add option to identify DE/WM/shell

[GoogleCodeExporter]

hi,
my name is zerozero
i'm a moderator at linuxmint forums,
inxi is an everyday tool (thanks a lot for such a great tool, real time-saver)

a simple, clear way to identify DE/WM/shell would be a great added feature.
we are using now the following
    lsb_release -a;ps -A | egrep '(cinnamon|gnome-shell|gnome-panel|mate-panel|plasma-desktop|xfce4-panel|lxpanel)'
but it's not perfect, has a verbose output and is not integrated within inxi 
(that we use for a lot of other enquiries)

as a final note, i know that such a feature shouldn't be needed, unfortunately 
my experience tells me otherwise.

best regards
zerozero

Original issue reported on code.google.com by ami6lu...@gmail.com on 12 May 2012 at 11:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

 While I understand sort of the point here,  I don 't really understand what the actual thing you're trying to describe is  re inxi.

Inxi already has the desktop top type, and I'm not even clear on what word will 
describe the items you note there, they are not a dm, like gdm, xdm, etc, they 
are not the desktop in some cases, though in others they are, like cinnamon.

So you'd have to restate this a bit more clearly in terms of defining the 
actual item, for example, cinnamon is another desktop that can be added into 
the supported desktops list  that already exists, and other things will require 
more data, inxi defaults to using xprop data for the desktop information, and 
then falls back to querying ps to see if it's present. ps isn't nearly as 
accurate because it doesn't tell you the current desktop, just the fact that a 
desktop of that type is running on the system, and there could be more than one 
running, although that's not common. xprop is the actual information about the 
desktop running at that moment, where inxi has been executed.

So there's nothing wrong at all with what you're asking, but it needs to be 
much more clearly defined, with user data sets so i can see what these things 
actually look like in the system re ps and xprop, xprop in particular.

Inxi has data gathering functions that will upload this to the main server so I 
can debug and duplicate the system data of new system types.

If more desktop data is to be added, then a separate desktop line would 
probably be in order, like: Desktop: ...., since it's also useful to see what 
dm is being used, as I've seen recently on sgfxi/smxi, there's a lot of new dms 
being used now, mdm, nodm, lightdm, kdm-trinity, and each is a bit different in 
terms of how it works.

Sorry to take so long to reply, but I generally miss issue report emails, they 
go under my radar, if you want immediate attention you are always best off 
posting here:
http://techpatterns.com/forums/forum-32.html

Original comment by inxi-...@techpatterns.com on 23 Jun 2012 at 8:19

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The list above are addons to WM/DE and aren't really what I ever envisioned 
inxi looking for.  inxi was developed to tell support personnel the hardware 
layer under software and extended to give some extra features, but was never 
meant to be a list of apps a user might have installed or came pre-installed in 
some distro.  

My vote is to not add software applications to inxi's lists, that could lead to 
a monsters I'd rather not see.

Original comment by Trash80.v2.0@gmail.com on 24 Jun 2012 at 12:15

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thank you very much for accepting this issue.

For example if i run inxi -S in the system i am atm i get
inxi -S
System:    Host: amadeu Kernel: 3.2.0-2-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Gnome 
Distro: Linux Mint Debian Edition
"Desktop Gnome" re: this issue, this is not really very helpful, specially if 
we remember the fragmentation Gnome has nowadays.

but if i run
lsb_release -a;ps -A | egrep 
'(cinnamon|gnome-shell|gnome-panel|mate-panel|plasma-desktop|xfce4-panel|lxpanel
)'
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: LinuxMint
Description:    Linux Mint Debian Edition
Release:    1
Codename:   debian
 3047 ?        00:14:33 gnome-shell
 5804 ?        00:00:00 gnome-shell-cal

already tells me that i'm running gnome-shell.

so, my query here, basically is try to integrate in some way the later into 
inxi -S

Original comment by ami6lu...@gmail.com on 24 Jun 2012 at 2:50

[GoogleCodeExporter]

we talked this over and I basically agree with trash80, I didn't really 
understand what the panel things or shells were, but I think we'll leave inxi 
as trash80 notes, primarily core layer and hardware. 

However, because I think this fits into core layer, I did add in 1.8.6 an -xx 
option to show dm, that's display manager, if it is used, if the user is in X. 
Will not show in console, out of X.

This is merely added to the Desktop string: Desktop KDE 3.5.10 (Qt 3.3.8b) dm 
kdm 

I think this fits quite well with the -S line, since you have kernel and it's 
gcc version, distro and its version, and now, desktop with qt/gtk and also dm 
version, which can help debug graphics issues and other useful things.

But trash80 and I talked this over and I agree, it's important to have a line 
that inxi won't really cross, and I think apps running ontop of DE stuff, like 
gnome or kde, is that line. A panel is an app running on the dm or de, whereas 
a dm is the thing that is actually underlying the de, so I think it's 
appropriate to show that.

There's also the question of actually maintaining this stuff as well, and 
that's something to think of re the churn in recent desktops and their dms and 
panels and shells and who knows what else.

Already for example,  if or when xorg is replaced by wayland, most of the 
graphics stuff will need to be fully reworked to some as of yet unknown wayland 
method, same for the main desktop type detections, which depends on xorg tools 
too.

So I'm marking this issue won't fix, although the new dm output is a bit of a 
fix in this direction, but that wasnt' really the issue requested.

But feel free to inquire about features in the future, or make suggestions, but 
keep in mind what trash80 said, inxi is mainly a hardware/core systems tool, 
kernel, alsa, xorg, are core because they are a direct layer between the 
hardware and the end user, under the other stuff, that is. Actually even the 
alsa is out of date, there are other sound systems that could be running, but 
inxi has never been updated to handle those, mainly due to total lack of user 
interest on that or feedback or data.

Original comment by inxi-...@techpatterns.com on 24 Jun 2012 at 7:34

• Changed state: WontFix

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I changed my mind, though I agree with trash80 in principle here, I think it's 
also important to remember that inxi has a primary function of distro and irc 
support, and if a major distro like mint wants a feature like this, that is 
very easy to add in, then I can't see any real reason to not add it in.

So 1.8.7 has a new argument, -xxx which will with -S, like -Sxxx add in info 
item to desktop.

Important also I think to let apps find their own way out there and just let 
them grow as they want, but as -xxx, nobody will see this unless they run v7 or 
-xxx explicitly. And then only if there is something in it.

We'll see how that goes, but I don't see any real reason not to do that.

Original comment by inxi-...@techpatterns.com on 24 Jun 2012 at 8:34

• Changed state: Done

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thank you!
looks perfect to me.
amadeu@amadeu ~ $ inxi -Sxxx
System:    Host: amadeu Kernel: 3.2.0-2-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.6.3) 
           Desktop: Gnome  (Gtk 3.4.2) info: gnome-shell dm: gdm3 Distro: Linux Mint Debian Edition

Original comment by ami6lu...@gmail.com on 24 Jun 2012 at 10:38