Re: [Bluez-users] bluetooth-applet and gnome-vfs-obexftp

Marcel Holtmann
2007-08-10T09:02:58Z

Hi Andrew,

> Version 0.10 of bluez-gnome added support for "browsing devices" - a
> much needed feature by any account. What I'm not thrilled about is
> that it was written to support gnome-vfs-obexftp.
>
> Don't get me wrong - gnome-vfs-obexftp is awesome, but
> bluetooth-applet is the wrong entry point for it. The applet should
> allow you to see what devices are around you and allow you to initiate
> a bonding with them but the assumption that you want to browse OBEX is
> bad.

it is exactly the right entry point. You might wanna compare how MacOS X
handles it. The actual bonding will be done automatically. You are the
client and so we can rely on the actual FTP server to ask for a bonding
and not wasting time to try to pair a public FTP repository that has no
key anyway.

> Another problem with this approach is that it creates a dependency on
> gnome-vfs-obexftp and assumes that it's present. If it's desirable to
> have the applet launch other programs it should support more than
> obex:// and there should be some generic mechanism for programs to
> plug themselves in as handling a given service. It should be possible
> some day to get a bluetooth mouse working from the GUI, or a bluetooth
> headset, for example.

It only supports Bluetooth FTP and is not meant to support everything.
So I have no idea what you are talking about. Use the preferences dialog
or the upcoming wizard to connect other type of Bluetooth devices.

> Of course there needs to be better integration of gnome-vfs-obexftp,
> but that integration should be in nautilus where everything else
> vfs-related is found. A bluetooth link under computer:/// when an
> adapter is present would be sufficient (though I wish we'd treat OBEX
> more generically as well - it's got 3 or 4 transports besides
> bluetooth).

We know that OBEX supports more than the Bluetooth transport, but which
of these transports actually have devices that support FTP like
transactions. Most of them only allow to push or pull a file. However
feel free to fix gnome-vfs-obexftp to make this work.

If you wanna have the Bluetooth adapters (yes, plural. We can have more
than one) under computer:/// then go ahead a send patches upstream. I
personally don't care and I am not responsible for that part of
software.

As usual with these kind of things, I am not the UI expert and if you
wanna have fixed or changed something, you better send in a patch. We
always welcome new development blood.

Regards

Marcel