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GNOME 2.2 Release Notes

Introduction

The GNOME 2.2 Desktop and Platform release is the latest version of the popular, multi-platform free desktop environment.

GNOME runs on a variety of platforms, including GNU/Linux (commonly called Linux), Solaris, HP-UX, BSD and Apple's Darwin. GNOME includes powerful features such as high-quality smooth text rendering, a first class internationalization and accessibility infrastructure, including support for bi-directional text.

The GNOME community has spent the six months since the GNOME 2.0 release improving usability, performance, appearance, and accessibility support. We also added new functionality, including new applications, producing a feature-rich GNOME 2.2 desktop.

GNOME provides a user-friendly environment that "just works" for everyday users, without excess complexity, while at the same time providing the rich flexibility experienced developers demand. We have tried to avoid unnecessary complications or obscure features, sticking instead to a clear, unified vision.

The GNOME 2 developer platform has matured and is now widely used by applications outside of the GNOME Desktop release. While GNOME 2.0 was a major upgrade to the entire Desktop and Developer Platform, GNOME 2.2 is a simpler time-based release that includes a number of improvements that have been completed since the previous release. In the future you can look forward to further enhancements from regularly scheduled GNOME releases.

Most major GNOME-based applications have been ported to GNOME 2, and the new platform has allowed the development of several new applications. We encourage developers to use the GNOME 2.2 platform and take advantage of its features.

Of course GNOME 2.2 includes all of the improvements made in GNOME 2.0, which you can learn about here.

The Desktop and Platform release does not include large applications such as Gnumeric; those are developed in parallel on their own natural release cycle.

GNOME is part of the GNU Project, and is free software.

What's New In GNOME 2.2

Applications

GNOME 2.2 includes many new and improved applications.

Installation of the GNOME 2.2 Developer Platform and

Desktop

External Dependencies

Development Library dependencies

GNOME 2.2 Installation Order

GARNOME

If you do not wish to go through the process of manually building each module yourself, then you might consider using GARNOME, a GNOME distribution based on the GAR ports system. GARNOME automatically downloads the tarballs from a specified location and builds them for you. To find out more information visit the GARNOME web page.

Known Issues

All software, when it is released, contains bugs the developers know about but have elected, for a variety of reasons, not to fix before releasing. Free software is no different in this regard from proprietary software, except that with free software, we tell users about them.

We also encourage our users to report bugs so that they can be fixed. The best way to report bugs found in GNOME is to use the Simple Bug Guide. This will take you through the necessary steps to file a quality bug report, and make sure that it is tagged appropriately. If you're too advanced for anything with the word 'simple' in it, there is also the traditional bug form. More details on bugs already reported can be found at our Bugzilla. Among the most prominent GNOME 2.2 bugs:

Threading in GStreamer

GStreamer uses its own threading implementation, which has some known issues. They are discussed in more detail in the GStreamer 0.6 Release Notes.

FAM bugs can cause Theme Manager hangs

In some cases, problems with FAM can cause the new Theme Manager to hang. For more information, see bug 103797.

Sound Recorder hangs in some cases

In some circumstances, the Sound Recorder can hang when recording. For more information, see bug 103279.

Sawfish support in Theme Manager

As metacity is now the official window manager of GNOME, sawfish support may be incomplete in the theme manager.

Looking to GNOME 2.4 and Beyond

The popularity of the GNOME 2.0 developer platform, and our quick release cycle for GNOME 2.2 have stimulated great interest not only in GNOME 2.2 but in the next release of the GNOME Desktop and Developer Platform.

Over the last couple of months, there has been a huge amount of activity at the application level. GNOME 2.4 will continue to benefit from this activity, as we merge many of these newly developed and ported applications together. You can find many of these applications at the 5th Toe website. Major software releases based on the GNOME 2.2 Developer Platform are expected in the next several months, including Ximian's powerful Evolution personal information manager, the popular Galeon web browser, and Gnumeric and Abiword, two of the leading Free Software office tools. In addition, a large number of smaller apps will continue to provide a rich and usable environment for GNOME users.

GNOME 2.4 will continue GNOME 2.2's movement towards a more tightly integrated desktop, making it a real competitor at the enterprise level. This next release - expected in the late (northern) summer of 2003 - should offer several mature productivity applications, utilities and accessories so that a GNOME user will never have to leave a simple, clean, powerful GNOME application.

Six months after GNOME 2.4, we anticipate that GNOME 2.6 will feature the next release of GTK+, introducing new file selector and "combo" widgets, powerful menu and toolbar widgets and further advances in accessibility, usability and internationalization.

Getting Involved

The core of GNOME's success is its many volunteers, both users and developers.

As a user, your contribution can be as simple as filing good bug reports. You can file bugs in our Bugzilla using the simple bug assistant. If you want to contribute more, you can join our active bug-squad.

From a developer aspect, there is much exciting progress to be made in any of our active developer groups - Accessibility, Documentation, Usability, Translation, Web, Testing, Graphics and Destkop & Platform Development. Many of these sub-projects have web pages on developer.gnome.org. Choosing a role that suits you may be difficult at first, but here is a guide to help you make your decision.

Helping on GNOME can be an incredibly satisfying experience, allowing you to meet a wide range of motivated, skilled, and helpful people all working towards a unified goal. Join us today and see what a difference you can make.

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