Because they are mono apps? Mono is in /usr nowadays. Don't know what the policy should be on this, either gnome or mono. As long a beagle and gtkpod don't belong to the official gnome desktop, they aren't pinned to the gnome category.

A policy should be made about this. You see, you only recently introduced gtkpod and beagle to Archlinux. So I had to compile them myself in the past. And I put both on /opt/gnome. Now, you introduce your own packages (which I prefer to using), but they are on /usr. If a strict policy about ANY application that depends on GTK+ is made, then we would known where to put out stuff. Right now, I have screwed up my system because I have two sets of apps, one on /usr and one on /opt/gnome/.

Users who install programs without making use of the package manager aren't our concern. If you would have made packages of your application, you could uninstall them without problems. We don't support installation from source, we only support packages. Sounds hard, but that's how it works. You won't get commercial support from Redhat either when you install programs from source on your expensive RHEL server.

I am not asking for source support. I am asking for a freaking POLICY on gtk apps.

Personally, as a plain user, I refuse to use the package manager because it is too involved. If you get something like CheckInstall ported on Arch Linux, then yes, I will be making Arch packages. Otherwise, I will keep compiling from source because it's more CONVENIENT for me, the user.

Someone is missing the point of PKGBUILD and makepkg here? :)

Nobody is missing the point except yourself Richard. The default pacman creation tools are TOO complex and TOO involving. Slackware supports Checkinstall which is about 100 times easier to deal with (however Slackware is not an option anymore for me so I have to stay with Arch). Sorry, but I will NOT become a full blown package creator just to use a freaking linux as a desktop.

I have discussed this in the past too. Normal users who don't want to get down dirty MUST have something like Checkinstall on their hands.

And secondly, the point of my original post was about a POLICY on gtk apps. After all these days replying here to me completely useless crap you STILL HAVE NOT GIVEN ME AN ANSWER regarding the POLICY. I NEVER asked you to support my source installs. I asked your for a CLEAR CUT policy on gtk apps. WHERE should we install them? /opt/gnome/ OR /usr/? I *need to know*, as a user who installs her own apps every now and then because when an official package comes along, I want to be able to overwrite my old app install.

CAN ANYONE answer to this SIMPLE question or are we all jerking out over here without meaning? I don't need smart ass answers. I need real ones.

If you don't have a policy, damn it, MAKE ONE. I am sure Jan will be able to think everything over correctly and make the correct decision, I have faith in him. So, Jan?

On a slight tangent, although this bug seems to be about policies. I think I'm going to make it my policy to ignore rude users, especially repeat offenders.

The general symptoms seem to be first posting an innocent looking post. Getting a truthful and accurate response, then coming back with a highly accusatory tone, making the developer feel defensive and thus force him to post yet more truth, but perhaps in a more colorful manner than could have been done. Then the user comes back ALL CAPSING AND FREAKING SWEARING.

If you'd like more examples, see forums, bugs, irc conversation logs, email threads...

Sorry pal, but you are wrong when you say that "getting a truthful and accurate response, then coming back with a highly accusatory tone". I did NOT get an accurate response, THIS is why I replied in such a manner. I asked for a policy on gtk apps and all I got was a freaking lesson about arch package creation which I don't give a damn about because it was not what I asked for. What I need as a user IS A CLEAR CUT POLICY ON GTK APPS.

You see Simo, you don't like "rude" users, but the point of the matter is, you ALSO replied to this bug report (you shouldn't have if you are not the GTK arch person) and you STILL have NOT given me an ANSWER to my question. Do you understand now why am I getting rude and why am I getting impatient and why I look like a freaking loonatic over here?

Because none of you seem to be able to answer a simple question.

"Policy" is simple:
- If something is part of the GNOME desktop, it belongs in /opt/gnome for sure
- If something is part of the GNOME platform, it belongs in /opt/gnome, except when the lib is so trivial for non-gnome apps, it belongs in /usr (poppler, gtk, glib, gstreamer for example)
- If something installs much crap in the mono gac directory, it belongs into the mono path, which is /usr nowadays. I think we should do the same for python and perl.

And about your PKGBUILD that is too involving: when I package something new, I just take gedit for example, change pkgname, pkgver, pkgrel and source URLs in PKGBUILD and gedit.install and run makepkg. If you think this is too much work, try building a redhat specfile from scratch or creating a debian/ dir.