Each out of process applet we have on gnome-panel costs about 1 mb of ram. Almost all users have 3 applets: clock, wnck, and notification. Laptop users generally have a battery applet. We also need to identify other very common applets so that we can look into them as well.

For an applet to be put in process, it needs:

• To be very stable -- that means pretty much no crashing
• To be well tested (goes with the above)
• FIXME: more requirements

IIRC, these applets were moved out of process precisely for stability reasons (eg. the clock applet isn't as simple as it once was, with the evolution-data-server integration). There is a middle ground between going in-process and what we have right now: combine a number of related applets into a single process. The wnck-applet already does this for the workspace switcher, window list, etc. Perhaps there are other applets that could be merged? -- JamesHenstridge 2005-03-01 09:17:37

• BenMaurer: if the clock is dying alot for our users, we have much bigger problems than the gnome-panel dying and getting started. On a stable version of GNOME, I've never seen a crash. Maybe people who develop GNOME think the problem is worse than it is because they experience regressions all to often...

An example of how to make an applet in process:

[benm@omega gnome-panel]$ cvs di
Index: applets/clock/GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory.server.in.in
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/gnome/gnome-panel/applets/clock/GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory.server.in.in,v
retrieving revision 1.25
diff -u -r1.25 GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory.server.in.in
--- applets/clock/GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory.server.in.in        11 Nov 2004 08:16:43 -0000      1.25
+++ applets/clock/GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory.server.in.in        1 Mar 2005 04:22:45 -0000
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 <oaf_info>
  
 <oaf_server iid="OAFIID:GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory"
-           type="exe"
-           location="@LIBEXECDIR@/clock-applet">
+           type="shlib"
+           location="@LIBDIR@/libclock-applet.so">
  
        <oaf_attribute name="repo_ids" type="stringv">
                <item value="IDL:Bonobo/GenericFactory:1.0"/>
Index: applets/clock/Makefile.am
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/gnome/gnome-panel/applets/clock/Makefile.am,v
retrieving revision 1.71
diff -u -r1.71 Makefile.am
--- applets/clock/Makefile.am   4 Nov 2004 17:11:10 -0000       1.71
+++ applets/clock/Makefile.am   1 Mar 2005 04:22:45 -0000
@@ -20,16 +20,16 @@
        calendar-debug.h
 endif
  
-clock_applet_SOURCES = clock.c $(CALENDAR_SOURCES)
+libclock_applet_la_SOURCES = clock.c $(CALENDAR_SOURCES)
  
-clock_applet_LDADD =                                   \
+libclock_applet_la_LIBADD=                                     \
        ../../libpanel-applet/libpanel-applet-2.la      \
        $(CLOCK_LIBS)
  
-libexec_PROGRAMS = clock-applet
+lib_LTLIBRARIES = libclock-applet.la
  
 GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory.server.in: GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory.server.in.in
-       sed -e "s|\@LIBEXECDIR\@|$(libexecdir)|" $< > $@
+       sed -e "s|\@LIBDIR\@|$(libdir)|" $< > $@
  
 uidir  = $(datadir)/gnome-2.0/ui
 ui_DATA        = GNOME_ClockApplet.xml
Index: applets/clock/clock.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/gnome/gnome-panel/applets/clock/clock.c,v
retrieving revision 1.164
diff -u -r1.164 clock.c
--- applets/clock/clock.c       19 Feb 2005 15:00:47 -0000      1.164
+++ applets/clock/clock.c       1 Mar 2005 04:22:45 -0000
@@ -2137,7 +2137,6 @@
        gtk_container_set_border_width (GTK_CONTAINER (cd->toggle), 0);
        gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (cd->applet), cd->toggle);
  
-       gtk_window_set_default_icon_name ("clock");
        gtk_widget_show (cd->applet);
  
        /* FIXME: Update this comment. */
@@ -2619,9 +2618,8 @@
        return retval;
 }
  
-PANEL_APPLET_BONOBO_FACTORY ("OAFIID:GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory",
+PANEL_APPLET_BONOBO_SHLIB_FACTORY ("OAFIID:GNOME_ClockApplet_Factory",
                              PANEL_TYPE_APPLET,
                              "ClockApplet",
-                             "0",
                              clock_factory,
                              NULL);