ANNOUNCE: Xfce 4.10pre1 released

[Nick Schermer]

Xfce 4.10pre1 is now available for download.

It includes the following releases of Xfce core components:

  exo 0.7.2
  garcon 0.1.11
  gtk-xfce-engine 2.99.2
  libxfce4ui 4.9.1
  libxfce4util 4.9.0
  thunar 1.3.1
  thunar-volman 0.7.0
  tumbler 0.1.24
  xfce4-appfinder 4.9.4
  xfce4-dev-tools 4.9.1
  xfce4-panel 4.9.1
  xfce4-power-manager 1.0.11
  xfce4-session 4.9.0
  xfce4-settings 4.9.4
  xfconf 4.9.0
  xfdesktop 4.9.2
  xfwm4 4.9.0

Individual tarballs are available for download now:
  http://archive.xfce.org/xfce/4.10pre1/src

A tarball including all individual releases can be downloaded here:
  http://archive.xfce.org/xfce/4.10pre1/fat_tarballs


Release notes for 4.10pre1
==========================

The Xfce development team is proud to announce the first preview release
for Xfce 4.10. Together with this preview release, the Xfce project
announces the feature freeze for the final 4.10 release which is set to
be pushed out to the world on April 28th, 2012.

This release incorporates major changes to the core of the Xfce desktop
environment and hopefully succeeds in fulfilling a number of long time
requests. Among the most notable updates is the new application finder
that merges the functionality of the old appfinder and xfrun4. The Panel
also has a new vertical mode [aka Deskbar] for better space usage on
wide-screen monitors and a new actions plugin.
On the settings side the settings helper is integrated in xfsettingsd,
saving 1 running process. There is also a reworked settings dialog with
categories and pluggable dialogs enabled by default. Basic Synaptics and
Wacom settings in the Mouse settings and a new MIME-Type editor.
Thunar gained a more polished layout to reduce space usage and more
responsive interaction with the thumbnail generator. Because we have not
decided on how to merge the desktop functionality into Thunar yet,
Xfdesktop has instead received various improvements, including
single-click support, desktop icon thumbnails and better pasting of
files. The Session Manager has improved power management code, tips have
been removed and cleanup sessions from the interface. Last but not
least, the Window Manager now has support for tiling windows and arrow
key navigation in the task switcher.

Another big change for users is the removal of user documentation of the
packages and introduction of http://docs.xfce.org. The reason for this
change is the limited contribution of documentation since Xfce 4.8, so
we hope the wiki will attract more contributors. The help buttons in the
interface still work, but you'll be asked to open the documentation
website in your web browser.

Furthermore we dropped xfce-utils. Its content has either been removed
or moved to other Xfce packages. All other dependency changes are listed
in the 4.10pre1 ChangeLog. The Xfce core also gained a couple of new
components because we think they are critical for a minimal desktop:
xfce4-power-manager (power management), tumbler (thumbnail generation
for Thunar and other components), garcon (menu library, was already a
dependency in 4.8), thunar-volman (volume manager for Thunar).

Of course translations also improved a lot, thanks to the amazing work
of our translation teams.

A list of all changes is available on:

  http://xfce.org/download/changelogs/4.10pre1

We hope you will enjoy this release. Please give us feedback by sharing
your thoughts, blogging, tweeting, denting or by filing bug reports.
With your help, 4.10 will be the best release ever (at least until
4.12)!

Kind regards and thanks to everyone who has contributed to this
release,

The Xfce development team