ANNOUNCE: Xfce 4.8 released

[Charlie Kravetz]

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On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:46:58 +0000 (UTC)
Jannis Pohlmann <jannis at xfce.org> wrote:

> Xfce 4.8 is now available for download.
> 
> It includes the following releases of Xfce core components:
> 
>   exo 0.6.0
>   gtk-xfce-engine 2.8.0
>   libxfce4ui 4.8.0
>   libxfce4util 4.8.1
>   libxfcegui4 4.8.0
>   thunar 1.2.0
>   thunar-vfs 1.2.0
>   xfce-utils 4.8.0
>   xfce4-appfinder 4.8.0
>   xfce4-dev-tools 4.8.0
>   xfce4-panel 4.8.0
>   xfce4-session 4.8.0
>   xfce4-settings 4.8.0
>   xfconf 4.8.0
>   xfdesktop 4.8.0
>   xfwm4 4.8.0
> 
> Release tarballs can be retrieved from the following mirrors (please
> note that it may take a few hours for the mirrors to catch up):
> 
>   http://archive.xfce.org/xfce/4.8/src
>   http://archive.be.xfce.org/xfce/4.8/src
>   http://archive.be2.xfce.org/xfce/4.8/src
>   http://archive.se.xfce.org/xfce/4.8/src
> 
> A tarball including all individual releases can be downloaded here:
> 
>   http://archive.xfce.org/xfce/4.8/fat_tarballs
>   http://archive.be.xfce.org/xfce/4.8/fat_tarballs
>   http://archive.be2.xfce.org/xfce/4.8/fat_tarballs
>   http://archive.se.xfce.org/xfce/4.8/fat_tarballs
> 
> 
> Release notes for 4.8
> =====================
> 
> Today, after almost two years of work, we have the special pleasure of
> announcing the much awaited release of Xfce 4.8, the new stable version
> that supersedes Xfce 4.6.
> 
> We hope that everyone will enjoy this release as much as we do. Sadly,
> this will not be the case as the folks using any of the BSD systems will
> notice a sudden loss of features. We think that this announcement is a
> good opportunity to express our disagreement with the recent
> "Linux-only" developments in the open source ecosystem, especially with
> regards to the utilities we need in desktop environments.
> 
> Xfce 4.8 is our attempt to update the Xfce code base to all the new
> desktop frameworks that were introduced in the past few years. We hope
> that our efforts to drop pieces like ThunarVFS and HAL with GIO, udev,
> ConsoleKit and PolicyKit will help bringing the Xfce desktop to modern
> distributions. 
> 
> With Xfce 4.8 our users will be able to browse remote shares using a
> variety of protocols (SFTP, SMB, FTP and many more). The window clutter
> has been reduced by merging all file progress dialogs into a single one.
> 
> 
> Our panel application has been rewritten, thereby improving positioning,
> transparency, item and launcher management. It also introduces a new
> menu plugin to view directories. Its plugin framework remains compatible
> with 4.6 plugins. 
> 
> We also improved our settings dialogs. The display configuration dialog
> now supports RandR 1.2, detects screens automatically and allows our
> users to pick their favorite resolution, refresh rate, rotation. Screens
> can be configured to either work in clone mode or be placed next to each
> other. Keyboard selection has become easier and more user-friendly.
> Also, the manual settings editor has been updated be more functional.
> 
> Aside from the features implemented in Xfce, the 4.8 development cycle
> brought us a bunch of other goodies. For the first time we had a serious
> release strategy formed after the "Xfce Release and Development Model"
> developed at the Ubuntu Desktop Summit in May 2009. A new web
> application made release management a lot easier. We worked hard on
> improving the situation of Xfce translators which led us to setting up
> our own Transifex server. Something else you will hopefully notice is
> that our server and mirroring infrastructure has been improved so that
> our servers hopefully will not suddenly surrender shortly after this
> release announcement.
> 
> There is a lot more to discover and we hope a lot of you will give Xfce
> 4.8 a try! There is a brief tour online on 
> 
>   http://xfce.org/ and http://xfce.org/about/tour
> 
> A summary of the changes since the 4.8pre3 preview release is available
> on the following URL (it also includes links to the changes introduced
> in all preview releases):
> 
>   http://xfce.org/download/changelogs/4.8.0
> 
> 2011 has just begun and we are already planning for the future. The 4.10
> schedule will be worked on soon and hopefully, we will be able to turn
> Xfce into a non-profit organization at this year's FOSDEM, so stay
> tuned!  
> 
> Until then we hope you will enjoy today's release and join us in
> celebrating. Thanks go out to all our contributors, bug reporters as
> well as the awesome efforts of our translators and packagers.
> 
> Best regards,
> The Xfce development team

Congratulations to all who worked so hard and long to make this come
true! It is really great to see it release.

- -- 
Charlie Kravetz 
Xubuntu Interim Project Lead
Linux Registered User Number 425914          [http://counter.li.org/]
Never let anyone steal your DREAM.           [http://keepingdreams.com]
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