Re: No regular adwaita action icons in default Gnome

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Hello Christian,

On Thu, 2026-01-08 at 07:57 +0000, [email protected] wrote:
> Am 07.01.2026 22:53 schrieb Adam Schmalhofer:
> > I agree that backintime should not depend on a gnome-specific
> > package.
> > Having a virtual package would fix that. Adding the virtual package
> > to
> > the other (including KDE) freedesktop compliant icon themes are
> > changes=20
> > to
> > less than 26 packages[1].
>=20
> I am asking just for my learning. I don't understand that solution.
>=20
> There will be a virtual package (e.g. "standard-icons") with the
> meaning=20
> that
> having that installed all free desktop org naming specs icon are=20
> available, no
> matter which theme is installed?

Yes. Though, virtual packages are never installed themselves. Instead, a
package which declares that it provides the virtual package is installed.

Here is a description of virtual packages from the debian faq[1]:

| 7.8. What is a Virtual Package?
|=20
| A virtual package is a generic name that applies to any one of a
| group of packages, all of which provide similar basic functionality.
| For example, both the konqueror and firefox-esr programs are web
| browsers, and should therefore satisfy any dependency of a program that
| requires a web browser on a system, in order to work or to be useful.
| They are therefore both said to provide the "virtual package" called
| www-browser.
|=20
| Similarly, exim4 and sendmail both provide the functionality of a
| mail transport agent. They are therefore said to provide the virtual
| package "mail-transport-agent". If either one is installed, then any
| program depending on the installation of a mail-transport-agent will be
| satisfied by the presence of this virtual package.

> So backintime-qt would depend on that?

Yes.

> And the specific task-XYZdesktop-install packages would somehow
> define
> which specific theme to install to fullfill the virutal package?

Yes. The chain would look like this:

task-kde-desktop
	Depends: kde-standard
		Depends: kde-plasma-desktop
			Depends: plasma-desktop
				Depends: breeze
					Depends: breeze-icon-theme
						Depends: kf6-breeze-icon-theme
							(new!) Provides: standard-icons

> Sounds like a technical solution.
>=20
> Why not something more political,

Actually, the technical part to make this change isn't much work
as virtual packages are known and tested. The work is >90% on the
political side.

> no matter that it would take some
> more=20
> time.
> Adding a policy rule that all desktops need to provide the standard=20
> icons.

I agree that the policy solution would take longer. It would also not
prevent backintime-qt from being started without the icons in many
cases. I don't see any advantages of the policy solution. Are there
any?

Regards,
Adaschma


[1] Don't get confused from the following paragraph, I didn't quote. That p=
art isn't relevant here.
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/pkg-basics.en.html#virtual


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