[gentoo-user] Last rites: app-admin/gkrellm & plugins

[Dale]

# GKrellM and a variety of plugins.  It's unmaintained for some time.
# Upstream homepage is gone, and the whole suite is collecting dust
# and patches.
# Removal on 2023-02-26.  Bug #892251.
[also eclass/gkrellm-plugin.eclass]
acct-group/gkrellmd
acct-user/gkrellmd
app-admin/gkrellm
app-laptop/ibam
media-plugins/gkrellmpc
x11-plugins/bfm
x11-plugins/gkrellaclock
x11-plugins/gkrellfire
x11-plugins/gkrellkam
x11-plugins/gkrellm-bgchanger
x11-plugins/gkrellm-bluez
x11-plugins/gkrellm-countdown
x11-plugins/gkrellm-cpupower
x11-plugins/gkrellm-imonc
x11-plugins/gkrellmlaunch
x11-plugins/gkrellm-leds
x11-plugins/gkrellm-mailwatch
x11-plugins/gkrellmoon
x11-plugins/gkrellm-plugins
x11-plugins/gkrellm-radio
x11-plugins/gkrellmss
x11-plugins/gkrellm-trayicons
x11-plugins/gkrellm-vaiobright
x11-plugins/gkrellm-volume
x11-plugins/gkrellmwireless
x11-plugins/gkrellm-xkb
x11-plugins/gkrellshoot
x11-plugins/gkrellstock
x11-plugins/gkrellsun
x11-plugins/gkrelltop
x11-plugins/gkrellweather
x11-plugins/gkwebmon
x11-plugins/i8krellm
x11-themes/gkrellm-themes

I'm forwarding this from the gentoo-dev-announce mailing list.  It's
also on -dev as well.  It seems the guy who originally came up with and
maintained gkrellm sadly died a while back.  From other replies I read
on -dev, there is some changes coming that may make gkrellm no longer
work.  It has something to do with GTK-3 support.  It's a bit over my
head to be honest.  :/

First, if someone can help keep this going, it seems to be available, if
the license allows someone else to take it over or fork it maybe.  I
don't know code but I do use gkrellm and sure would miss it.  I suspect
even a proxy maintainer would keep this alive. I have no idea how
complicated the code for this thing is.  It may be easy, it may be
really advanced. 

Second, if no one takes it over, what could be used in its place?  I'll
be honest, I don't know of anything that could replace it but I've never
thought about looking either.  I'm looking into app-admin category but
don't see anything obvious to replace it.  I've tried some KDE plasma
stuff ages ago, I still prefer gkrellm.  None of them I looked at comes
even close. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one on this mailing list who uses gkrellm. 
This is sort of a heads up.  Someone already a dev may take it up, they
may not.  Help may would save it.  Either way, this is a notice of the
current state and if needed, a discussion on what we can use in its place.

Thanks.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

[Neil Bothwick]

Second, if no one takes it over, what could be used in its place?  I'll
be honest, I don't know of anything that could replace it but I've never
thought about looking either.  I'm looking into app-admin category but
don't see anything obvious to replace it.

The only thing I've found that comes close is app-admin/conky - it's nice
but a bit awkward to set up. The last time I troed it was a few years ago
and there was the odd issue so I went back to GkrellM.

[Michael]

Post by Neil Bothwick

Second, if no one takes it over, what could be used in its place? I'll
be honest, I don't know of anything that could replace it but I've never
thought about looking either. I'm looking into app-admin category but
don't see anything obvious to replace it.

The only thing I've found that comes close is app-admin/conky - it's nice
but a bit awkward to set up. The last time I troed it was a few years ago
and there was the odd issue so I went back to GkrellM.

I haven't looked for a replacement of gkrellms for some years now. At the
time I was trying out different desktops and gkrellms was having some problems
integrating with some of them.

I've tried conky and have seen/tried Desktop Info, wxWidgets, Übersicht and
even xrootwindow. For my needs no other offering comes remotely close to the
gkrellms in terms of helping me with a single glance to spot issues with my
system. It is akin to the clocks on a car dashboard. Yes, I can drive
without them, but other than noise and vibration I'd have no other feedback
from the engine. Whenever I'm on a desktop without gkrellms (e.g. MacOS), I
find myself instintively searching for it and even getting frustrated gkrellms
is not there.

Since my coding ability is even worse than Dale's I join him in kindly asking
for a maintainer/dev to take it on and keep it running.

[Peter Humphrey]

Post by Michael
Since my coding ability is even worse than Dale's I join him in kindly
asking for a maintainer/dev to take it on and keep it running.

I too am finding it hard to imagine life without gkrellm. I think it needs more
than just a maintainer though - it needs a replacement for upstream as well.

[Dale]

Post by Peter Humphrey

Post by Michael
Since my coding ability is even worse than Dale's I join him in kindly
asking for a maintainer/dev to take it on and keep it running.

I too am finding it hard to imagine life without gkrellm. I think it needs more
than just a maintainer though - it needs a replacement for upstream as well.

I agree.  It needs someone to take care of it not only for Gentoo but
for other distros as well.  It will be more than just keeping the ebuild
up to date.  I'm hoping that someone somewhere will take it up.  I'd
think it is used by a lot of people.  Surely someone can do coding
updates as well.  Only needs one, maybe two, people. 

I found a video on conky.  Link below.  It's kinda scattered so I found
myself skipping ahead.  There is a few times where it shows what it
looks like.  Set up could be a nightmare for someone like me.  It sounds
pretty complicated. 

Home page has a couple screenshots too. 

https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky#screenshots

Conky may work but I don't see me liking it as much as I do gkrellm. 

I hope someone will take it over and keep gkrellm running.  Maybe then a
dev can keep the ebuilds updated.  Given the original guy died, someone
has to replace him for sure. 

Let's keep our fingers crossed.  ;-)

Dale

:-)  :-) 

[Michael]

Post by Peter Humphrey

Post by Michael
Since my coding ability is even worse than Dale's I join him in kindly
asking for a maintainer/dev to take it on and keep it running.

I too am finding it hard to imagine life without gkrellm. I think it needs
more than just a maintainer though - it needs a replacement for upstream
as well.

I agree. It needs someone to take care of it not only for Gentoo but
for other distros as well. It will be more than just keeping the ebuild
up to date. I'm hoping that someone somewhere will take it up. I'd
think it is used by a lot of people. Surely someone can do coding
updates as well. Only needs one, maybe two, people.
I found a video on conky. Link below. It's kinda scattered so I found
myself skipping ahead. There is a few times where it shows what it
looks like. Set up could be a nightmare for someone like me. It sounds
pretty complicated.
http://youtu.be/bHtpLEoRKmg
Home page has a couple screenshots too.
https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky#screenshots
Conky may work but I don't see me liking it as much as I do gkrellm.
I hope someone will take it over and keep gkrellm running. Maybe then a
dev can keep the ebuilds updated. Given the original guy died, someone
has to replace him for sure.
Let's keep our fingers crossed. ;-)
Dale
:-) :-)

I haven't used conky for some years now, its development must have improved
since. I recall some problem when setting it up as dockable. It didn't play
nice with other windows - but that may had something to do with the window
manager I was using back then. Anyway, even after spending time configuring
it to suit my requirements, I found gkrellms to be better in every respect.

[Neil Bothwick]

Post by Michael
haven't used conky for some years now, its development must have
improved since. [...] Anyway,
even after spending time configuring it to suit my requirements, I
found gkrellms to be better in every respect.

Same here, which is why I switched back. Conky is better looking but for
function, GKrellM wins.

[Jack]

Post by Peter Humphrey

Post by Michael
Since my coding ability is even worse than Dale's I join him in kindly
asking for a maintainer/dev to take it on and keep it running.

I too am finding it hard to imagine life without gkrellm. I think it needs more
than just a maintainer though - it needs a replacement for upstream as well.

I"m actually the one who first heard that the original maintainer had
died.  (I had written to him about some support issue, and got a belated
reply from his brother.)  Upstream is not dead at all, the activity
level is just fairly low.  I tried to post to -dev, but my message never
got through, not sure if it's because I'm not a dev or I made some other
error in sending.  The homepage is at htttps://gkrellm.srcbox.net with
source at https://git.srcbox.net/gkrellm/gkrellm.

The main problem is that is still uses gtk+2.  They do have an open
issue about that, but most of the discussion has been on why it would be
so hard to upgrade.  There is apparently a lot of fairly low-level
graphics stuff going on, and Bill himself (the original maintainer) said
something like the conversion to gkt+3 would be difficult, but to go to
gtk+4 (I have no idea how far off this is) would essentially be a re-write.

Jack

[Peter Humphrey]

Post by Jack

Post by Peter Humphrey

Post by Michael
Since my coding ability is even worse than Dale's I join him in kindly
asking for a maintainer/dev to take it on and keep it running.

I too am finding it hard to imagine life without gkrellm. I think it needs
more than just a maintainer though - it needs a replacement for upstream
as well.

I"m actually the one who first heard that the original maintainer had
died. (I had written to him about some support issue, and got a belated
reply from his brother.) Upstream is not dead at all, the activity
level is just fairly low. I tried to post to -dev, but my message never
got through, not sure if it's because I'm not a dev or I made some other
error in sending. The homepage is at htttps://gkrellm.srcbox.net with
source at https://git.srcbox.net/gkrellm/gkrellm.

My mistake. It's so long since I heard anything that I thought it must have
died with Bill.

Post by Jack
The main problem is that is still uses gtk+2. They do have an open
issue about that, but most of the discussion has been on why it would be
so hard to upgrade. There is apparently a lot of fairly low-level
graphics stuff going on, and Bill himself (the original maintainer) said
something like the conversion to gkt+3 would be difficult, but to go to
gtk+4 (I have no idea how far off this is) would essentially be a re-write.
Jack

[Dale]

Post by Jack

Post by Peter Humphrey

Post by Michael
Since my coding ability is even worse than Dale's I join him in kindly
asking for a maintainer/dev to take it on and keep it running.

I too am finding it hard to imagine life without gkrellm. I think it needs more
than just a maintainer though - it needs a replacement for upstream as well.

I"m actually the one who first heard that the original maintainer had
died.  (I had written to him about some support issue, and got a
belated reply from his brother.)  Upstream is not dead at all, the
activity level is just fairly low.  I tried to post to -dev, but my
message never got through, not sure if it's because I'm not a dev or I
made some other error in sending.  The homepage is at
htttps://gkrellm.srcbox.net with source at
https://git.srcbox.net/gkrellm/gkrellm.
The main problem is that is still uses gtk+2.  They do have an open
issue about that, but most of the discussion has been on why it would
be so hard to upgrade.  There is apparently a lot of fairly low-level
graphics stuff going on, and Bill himself (the original maintainer)
said something like the conversion to gkt+3 would be difficult, but to
go to gtk+4 (I have no idea how far off this is) would essentially be
a re-write.
Jack

So whoever takes it over will have some serious work to do in the short
term and even more work in the future.  I hope upstream is able to keep
gkrellm alive.  It sounds like quite a task. 

I'm glad to hear that upstream is still alive, even if moving slowly. 
Maybe they working on a rewrite but not saying anything publicly.  Hey,
if we gonna hope, hope big.  ;-) 

Thanks for this info.  Maybe there is hope.  I just hope they cancel the
last rites too. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

P.S.  They did last rites on Gnome mplayer ages ago.  I still have the
thing installed and use it quite often.  I use smplayer for watching on
my TV but use Gnome player to watch something on my puter monitor,
usually something short.  Even tho it is removed from the tree, it still
works.  Every once in a while I run up on a new video with some encoding
Gnome mplayer doesn't support.  I use QMplayer2 as a backup.  I guess
gkrellm would work for a while if it was removed.  It may even compile
for a while to, for those who put a ebuild in a local overlay to install. 

[Mark Knecht]

Post by Jack

Post by Peter Humphrey

Post by Michael
Since my coding ability is even worse than Dale's I join him in kindly
asking for a maintainer/dev to take it on and keep it running.

I too am finding it hard to imagine life without gkrellm. I think it needs more
than just a maintainer though - it needs a replacement for upstream as well.

I"m actually the one who first heard that the original maintainer had
died. (I had written to him about some support issue, and got a belated
reply from his brother.) Upstream is not dead at all, the activity
level is just fairly low. I tried to post to -dev, but my message never
got through, not sure if it's because I'm not a dev or I made some other
error in sending. The homepage is at htttps://gkrellm.srcbox.net with
source at https://git.srcbox.net/gkrellm/gkrellm.
The main problem is that is still uses gtk+2. They do have an open
issue about that, but most of the discussion has been on why it would be
so hard to upgrade. There is apparently a lot of fairly low-level
graphics stuff going on, and Bill himself (the original maintainer) said
something like the conversion to gkt+3 would be difficult, but to go to
gtk+4 (I have no idea how far off this is) would essentially be a re-write.
Jack

I don't know enough about Gentoo anymore but couldn't some
smart dev-type build the whole thing as a static package where
if you wanted to install it you just get the binary and run
it?

Or does it have so many dependencies that would be insane
to do that? There are a couple of small MIDI/recording apps
I use that are that way, but they don't have much of a visual
interface. They look like they are from the Windows 98 era.

[Wol]

LWN tipped off. If they run an article, we might get a new upstream.

Cheers,
Wol

# GKrellM and a variety of plugins.  It's unmaintained for some time.
# Upstream homepage is gone, and the whole suite is collecting dust
# and patches.
# Removal on 2023-02-26.  Bug #892251.

[Dale]

Post by Wol
LWN tipped off. If they run an article, we might get a new upstream.
Cheers,
Wol

# GKrellM and a variety of plugins.  It's unmaintained for some time.
# Upstream homepage is gone, and the whole suite is collecting dust
# and patches.
# Removal on 2023-02-26.  Bug #892251.

.

That will reach a wider audience than my little email here.  I'm sure
gkrellm is widely used.  It's just so easy to work with.  Heck, even
adding or changing themes is drop dead easy, I do it without a how to
for goodness sake.  o_O 

I hope they do a article on it.  That gives me hope it can stay around
for a while. 

Dale

:-)  :-)