Metacity and D-Bus

GNOME bug 531512 suggests that Metacity should have a D-Bus interface.  On the face of it, this is a good idea.  However, the problem lies in the existing EWMH specification, which allows a program to request operations from a window manager– simply put, it’s pretty much exactly what a D-Bus interface would be, but it already exists.  If we also exposed a D-Bus interface, even one called “org.freedesktop.WM” instead of “org.gnome.Metacity”, we wouldn’t be gaining anything we don’t already have, and then people would begin using it and their programs wouldn’t be compatible with other EWMH window managers.  So every WM that implements the EWMH would have to expose the same D-Bus interface, which sounds like a lot of work for not much return.  On the other hand, we could have a separate program which exposed a D-Bus interface which translated the methods into EWMH messages, and which could be used with any EWMH window manager.  Would that do as well?  What do you think, gentle reader?

Photo copyright Zarko Drincic, cc-by-nd.