On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 06:40:25PM +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 01:33:26PM -0400, [email protected] wrote:
> > Printinfo output below.
>
> I'll take a look in a bit.
>
> > I think a lot of people have given up ever expecting
> > an official stable release. I think we just need to
> > summarize all the news since 2.4.
> >
> > I might take a stab but I'm not sure I'll have time.
> > If I start I'll notify the list.
>
> I have time right now, so I'll start, and post a proposal here when I'm
> done. I wasn't really too worried about feature summaries as I was talking
> about things like 2.5.X's history, and the significiant things that have
> gone on with it, etc. Or whether anyone cares enough to do that. I do to
> an extent, because I know enough of the history to make a good go at it, but
> there's been so many contributors hence, I wouldn't want to do anyone a
> disservice.
>
> Anyhow, watch this space...
So I'm thinking something like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FVWM 2.6.0 released!
====================
It's been almost five years since the last stable release of FVWM (2006) and
almost ten years since the development version of FVWM (2.5.X) which became this
latest stable release was started! A lot of hard work from many talented
individuals has made this release possible.
Highlights
==========
In no particular order:
* EWMH support, including support for managing different window types
("docks" for example).
* Colorset commands replace FvwmTheme (which is now deprecated)
* WindowStyle command applies a style to a specific window only.
* XFT fonts are supported, per locale.
* Focus-specific policies supported as styles (FP*, !FP*)
* FocusStyle command allows styling of focus policies specifically.
* Dynamic actions can be sent to most modules whilst they're running to
customise their behaviour (SendToModule).
* Gettext support introduced for output strings (most commonly seen on
menu items.)
* Mouse gestures (libstroke) bindings are available.
* New module FvwmProxy to manage moving windows around.
* New module FvwmWindowList to make the list of running windows more
customisable over the builtin "WindowList" command.
* Variable placeholders ($w, $d, $c) deprecated in favour of newer formats.
Also, the number of variable placeholders has been expanded.
- $[func.context], $[w.desk], $[w.layer], etc.
* Nesting of placeholders is also allowed.
* FvwmEvent: The PassId option is deprecated as actions always run within a
window context.
* Many new conditional commands with different options.
* New style command "Unmanaged" to make certain windows completely divorced
from FVWM's control.
* New command FakeKeyPress.
* Window-specific key/mouse bindings. (Bindings no longer have to be global.)
* Many new style options:
- FixedSize
- FixedPosition
- MoveByProgramMethod
- UseTitleDecorRotation
- IconBackgroundColorset
- IconTitleColorset
- HilightIconTitleColorset
- IconTitleRelief
- IconBackgroundRelief
- IconBackgroundPadding
- Closable
- Iconifiable
- Maximizable
- AllowMaximizeFixedSize
- PositionPlacement
- InitialMapComand
Plus many others...
* Window states are now available to identify windows to perform "groups" of
commands on.
* fvwm-menu-desktop uses the XDG menu specification.
* PNG/SVG support for icons.
* Menu-context bindings.
* The name style names match against can be augmented by the X-resource
"fvwmstyle".
* New fvwm-convert-2.6 script to convert older fvwm 2.4.x config files.
* Bugfixes!
There are of course significant bug fixes gone into this release; far too
many to list here, and many of them so specific to the development version
alone that listing them is out of context when comparing them to the last
stable release. Overall, a number of bug fixes for memory management, and
ease of managing windows has happened.
Upgrading from FVWM 2.4.X -> 2.6.0
==================================
It is worth spending some time looking at the dependencies at FVWM's
disposal. None of them are required per se for FVWM to work:
* Xinerama
* Readline
* Fribidi
* XFT
* Iconv
* PNG
* SVG
* XPM
* XRender
* Stroke
* Xsm
* Xcursor
* SM (Session Manager)
Note that not all of these are external libraries per se -- some of them are
merely facets of an XServer's configuration, but a lot of it will depend on
the platform FVWM is running on.
Preferred way of upgrading your configuration file
==================================================
In the old stable (2.4.X), the path to the default user config file is now:
$ ~/.fvwm/config
by default, although the older paths of:
$ ~/.fvwm/.fvwm2rc
$ ~/.fvwm2rc
are still supported; just deprecated in favour of ~/.fvwm/config. Note that
the "INITIALIZATION" section in "man fvwm" lists the other locations FVWM
might also look in to find a valid config file. Since there's been some
syntax changes, a handy script can be used -- "fvwm-config-2.6" to convert a
2.4.X style config file.
Please see the man page for "fvwm-convert-2.6".
History
=======
It's taken almost ten years for FVWM 2.6.0 to arrive. In that time, FVWM
has had contributions from numerous people -- many of them can be found
here:
http://fvwm.org/authors/
Whilst it is unfair to single any one particular person out, it is without
question that I (Thomas Adam) would like to pay particular homage to the
following people (again in no particular order):
* Dominik Vogt -- for being one of the most useful sources of information on
FVWM to date, and making it such a great program.
* Viktor Griph -- for implementing some cool features
* Dan Espen -- just for being completely reliable with any request I've
thrown at him, and for helping to cobble this release together.
But that list is far from the full picture. There are numerous people on
IRC in #fvwm (freenode) who have given up their time in terms of user
support, and that's just as important as development. So I would like to
also thank the following people (in no particular order):
* pebcak
* somiaj
* theBlackDragon
* starshine
* haddock
* Janon
* surrounder
* taviso
* swimmer
This list is not exhaustive either, but they have in particular been the
life-blood of the channel on ensuring it runs smoothly and help provide the
best support possible.
Thank you all!
Contact
=======
The official fvwm homepage:
http://www.fvwm.org/
Questions about the release can be asked on our mailing list:
fvwm _at_ fvwm.org
Bugs can be reported to the fvwm-workers mailing list.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If anyone feels like somethings should be added/removed/augmented, let me
know.
-- Thomas Adam
--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)
