Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH 6/6] gtk: make default UI

[Anthony Liguori <anthony@codemonkey.ws>]

On 02/20/2012 08:06 AM, Stefano Stabellini wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Feb 2012, Anthony Liguori wrote:
>> On 02/19/2012 08:52 PM, Brad Smith wrote:
>>> On 19/02/12 9:44 PM, Anthony Liguori wrote:
>>>> On 02/19/2012 08:24 PM, Brad Smith wrote:
>>>>> On 19/02/12 8:10 PM, Anthony Liguori wrote:
>>>>>>> If not, it will be nice to keep
>>>>>>> SDL because GTK huge and not that portable for win32 users.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Neither are true. GTK is a reasonably small dependency especially given
>>>>>> that GLIB is a mandatory dependency. I can't imagine that in terms of
>>>>>> binary size, libsdl is much bigger than gtk/gdk.
>>>>>
>>>>> Double check your facts. That's not even close to being true.
>>>>>
>>>>> SDL is a tiny fraction of Gtk+.
>>>>>
>>>>> Just as an example taking a look at package sizes..
>>>>>
>>>>> 549KB for SDL vs 17.3MB for just Gtk+ and its dependencies (7 libraries)
>>>>> excluding Glib2 and what it depends on.
>>>>
>>>> I don't see how 17.3MB qualifies as "huge".
>>>
>>> It's FAR from small not to mention dragging in A LOT of libraries for what?
>>> A prettier looking UI?
>>
>> An accessible UI that meets the most basic definition of usable.  Sit someone
>> down with the SDL interface for the first time, how in the world are they
>> supposed to figure out that you hit Ctrl+Alt+2 to get to a command prompt?
>
> I think that having a GTK UI is quite important for QEMU and having it
> be the default is also a good idea.
>
> BUT we should not deprecate and plan to remove SDL.

Actually, I think Cairo can be a better SDL than SDL.

It doesn't have the same level of backend support (or input support) as SDL 
does, but it can render to Win32, Quartz, and a raw X11 window.

> Do we really want to force everybody that uses QEMU on X11 to compile
> the entire set of GTK dependencies?
> Keep in mind that QEMU is not just used on Linux distros but it also
> used as a component in other projects that might have very different
> constraints.
> I think that having a lightweight graphical UI with very few and small
> dependencies is NOT something we should give up.

If we went in a different direction with SDL, I wouldn't mind it so much.  For 
instance, removing the console emulation and reducing the use of magic accelerators.

Regards,

Anthony Liguori