Xfce 4.2.0 Changelog
General
- Minimum required GTK version is 2.2 (2.4 is recommended).
- Overall usability improvements
- Improved Xinerama support.
- Improved support for Cygwin.
- Support for partial struts in xfwm4, xftaskbar4 and xfce4-panel.
- Freedesktop specifications compliance for menu and icons themes.
- New file locations based on the Freedesktop.org XDG Basedir Specification (all Xfce settings are now stored under the ~/.config/xfce4/ directory).
- New and updated translations.
- Support for kiosk mode, in which the allowed user actions can be restricted in xfce4-session, xfce4-panel, and xfdesktop (see included doc/README.Kiosk files).
Window Manager (xfwm4):
- Native multiscreen support (manage all screens from a single window manager process).
- Enhanced support for Xinerama.
- Support for more hints from the Freedesktop.org Extended Window Manager Hints specification version 1.3 and above.
- Supports the Show Desktop protocol.
- Supports KDE context help.
- Support KDE system tray icons.
- Window menu features an Always on top option.
- Graphical keyboard shorcuts editor included in the xfwm settings manager dialog.
- Xfwm4 now has his own optional compositing manager (a manager for the new X Composite extension present in X.org 6.8). This adds a dropshadow to all windows and supports setting window transparency by applications themselves or by using a tool like transset.
- Improved focus management.
- Support for image composition with PNG images layered above the pixmap frame, allowing for gradients or other color effects.
- Completely new default look. Several new themes added.
- Change location of themes to be more in line with gtk, metacity, and others.
- Application's icon and name shown in the Alt+Tab dialog.
Desktop Manager (xfdesktop)
- Gradient support for background color.
- Brightness adjustment for the backdrop.
- Real multiscreen and Xinerama support.
- Support for icons in window list and applications menu.
- Ability to disable/enable icons in each menu, or the menus entirely.
- Graphical menu editor with DnD support from xfce4-appfinder and .desktop files from Rox, Konqueror, Nautilus, Xffm, etc.
- Add "-menu", "-windowlist" and "-reload" options for "xfdesktop", to be used in keybindings.
- Support for 'system' menu, which lists all apps that install *.desktop files according to the Freedesktop.org Menu Spec.
- Panel plugin to show the menu (yes, it's a Start button).
- Use a menu cache to improve performance after it has been generated once.
- Kiosk mode support.
Panel (xfce4-panel)
- New look with smaller move handles and new default icons.
- Uses global icon theme setting (in user interface dialog).
- Improved resizing and moving behaviour; panel is forced to be on the edges of the screen.
- The panel is now a dock type window, which means it will always be on top.
- Improved focus handling; clicking on the panel will not remove the focus from the currently active window.
- There can be only one panel per X screen. Multihead supported when environment is set up properly (DISPLAY variable).
- Support for kiosk mode.
- Unload unused plugins and dynamically update plugin list. Use dialog to add new panel items, instead of a submenu.
- Mail checker now supports mbox, Maildir and POP3.
- Support for dragging applications from xfce4-appfinder to a launcher properties dialog.
- Transparency when the X Composite extension is enabled and the window manager supports it.
- Backward compatibility with the Xfce Goodies plugins available from http://xfce-goodies.berlios.de/.
New Session Manager (xfce4-session)
- New module in 4.2: manage applications on Xfce startup.
- Themeable splash screen engines.
- System shutdown/reboot support using the sudo mechanism.
- Major performance improvements over the previous snapshot versions.
- GNOME/KDE compatibility.
- Native multihead support (Xinerama and multiscreen).
- Doesn't rely on smproxy (or any rewrite like gnome-smproxy), but provides (partial) session management, even for non-SM or X11R5-SM aware apps.
- Kiosk mode support.
Settings Manager (xfce-mcs-manager)
- New dialog layout: buttons have a label below icon and are arranged in multiple columns.
- Font rendering setup dialog.
- Merged Desktop Workspaces and Workspace Margins dialogs.
- Display resolution and gamma correction dialog.
- API version was bumped (plugins linked against the old version won't work until you recompile them).
- Customizable icons.
File Manager (xffm)
- Two independent panes (eliminated confusing behaviour from 4.0.x).
- Completely reworked toolbars and menus.
- Better archiving support (creating tar/tar.gz/tar.bz2 archives).
- Improved trash handling with support for GNOME and KDE trash bins.
- Use global icon theme (user interface dialog).
- Allow user customization of icon themes.
- Improved Samba support (allow mount/unmount, double click, monitor downloads).
- Keeps track of recently and frequently opened files.
- Applications branch is now a toolbar (only available if compiled with "--enable-panel").
- Ability to change file name, group, owner and mode allowed from inline row editing.
- Dynamic sidebar.
- Improved Asian language support.
- Pastelink option added (i.e., create symlinks to pasteboard elements).
- Recursive scrambling of directories (only available if compiled with "--enable-scrambledir").
- Mount/unmount of fstab points allowed from outside fstab branch (by popup menu).
- Mouse selection behaviour configurable by user.
- Verbose/nonverbose diagnostics configurable by user.
- Renaming of bookmark elements allowed.
- Noticeable performance improvements under the hood.
- Search window called directly by invoking xfglob4.
- Files opened directly with associated mimetype application if invoked with "xffm filename" (path to filename can be absolute, relative or relative to homedir).
Printing Helper (xfprint)
- Completely rewritten to use a pluggable printing backend system.
- Use either CUPS, BSD-LPR, or a file as the print destination; printers are retrieved from the chosen printing system (no need to add printers to the list manually).
GTK theme engine (gtk-xfce-engine-2)
- Completely new default theme.
- Improved drawing of control elements to enhance usability.
Utilities (xfce-utils)
- Configurable taskbar width and height.
- Taskbar has always group tasks option.
- Taskbar has selectable left/center/right alignment and variable width.
- Taskbar has right-click action menu.
- Call 'xfrun4 filename' to get an 'Open with...' dialog.
- Taskbar has option to show only icons.
- About dialog can be compiled with extra vendor information.
- Run dialog now properly checks if command fails.
- Updated user guide.
- Small changes to startup script and xfhelp4 script.
Volume Control (xfce4-mixer)
- Complete rewrite of the mixer with settings manager dialog.
- Mixer profiles.
- Support for ALSA, OSS and Sun audio.
Calendar and Appointments (xfcalendar)
- First day of the week option removed (managed through the locale settings in gtk 2.4 and above).
New Application Finder (xfce4-appfinder)
- New module in Xfce 4.2: find (and run) applications.
- Alternative interface to the application menu.
Icon Box (xfce4-iconbox)
- Make iconbox a dock type window (always on top), like the panel.
- Make the iconbox transparency configurable when using the X Composite extension.
Icon Theme (xfce4-icon-theme)
- New module in Xfce 4.2: Freedesktop.org icon theme with special icons for Xfce; it includes both PNG and SVG icons.
Toys (xfce4-toys)
- Updated tips.