GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 731122
Only show the location menu when apps are using location services
Last modified: 2014-08-19 18:24:41 UTC
Currently, we always show the location submenu. This is problematic, because it looks like location services are in use when they are not (see bug 730156). It also unnecessarily clutters the system menu. The location menu is essentially there to let you control privacy. I think the general approach we want to take for privacy features is to show a status icon (and corresponding menu) when the feature is being used by applications (since it is with apps that privacy is a factor - we should be able to trust the system to use privacy sensitive features appropriately). As such, we should only show the location menu when applications are using location services. This requires that we first have a location settings that allows someone to: * disable location services * identify which apps are using them * black list apps from using them This is covered by bug 731119.
(In reply to comment #0) > Currently, we always show the location submenu. This is problematic, because it > looks like location services are in use when they are not (see bug 730156). It > also unnecessarily clutters the system menu. > > The location menu is essentially there to let you control privacy. I think the > general approach we want to take for privacy features is to show a status icon > (and corresponding menu) when the feature is being used by applications (since > it is with apps that privacy is a factor - we should be able to trust the > system to use privacy sensitive features appropriately). > > As such, we should only show the location menu when applications are using > location services. This requires that we first have a location settings that > allows someone to: > > * disable location services > * identify which apps are using them > * black list apps from using them Do we really need the last two for this bug?
(In reply to comment #1) > (In reply to comment #0) > > Currently, we always show the location submenu. This is problematic, because it > > looks like location services are in use when they are not (see bug 730156). It > > also unnecessarily clutters the system menu. > > > > The location menu is essentially there to let you control privacy. I think the > > general approach we want to take for privacy features is to show a status icon > > (and corresponding menu) when the feature is being used by applications (since > > it is with apps that privacy is a factor - we should be able to trust the > > system to use privacy sensitive features appropriately). > > > > As such, we should only show the location menu when applications are using > > location services. This requires that we first have a location settings that > > allows someone to: > > > > * disable location services > > * identify which apps are using them > > * black list apps from using them > > Do we really need the last two for this bug? Those last 2 should live in gnome-control-center's Settings panel.
(In reply to comment #2) ... > > > * disable location services > > > * identify which apps are using them > > > * black list apps from using them > > > > Do we really need the last two for this bug? > > Those last 2 should live in gnome-control-center's Settings panel. Indeed, and it's not strictly required in order to fix this. The main thing we need is a switch in gnome-control-center which allows you to turn off location settings. Once that's in place, we no longer need to show the shell location sub-menu all the time.
Created attachment 283011 [details] [review] location: Only show menu when geolocation is in use Users can now toggle geolocation off/on from privacy panel of gnome-control-center so we don't need to clutter the menu with a settings that most users won't touch most of the time.
Review of attachment 283011 [details] [review]: Fine by me.
Attachment 283011 [details] pushed as 5b624a3 - location: Only show menu when geolocation is in use