GWorkspace - App Wrappers - some observations

[Richard Stonehouse]

I'm new to this group, having recently adopted Window Maker and
GWorkspace as my main desktop environment. I think they're great, and
really like the GNUstep 'look and feel'.

However, I've found one or two possible issues in launching applications
from GWorkspace. I'm not clear what the current development status of
GWorkspace is, and whether 'app wrappers' are meant to be part of the
ultimate system. If they are, the following comments may be helpful:

1. netscape.app - does not seem to work correctly in the case where
netscape is not already running.

   The 'is netscape running?' test uses 'ps' to look for a running
process called 'netscape'. This test is always satisfied, because the
script itself is called 'netscape' and is, of course, running. So the
script thinks netscape is already running and does not launch it.

2. netscape.app - does not seem to pick up an already-running netscape
that is being run from a terminal window.

   In such cases 'ps -c' appears just to produce an entry for 'bash',
not for the 'netscape' that is running under it.

3. The set of app wrappers does not, at present, include several of the
applications that I - and perhaps other users - would like to use.

4. Some of the icons displayed by 'tools --> inspectors --> tools' have
no effect when clicked on. This is because the corresponding apps are
not installed on my system.


The following are offered as potential solutions - but as a user, not a
developer, I do not guarantee that they are good ones!

1. Rename the 'netscape' script as (e.g.) 'Netscape', and make the
corresponding amendment to 'Resources/Info-gnustep.plist'.

2. Change the 'is netscape running?' test from:

       ps -c | fgrep -q $NETSCAPE_NAME

to:

       ps -C $NETSCAPE_NAME | fgrep -q $NETSCAPE_NAME

3. App wrappers for Opera and Mozilla can be modelled on the netscape
one. It is possible to make Opera open the file in a new page within the
existing main window, which is nice, by using:

       $OPERA -remote "openURL(file://${file},new-page)"

   Similarly it may, in the future, be possible to make Mozilla open the
file in a new tab (but at the moment only 'new-window' is available).

   An app wrapper for alsaplayer, which works both in the case where
alsaplayer is already running and the case where it is not, can be made
using the command line:

       alsaplayer -e $2 -o alsa &

4. Would it be a good idea, rather than simply copying all the app
wrappers into the GNUstep system Apps directory, to have a selective
installer that would copy only those app wrappers for which applications
exist on the user's system?

-- 

    Richard Stonehouse