gnucash and gnome

Steve Brenneis stevebrenneis at yahoo.com
Sun Apr 27 19:03:22 EDT 2008


Folks,

I'm sure you've heard much of this before, but I thought I would throw in my $0.02.

I run a small business and was looking forward to using gnucash. I use Gentoo Linux for most of my server and laptop applications. Using portage, I checked out what would be necessary to put gnucash on my laptop. That's when the fun began. I am a KDE user, so I'm sure you know what's coming. The list of packages needed to install gnucash looks like this:

gnome-base/libglade-2.6.2
gnome-base/orbit-2.14.12
x11-themes/gnome-icon-theme-2.20.0
gnome-base/gnome-keyring-2.20.3
gnome-base/gail-1.20.2
gnome-base/libgnomeprint-2.18.4
app-text/rarian-0.6.0-r1
gnome-base/gnome-common-2.20.0
net-misc/neon-0.26.4
app-text/iso-codes-1.5
x11-libs/libwnck-2.20.3
dev-scheme/guile-1.8.3-r2
net-libs/libsoup-2.2.104
dev-scheme/slib-3.1.5-r1
gnome-extra/libgsf-1.14.7
app-text/docbook-xml-dtd-4.1.2-r6
app-text/gnome-doc-utils-0.12.1
net-libs/xulrunner-1.8.1.13
gnome-base/gconf-2.20.1-r1
gnome-base/libgnomecanvas-2.20.1.1
gnome-base/libbonobo-2.20.4
app-text/scrollkeeper-9999
x11-libs/libsexy-0.1.11
x11-libs/goffice-0.6.1
x11-misc/notification-daemon-0.3.7
gnome-base/libgnomeprintui-2.18.2
x11-libs/libnotify-0.4.4
gnome-base/gnome-vfs-2.20.1-r1
gnome-base/libgnome-2.20.1.1
gnome-base/libbonoboui-2.20.0
gnome-base/libgnomeui-2.20.1.1
gnome-base/gnome-mount-0.6
gnome-extra/gtkhtml-3.16.3
gnome-extra/yelp-2.20.0
app-doc/gnucash-docs-2.2.0
app-office/gnucash-2.2.3

And that's without the HBCI or OFX extensions.

I read the FAQ on why gnucash depends on gnome and two things struck me.

It is stated that plenty of KDE users use gnucash just fine. Well I guess that's true, except that they have to install gnome first. And this isn't just a little bit of gnome. The package list to install and use gnome as my desktop isn't much longer.

It is also stated that the gnucash developers' time is better spent developing gnucash than in developing print libraries, graphing libraries, and HTML renderers. All true and an admirable goal. As a 35 year IT professional, I couldn't agree more. However, what the developers have done, by selecting a particular desktop environment, is offloaded the responsibility for these things to their end users. In doing so, gnucash has contributed to the "geek factor" of Linux and has thrown more flammables on the desktop holy wars. I'm sure that was not the desire of the gnucash team.

Since I try never to complain without providing a constructive suggestion, I would offer that what the gnucash team should do is to identify those functions that directly depend on gnome and create an abstraction layer from those requirements. Then the end user can feel free to use whichever desktop they have selected without having to install 75% of the one they didn't select. That leaves gnucash out of the desktop debate and opens its use up to whole groups of new users, like me, who won't be able to use it because they don't want to have to install gnome on their KDE system.

I'm going to check back from time to time to see if the dependency on gnome has been eliminated or reduced to an acceptable point. I would love to use gnucash and contribute to its success story. Until then, I guess it's Microsoft and Intuit for the time being. Bleh!

Thanks,

Steve Brenneis
Managing Partner
Atlantic Coast Online Productions, LLC
 
       
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