MATE Desktop
Summary
MATE Desktop is based on GNOME 2 and provides an provides an intuitive and attractive desktop to Linux users who seek a simple, easy to use traditional interface.
Owner
- Name: Dan Mashal
- Email: dan.mashal@fedoraproject.org
Current status
- Targeted release: Fedora 18
- Last updated: 2012-07-19
- Percentage of completion: 40%
1st basic package mate-common has been approved, the package has been built from source and works great and happily coexists with Gnome 3.
Detailed Description
MATE is a traditional Gnome 2 like desktop user interface. Many users have expressed interest in this feature since Fedora 15 in which Fedora was switched from Gnome 2 to Gnome 3.
Even Linus Torvalds himself prefers the Gnome 2 experience.
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0115232/linus-torvalds-ditches-gnome-3-for-xfce
For the advanced user that doesn't want a cutting edge desktop and just wants to keep it simple this is perfect for them.
The popularity of MATE Desktop is very high. It is one of the 2 choices of DE's for Linux Mint which is one of the most popular Linux distros out right now.
Benefit to Fedora
- Attract new users to Fedora.
- Give users another choice and freedom to choose what type of DE/WM they would like to use. This is one of the core foundations of the Fedora project.
Scope
MATE-DE tracker bug https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=840149
List of packages being imported in to fedora:
mate-common https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=839851 -- Already approved.
mate-doc-utils https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=840707
mate-corba https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=841003
libmatenwck https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=841001
mate-conf
libmatecomponent
mate-mime-data
mate-vfs
libmate
libmatecanvas
libmatecomponentui
libmatekeyring
mate-keyring
libmateui
libmatenotify
libmatekbd
libmateweather
mate-icon-theme
mate-dialogs
mate-desktop
mate-file-manager
mate-notification-daemon
mate-backgrounds
mate-menus
mate-window-manager
mate-polkit
mate-settings-daemon
mate-control-center
mate-panel
mate-session-manager
How To Test
Upon approval of all packages a user would type "yum groupinstall MATE-Desktop" and it would be added to their list of sessions to log in to on start up.
User Experience
Users will notice yet another feature, choice, and freedom on top of all the already awesome ones they already have. It will make them happier to have yet another feature they can choose from that a lot of them currently either sorely miss or install themselves unofficially.
Dependencies
The main dependencies required by this package are python, GTK2, automake, libtool, gettext and pkgconfig.
This will be group package so listing out the packages that depend on it is kind of pointless at the moment.
Please see https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=840149 for more information.
Contingency Plan
- If this feature is not ready by the deadline it will be included in the next Fedora release.
Documentation
- MATE Desktop website here.
Release Notes
- Release notes for version 1.4.0 forthcoming.