there are no other two
options as well.

The seconds adds images to FvwmGtk.
The third adds gnome segmentation fault dialog when FvwmGtk crashes. :)
(Which is by the way bad if you need core file). I am not sure why
we need this support. It means a better integration with gnome, but...

>     Ok.  Perhaps "With PNG image/icon support"

Ok, "With PNG image support".

>     What is readline good for?  (Well, *I* know, but many others

You see, there is no even space for the full "support" word here. :)

>     MotionNotify events are no longer sent.

I think a lot of browsers nowadays start to add gestures, so most of the
users will hear about them. (You are still limited to 34 characters.)

"With mouse stroke support" better?
"With mouse gestures support"?
"With mouse stroke (gestures)"?

>   With Xft aa font support?

"With Xft anti-alias font support"
"With Xrender image support"

> and dump the full descriptions with the --help-summary option?

No, it should say, "See INSTALL.fvwm for the full option description".

Regards,
Mikhael.

---

From: Dominik Vogt <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 13:32:56 +0200

> message, but it is already 79 or 80 in some cases.
 
[snip]

> No, it should say, "See INSTALL.fvwm for the full option description".

Hm.  This is technically correct, but I'm not sure it would be
very helpful.  You see, what I'm concerned about is providing the
necessary information that users don't have to ask "Do I need
xyz?" - and provide it in the most comfortable way.  Many people
(including me) don't like to browse through all the documentation.
I'm not even sure myself what's in the INSTALL.fvwm file.  And
finally, if the information is in a separate file, we have to
maintain that file too.  Until now I've never even thought about
updating INSTALL.fvwm myself.

Bye

Dominik ^_^  ^_^

---

From: Mikhael Goikhman <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 12:07:00 +0000

> updating INSTALL.fvwm myself.

You don't need to, it is maintained by me and Olivier.

INSTALL.fvwm contains the fully up-to-date information about all existing
configure options and all supported features. If you can explain it
better that it is explained in INSTALL.fvwm, please do.

Regards,
Mikhael.