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.