06.02.09
Red Hat Replaces Tomboy with Gnote, Removes Mono Dependency
Summary: Fedora 12 will have Gnote, not Tomboy, thereby eliminating that monkey (mono) tail which falls off too
IT HAS finally happened. Red Hat had already removed Mono from the Live CD of Fedora 10 and recently it spoke about substituting Tomboy with Gnote. Red Hat, unlike Debian for example, minds the risk of patents. From talk comes fruition, so Gnote, which has already entered Fedora, will also be there by default in the near future.
I have now changed the default panel configuration in F12 to include gnote instead of tomboy, and changed comps to make gnote default and tomboy optional.
This won’t replace tomboy in existing installations, but new installations will get gnote instead of tomboy.
This also means that gnote should show up on the live cd (where we excluded tomboy previously, due to no space for mono).
Some things are still needed for a 100% smooth experience:
- pick up existing tomboy notes (less urgent now, since we do not replace tomboy…)
- don’t show the ‘start here’ note initially
This means that Fedora rids itself from the Mono dependant in its implementation of GNOME.
Gnote is installed by default in GNOME for this release replacing Tomboy. Gnote is a port of Tomboy from Mono to C++ and consumes less resources. Gnote is both an applet that can sit in your GNOME panel as well as a individual application you can run within other desktop environments. Fedora Desktop Live CD excluded Mono in the last releases due to lack of space. Gnote will be installed by default in the Live CD as well in this release. Tomboy is still available as a optional alternative. If you are upgrading from the previous release you will not be migrated to Gnote and will continue to have Tomboy. It is easy to migrate to Gnote however as it shares the file format. This migration is not automatic. You can copy the notes from Tomboy to Gnote using the following command in your home directory
The developer of Gnote, Hubert, has already moved to Fedora and there is prior coverage of this news right here (the information was shared in Twitter half a day ago).
Redhat/Fedora drops Mono
It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I am heartily encouraged by this small snippet of news I picked up via Twitter this afternoon (thanks Roy)
This is a major milestone in the ongoing eradication of Mono as a dependency in GNU/Linux distributions. To put it bluntly, Mono is trouble. █
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Victor Soliz said,
June 2, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Finally good news.
Yay.
Heck, with ubuntu being way more Mono friendly lately instead of changing, I might make the move.
woods said,
June 10, 2009 at 1:21 am
This is indeed great news.
Finally a mono-free (by default) mainstream distro.
I’m definitely moving to Fedora (especially in light of Ubuntu’s continuing mono-friendliness)
pcolon Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 6:54 am
If you’re using ubuntu and are, because of mono, changing to another distro, ubuntu’s source, Debian, is mono-free by default.
Fedora is a great distro. It was the one used to in place of windows. Nevertheless, I found that there is a lot of freedom and choice using Debian.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 6:58 am
We might hear something about Tomboy becoming default in Debian. It is not too late to stop it. We will know about the results pretty soon.
Marcus Koze said,
June 10, 2009 at 2:59 am
I wish to believe that this is NOT something micromoft intended with mono (I know, made by novell, but still related and backed by micro&soft)… as in particularly dreaming about Canonical getting comfortable with the mono stuff and _drive users away_ through micromoft association with the “framework” (is mono a framework or what ?) …
OTOH, i had a thought, maybe crazy, but what if Canonical had some secret deal with them (micro&soft / novell) not to be sued, so dancing with the renegades now ? I’m not accusing anyone of anything, was just a thought of mine … but i keep reminding myself: Canonical is a company, sponsoring the Ubuntu project … they’ve done a phenomenal job ’till now, all respect to them for that … but sooner or later, companies get into compromising stuff for revenue… you know, money can corrupt even the brightest minds around … i keep hoping they wouldn’t fall into it, yet started to prospect several other distros for a possible switch (that is: away from Ubuntu)… still using it, but seriously prospecting nonetheless…
As far as my concearn, the only app that I’ve used and dropped later was Gnome-Do (with the new Docky theme), but when i found out it’s written in mono, removed it in an instant… out of ideological reasons (mainly) but also because i didn’t want to become too fond of it, considering the risks behind the technology used to create it. Some may keep saying there’s no risk, or that there’s a risk in everything, but this one (mono) is just too serious (for me at least) and obvious, watching micro&soft’s desperate actions around the world…
If Canonical starts showing further signs that it does what about every business does (compromises the path it started for the sake of more, and then even more, revenue), guess what follows …
eet said,
June 10, 2009 at 7:44 am
If you are afraid of patent risks, better don’t use the Kernel either, as M$ claims it violates some of their patents. :p
To put it blunt: If you don’t even care to use what M$ threatened to sue about one day, why should you care to use what M$ expressly promises NOT to sue about?
pcolon Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 7:52 am
MSFT promised not to sue on FAT.
Marcus Koze Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Oh no, I’m not afraid to use the kernel, i don’t even consider micro&soft’s claims about that, actually I’m much more convinced that M$’s code is a rip-off of FLOSS code… but that’d be self-nullifying, as what micro&soft offers is crap packed in a not-so-appealing box, valued only by marketing over-hype.
No, i won’t stop using the Linux kernel as long as it or i exist. Yet the mono thingie seems a *real* risk, *no matter what micro&soft says about not suing or using it to favour themselves / keep themselves afloat*. At least in my very own opinion.
eet Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 8:29 am
There is no logic in your argument, Sir!
Marcus Koze Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Probably because my english isn’t the best thing i’m capable of. Please tell me what’s not clear to you and i’ll try to rephrase more concisely
eet said,
June 10, 2009 at 8:36 am
It’s not a matter of re-phrasing, you are simply being illogical. You know; logic – fact, cause, effect, and so-on; you learn that stuff at university.
Marcus Koze said,
June 10, 2009 at 8:45 am
alright, to sum what i’ve meant there:
- i personaly have no issues about the Linux kernel and use it without a single sweat about what you say regarding m$ claims that the linux kernel infringes xyz patents
- again, i personaly find the use of mono a lot more probable of being used by m$ agains the FOSS community
- a correction about my claim about m$’s code being a rip-off of FLOSS code: that should read “i think some m$ code is more likely to be a rip-off of FLOSS code, than vice-versa”. my apologies, i see now that it sounds a bit too radical as i’ve previously written it.
saulgoode said,
June 10, 2009 at 8:50 am
The kernel development project doesn’t rely upon Microsoft patent licensing for justification of implementing potentially infringing code.
eet Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Nor does Mono. The Novell-M$ agreement was pure marketing that even Icaza was only informed about afterwards.