[Librem-5-dev] A few questions about development

[David Boddie]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2019 12:52:47 -0700, Chris Hessing wrote:

> I've seen that the terminal app fills the screen (except for the header
> and footer).   Is it expected that the compositor is in a state that any
> GUI app should work the same?

As far as I understand it, yes.

> I am attempting to use QML with Qt, and I am seeing a window instead of
> the full screen I would expect.    What information can I provide to
> help chase the problem down?   (Or, is it expected that Qt development
> will be widgets based and not QML?   I have not tried a widgets based app.)

Either widgets or QML-based applications are acceptable. I'm not too familiar
with the way window types are handled in Wayland, but I would first try and
investigate whether the window hosting the QML controls is a "normal" window.
Qt should provide abstractions for the different window types of the
underlying window system, so there should be a Qt-ish way to discover this
(and set it if necessary).

A minimal QML example would be useful here, so that the issue can be
reproduced easily.

> > PureOS is the distro we're focusing on, and we're documenting starting
> > with GTK as the recommended framework. Time is indeed a scarce resource,
> > especially with so many possible frameworks and languages users will want
> > to program with, so if you can contribute your own findings, we're going
> > to be grateful:
> > 
> > https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/developer.puri.sm/
> 
> I'm not sure I have much worth contributing so far, but I am willing to
> help out as much as my "free time" will allow.    What is the best way
> to start to contribute?   Is that site similar to github? Should I
> create my own branch and then send in a pull request when I have
> something that I think is worth sharing?

The source.puri.sm site is a GitLab instance, so you should register on that
site, fork the developer.puri.sm repository and make changes on a named
branch (not master). When you commit to the branch you should get a message
in your terminal telling you how to submit a merge request, or you can do
that via the site.

Some information on contributing can be found here:

  https://developer.puri.sm/Librem5/Contact/Contributing.html

Just ask if you need any help.

> I'll take a look at what you guys have already done with GTK+ and see if
> I can put something similar together for Qt developers.   I'm far from
> an expert on Qt, but I have been using it for many years now.

A brief investigation with a simple widget-based PyQt application showed some
similar issues to the ones you encountered. I didn't have any problems with
the application window being maximized, however, but some work will be needed
to sort out issues with window controls such as the title bar, close button,
etc.

> In re: to Guido:  I set up a Debian VM the other day for development.
> I'll also try to track down a PureOS installer to set up a VM of that.
> I'm guessing that PureOS is what you guys are using, so that will be the
> path of least resistance?

I'm actually using Debian testing at the moment.

> Does the .desktop file need to be installed in any specific location?
> Or is it the same as .desktop files under the Gnome desktop?   And, will
> it be the same format that the Gnome desktop uses?

It should be installed in the normal place. This seems to be in the
/usr/share/applications directory.

Regards,

David
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