FOSS Roundup #7 – M1, Gaming, Docs, and More!
This week's roundup features the first alpha release of Asahi Linux, Microsoft looking to bring more games to the Steam Deck, and more!
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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)
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
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.
xfce4-terminal 0.9.1 development release
Welcome back! For the last two months, I've been working on fixing regressions introduced by 0.9.0 (thanks to all the people who use try the development releases) and a few new features and enhancements that the community has been asking for.
Enhancements
The `scrolling-on-output` preference has been slightly reworked. Previously, you were unable to scroll-up while the terminal was printing (the view would be immediately scrolled back down). The new, improved behavior follows the printed lines only if you haven't scrolled upwards. If you have, the view stays there and you can continue the automatic scrolling by going back to the current "end" of the terminal screen, i.e. by scrolling back down.
Additionally, as was promised in the previous release, I reworked the checkbox to disable the 'Unsafe Paste' dialog. Now you can disable the dialog temporarily instead of being forced to permanently disable it and then having to re-enable it (disabling it permanently is not advised).
New features
A new scrollbar type has been added, called overlay-scrollbar. This scrollbar is provided by GtkScrolledWindow which xfce4-terminal now uses for its terminal screens. Overlay scrollbars are slimmer, therefore they save some horizontal space. If you like the old scrollbar style that is still available (and will probably be the default in the final release).
This version also includes the XfceShortcutsEditor widget that I wrote about in a previous post. Keep in mind that you need libxfce4ui 4.17.2 (or greater) to use this feature, otherwise the entry will be hidden.
Last but not least, you can now customize what the right-click action. Instead of opening the context menu, you can configure xfce4-terminal to paste the clipboard or the current selection.
Release notes
You can find the full release notes at the following link: Release Notes
A shortcuts editor for Xfce and a couple of other things
A shortcuts editor for Xfce and a couple of other things
Welcome to another Xfce development update! In this one you will learn about the new Xfce Shortcuts Editor and a couple of upcoming Thunar features.
Shortcuts Editor
As you may know, I'm the maintainer of xfce4-terminal and a developer for Thunar. It just so happens that both of these programs have a ton of shortcuts. Until now, there was no GUI for changing shortcuts. Users had to manually edit the `accels.scm` file which is doable yet cumbersome.
Additionally xfce4-terminal, being a terminal emulator, has the problem of its shorcuts colliding with the shorcuts of terminal applications, rendering them unusable. To fix that issue users needed to once again dive into the `accels.scm` file and change the default shortcuts manually.
That is why I created a new widget called XfceShortcutsEditor in libxfce4ui. Applications that use XfceGtkActionEntries for their accelerators can easily integrate that editor in their UI and enjoy the benefits without any additional complexity.
The XfceShortcutsEditor integrated in Thunar's Preferences dialog.
The XfceShortcutsEditor as a separate dialog for xfce4-terminal.
Thunar improvements
As far as Thunar specific improvements go, I'm happy to announce that the next version of Thunar will have a customizable Statusbar. By right-clicking, users will be able to hide/show information that they (don't) need.
Additionally the folder properties dialog now displays the type of contents of the folder (i.e. the number of files and folders insdie the folder).
xfce4-terminal 0.9.0 development release
Welcome back! Since I became maintainer of xfce4-terminal I've worked on replacing deprecated parts of the codebase, closing old bugs and merging Merge Requests which have been sitting around for a while.
GtkActions
The majority of my time was spent on dealing with the, now deprecated, GtkActions/GtkActionEntries and GtkUiManager which were used for creating the menubar, toolbar, right click context menu and for handling the shortcuts. All of that logic was moved to Xfce's own XfceGtkAction entries which are supported by the Xfce team. As a nice bonus, this transition slightly reduced the size of the codebase. Some deprecated parts remain, like the UI for changing encoding from the menubar but I've decided to transition slowly to make sure that things remain stable.
Sending signals
The most exciting new feature is the ability to send signals to foreground processes. This is done either through the right click menu, or through the `Terminal` entry of the menubar. We have Cyrille Pontivieux to thank for the initial implementation of this, which I simplified and later transitioned to the new menu/shortcut system.
Release notes
You can find the full release notes at the following link: Release Notes