FOSS Roundup #6 – Where have all the good bugs gone?
This week's roundup features another Linux vulnerability, Xfce's acceptance into the Google Summer of Code program, and spring cleaning!
The post FOSS Roundup #6 – Where have all the good bugs gone? appeared first on Sean Davis.
Xfce accepted to Google Summer of Code 2022
Xfce accepted to Google Summer of Code 2022
Good news, Xfce has been accepted to Google Summer of Code 2022 !
This time not only different thunar projects will be mentored, but as well some xfce4-terminal, xfce4-screenshooter and xfce4-panel projects. Check our Xfce GSoC Wiki for a detailed list of project ideas !
If you are not much involved into Xfce yet and interested in software development, now might be a good opportunity to contribute to Xfce while even getting payed for it !
In case you are already involved in Xfce development, you might be interested to mentor a GSoC contributor and add some project idea to the ideas-list for which you can do mentoring.
For more detailed information, best check the guides on the official GSoC page.
Hope to see you there !
FOSS Roundup #5 – Time to Test (Ubuntu Flavors)
Welcome to the fifth edition of my Weekly FOSS Roundup! We’re halfway through the Ubuntu Testing Week (March 3-10), and it’s time to start getting involved. In other news, the Xubuntu Wallpaper contest is ongoing, and there are some updates around Bluetooth and Xfce. Here’s the latest!
The Xubuntu 22.04 Wallpaper Contest Continues
The Xubuntu 22.04 Wallpaper Contest is progressing smoothly. So far, we’ve already had 77 quality submissions from numerous contributors. Submissions are open through March 12, so it’s not too late to submit your own. Keep your submissions coming!
Ubuntu Testing Week March 3-10
The next LTS release of Ubuntu and its many flavors will be released in less than two months. Feature Freeze is behind us, so there is no better time to get started with testing. Please help make this another dependable release by taking time to test and report any bugs you find.
Linux Mint is Switching to the Blueman Bluetooth Manager
Linux Mint has been using its own Blueberry application to manage Bluetooth devices for several years now. Later this year, it looks like they’ll be switching to Blueman, the same utility found in Xubuntu and several other Linux distributions. Their move will no doubt have a positive impact on any other Blueman-using distros.
This Week’s Xfce Releases
The 0.9.2 release of the Xfce Terminal is a release candidate for the upcoming 1.0.0 release. It includes several improvements and bug fixes. Take it for a test drive to help identify and eliminate the remaining bugs!
Xfdashboard provides a GNOME Shell-like experience for Xfce. The new 0.9.90 release is a release candidate for the upcoming 1.0.0 release. If you’re a fan of GNOME Shell’s behavior but prefer to stick with Xfce, Xfdashboard is worth a look.
The Xfce Diskperf (Disk Performance) plugin displays instant disk and partition performance in the panel. The 2.7.0 release features various usability and feature improvements.
What I’m working on…
This week I spent extra time working on the Xubuntu Documentation updates. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 have been converted to Docbook, leaving only 8 chapters to go. I’ve got a pretty good flow for converting them now; it depends on having a solid, uninterrupted 20-30 minutes to migrate a single chapter.
Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this newsletter, consider sending me a tip! I’ve added links to GitHub Sponsors, Ko-Fi, and Patreon to the Donate page on my website.
Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next week with some new and exciting Xfce and Xubuntu updates! Have a great week, and stay safe out there!
FOSS Roundup #5 – Time to Test (Ubuntu Flavors)
This week's roundup features the Xubuntu 22.04 wallpaper contest, the Ubuntu Testing Week until March 10, and Linux Mint switching to Blueman.
The post FOSS Roundup #5 – Time to Test (Ubuntu Flavors) appeared first on Sean Davis.
xfce4-terminal 0.9.2 development release
xfce4-terminal 0.9.2 development release
A new xfce4-terminal development release is here, and this time it is special. This version serves also as the release candidate for xfce4-terminal 1.0.0. If you want to help keep xfce4-terminal bug-free, this is the time to test and report any bugs you find!
Changes
For this release I focused on fixing regressions and minor annoyances, so I have no fancy new features to write about in this post. Most improvements are related to accelerator-handling and most fixes related to UI/UX regressions (or accidental changes) that were introduced in the transition to XfceGtkActionEntry. You can see the full list of changes in our wiki.
I want to thank Gael and Theo for bringing a lot of these issues to my attention.
Future plans
If no major bugs are discovered, I will release xfce4-terminal 1.0.0 in a couple of weeks. After that I will focus on my long list of Thunar issues.
FOSS Roundup #4 – The Steamy Update
It’s the fourth edition of my Weekly FOSS Roundup! This week’s hottest news is the Steam Deck, an Arch-based handheld Linux gaming console. If that’s too hot, cool down with the OSTree-based XfIce desktop. Once you’re comfortable, send the Xubuntu team your best wallpaper for a chance to be included in the 22.04 release. Let’s get to it!
Steam Deck Released
Valve’s Steam Deck has finally been released. It runs Steam OS, based on Arch, with a KDE desktop. Hundreds of games are supported via Steam Proton. As more games become verified on the Deck, they’ll be supported on nearly any Linux distribution!
An OSTree-based Xfce desktop has arrived
Based on Fedora, the “XfIce” desktop is an immutable base operating system running Xfce. Immutable Linux distributions have gained popularity quickly, and now Xfce can be used with them.
The Xubuntu 22.04 Wallpaper Contest is Live
For every LTS release, Xubuntu holds a wallpaper contest for the community to submit their finest work for inclusion in the ISO release. The 22.04 contest is live until midnight March 13th (2022-03-13 00:00:00). There have already been 12 submissions! Send us yours!
A new guide for installing Xubuntu on the Raspberry Pi
One of the most popular articles on my website is a guide for installing Xubuntu 19.10 on the Raspberry Pi. This article is obsolete as I’ve published a new, in-depth how-to for the current supported and development releases. Check it out!
What I’m working on…
Last week I rolled out my new website. This week, I did some scans and found that I had a lot of broken links (bad migrations, services going away, the introduction of the Xfce GitLab, and deprecation of the Xfce build bot). Those have now been resolved, so any article you read on my site should take you to the right places. Here’s a relevant and time-appropriate goodie that would have been lost to time if not for archive.org…
Today, I am back to working on the Xubuntu documentation updates. There are only a few completed chapters left and a handful of chapters that we started updating a couple of years ago but stopped due to time conflicts (and, to some extent, probably burnout). That said, with the existing completed content, I may be able to wrap it as early as this week!
Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this newsletter, consider sending me a tip! I’ve added links to GitHub Sponsors, Ko-Fi, and Patreon to the Donate page on my website.
See you next week with some more Linux and Open Source news!
FOSS Roundup #4 – The Steamy Update
This week's roundup features the release of the Steam Deck, an immutable Xfce distribution, the Xubuntu 22.04 wallpaper contest, and more!
The post FOSS Roundup #4 – The Steamy Update appeared first on Sean Davis.
A better toolbar for Thunar
A better toolbar for Thunar
Welcome to my first Xfce development update for 2022. Happy new year!
Toolbar and Custom Actions
The problem
In the past, there have been quite a few discussions about the toolbar and which items it should contain. Both developers and community members wondered: "Should the reload button be removed?", "Why isn't the search button a toggle in the toolbar?", "Should toggle buttons exist in the toolbar?". As you might expect, there was no perfect answer to those questions. Some people liked one thing, other people liked the exact opposite.
You can see all that in the following links:
- Move the reload button
- Remove the reload button
- Move the search button to the toolbar
- Add Zoom buttons in the toolbar
The solution
Here comes Merge Request 173 which introduces the ability to customize the toolbar. That is done through a new "Toolbar Editor", which is based on the existing "Columns Editor", where the user can reorder and hide toolbar items.
The toolbar editor.
Instead of being satisfied with the ability to customize the toolbar using built-in items, I decided to take it a step further and give users the option to add their custom actions to it. Presently, only actions that are used on directories can be displayed as items in the toolbar but in the future we could expand that functionality if there is user demand.
A custom toolbar.
Other improvements
I have also been working on some smaller improvements. Thunar can now handle shortcuts that include the 'Tab' key and I am prototyping a spinner element to let users know when a search is ongoing.
Future plans
This is probably the last big feature that I will develop for Thunar 4.18. After this is merged I will probably focus on fixing regressions and bugs.