GNOME

GNOME is one of the two most common graphical working environments for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems along with KDE.

2022

GNOME 43

On September 21, 2022, it became known that after six months of development, the release of the GNOME 43 desktop environment was presented. To quickly evaluate the capabilities of GNOME 43, specialized Live assemblies based on openSUSE and an administrative image prepared as part of the GNOME OS initiative are offered. GNOME 43 is also already included in the experimental assembly of Fedora 37.

GNOME 43

As reported, the updated release completed the following:

• The system status menu has been redesigned, which offers a block with buttons for quickly changing the most frequently used settings and assessing their current state. Other features of the status menu include adding a user interface style setting (switching between dark and light themes), a separate button for taking screenshots, the ability to select a sound device and a button for connecting via VPN. Otherwise, all previously available functions are available in the system status menu, including activation of access points via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB.
• The transfer of applications to the use of GTK 4 and the libadwaita library, which offers ready-made widgets and objects for building applications that comply with the recommendations of GNOME HIG (Human Interface Guidelines) and can adaptively adapt to screens of any size, has continued. GNOME 43 has translated applications such as file manager, maps, log viewer, Builder, console, initial configuration wizard and parental control interface into libadwaita.
• The Nautilus file manager has been updated, which has been transferred to the GTK 4 library. An adaptive interface is implemented that changes the layout of widgets depending on the width of the window. The menu has been reorganized. Changed the appearance of windows with file and directory properties, added a button to open the parent directory. The layout of the list with search results, recently opened files and marked files has been changed, and the location of each file has been optimized. The Open With dialog is proposed, which optimizes the selection of programs for different types of files. In list output mode, the context menu for the current directory is optimized.
• The Device Security page with hardware and firmware security settings has been added to the configurator, which can be used to identify various hardware problems, including incorrect hardware configuration. The page shows information about UEFI Secure Boot activation, TPM status, Intel BootGuard, and IOMMU protection mechanisms, as well as information about security issues and activity indicating the potential presence of malware.
• The integrated Builder development environment has been redesigned, which has been translated into GTK 4. The interface has added support for tabs and the status bar. The panels can be rearranged. An updated command editor has been added. Language Server Protocol (LSP) support has been rewritten. The number of modes for launching applications has been increased (for example, internationalization settings have been added). Updated options have been added to detect memory leaks. The tools for profiling applications in Flatpak format have been expanded.
• The scheduler calendar interface has been updated, in which a side panel has appeared for navigating the calendar and showing upcoming events. An updated color palette is used to highlight elements in the event grid.
• The address book has the ability to import and export contacts in vCard format.
• The GNOME Calls interface adds support for encrypted VoIP calls and the ability to send SMS from the call history page. Reduced startup time.
• The GNOME Web (Epiphany) browser has added support for WebExtension add-ons. Refactoring was carried out for the further transition to GTK 4. Added support for the view-source: URI scheme. The reader mode design is optimized. An item for taking screenshots has been added to the context menu. An option has been added to the settings to disable search recommendations in web application mode. The style of interface elements on web pages is close to the elements of modern GNOME applications.
• Support for self-sufficient web applications in the PWA (Progressive Web Apps) format was returned, a D-Bus provider for such programs was implemented. A button has been added to the Epiphany browser menu to install the site as a web application. In overview mode, support for launching web applications in a separate window has been added, similar to regular programs.
• GNOME Software Application Manager has added a selection of web applications that can be installed and removed as regular programs. In the list of applications, the interface for selecting installation sources and format is optimized.
• In the on-screen keyboard, as you type, you can display recommendations with options for continuing typing. When typing in the terminal, the Ctrl, Alt and Tab keys are displayed.
• In the symbol map (GNOME Characters), the choice of emoji has been expanded, including pictures of people with different skin colors, hairstyles and floors.
• Animated effects are optimized in overview mode.
• The "about" windows in GNOME applications have been redone.
• The dark style of applications based on GTK 4 has been put in order and the appearance of panels and lists is made more harmonious.
• When connecting to a remote desktop using the RDP protocol, support for receiving sound from an external host has been added.
• Updated alert sounds^[1].

Telemetry Collection Toolkit for GNOME

Developers from Red Hat have announced the readiness of the gnome-info-collect tool to collect telemetry about systems that use the GNOME environment. Users wishing to participate in data collection are offered ready-made packages for Ubuntu, openSUSE, Arch Linux and Fedora. This became known on August 25, 2022.

The transmitted information will allow you to analyze the preferences of GNOME users and take them into account when making decisions related to improving the convenience of work and developing the shell. With the help of the data obtained, developers will be able to better understand the needs of users and highlight areas of activity that should be given priority attention.

Gnome-info-collect is a simple client-server application that collects system data and transfers it to the GNOME server. The data is processed anonymously, without saving information about specific users and hosts, but for de-duplication, a salt hash created based on the computer ID (/etc/machine-id) and username is tied to the data. Before sending, the data prepared for transmission is shown to the user to confirm the operation. Data that can be used to identify the system, such as the IP address and exact time on the user side, is filtered and does not enter the log on the server.

Among the information collected: the distribution used, hardware parameters (including manufacturer and model data), list of installed applications, list of favorite applications (listed on the panel), availability of Flatpak support and access to Flathub in GNOME Software, types of accounts used in GNOME online, enabled sharing services (DAV, VNC, RDP, SSH), virtual desktop settings, the number of users in the system, the web browser used, the GNOME ^[2] extensions included^[3]

GNOME 42 User Environment Released

On March 23, 2022, it became known that after six months of development, the release of the GNOME 42 desktop environment was presented. To quickly evaluate the capabilities of GNOME 42, specialized Live assemblies based on openSUSE and an administrative image prepared as part of the GNOME OS initiative are offered. GNOME 42 is also already included in the experimental assembly of Fedora 36.

GNOME 42. Photo: omgubuntu.co.uk.

As reported, GNOME 42 implements global settings for the dark style of the interface, informing applications about the need to include a dark theme instead of a light one. Dark mode is enabled in the Appearance panel and is supported in most GNOME applications, as well as in all standard desktop wallpapers. For applications, it is possible to define your own style settings, which can be used, for example, to turn on light or dark in individual applications, regardless of the general system style.

The interface for creating screenshots has been redesigned, which provides integration with the tool for creating screencasts and provides the ability to create a snapshot of a certain part of the screen or a separate window. After pressing the Print Screen key, a dialog is displayed that allows you to select the screen area and the mode of saving one shot or recording video. You can also use hotkeys to control.

Many applications have been translated into GTK 4 and the libadwaita library, which offers ready-made widgets and objects for building applications that comply with the GNOME HIG (Human Interface Guidelines) recommendations and can adaptively adapt to screens of any size. Specifically, libadwaita is now used in applications such as Disk Usage Analyzer, To Do, Fonts, Tour, Calendar, Clocks, Software, Characters, Contacts, Weather, Calculator, Sound Recorder, App Icon Preview, Icon Library, and Secrets. Many of these applications can now be installed separately in Flatpak format.

The system style of the user interface has been updated, and the GNOME Shell is visually unified with the implementation of applications translated to use Libadwaita. The style of character icons has been redesigned.

The GNOME Settings configurator interface has been updated, which is also now based on libadwaita. Redesigned panel designs to customize the appearance, applications, screen, languages ​ ​ and users.

Two applications, Text Editor and Console Terminal Emulator, have been added to the list of applications recommended for inclusion by default in GNOME installations. These applications use GTK 4, offer a tab-based interface, support a dark theme and their own set of styles that allow you to move to light or dark design regardless of other applications. Text Editor automatically saves changes to protect against loss of work as a result of a failure.

The Console terminal emulator interface is notable for superimposing scroll bars and a size indicator, as well as changing the color of the header when working with root rights.

Web (Epiphany) includes the use of hardware acceleration during rendering, provides smoother scrolling, prepares for the transition to GTK 4, updated the built-in PDF viewer (PDF.js) and added support for the use of a dark skin.

The file manager provides the ability to scroll through file paths in the panel, updated icons and added an updated interface for renaming files and directories. Optimized file indexing in the Tracker search engine, reduced memory consumption and accelerated launch.

The video player uses OpenGL widgets and supports hardware acceleration of video decoding. Optimized integration of video playback with GNOME Shell through the use of the MPRIS standard, which defines the means for remote control of media players. To control playback, you can now use buttons integrated into the notification list.

GNOME Boxes, the manager of virtual machines and remote desktops, has changed the design of the settings and ensures that the interface adapts to different screen sizes. Optimized support for operating systems using UEFI.

The ability to use the RDP protocol instead of VNC has been added to remote desktop access tools. RDP is enabled in the settings in the Sharing panel, after which the session with the remote system is set up automatically.

Input processing is optimized - input delays are reduced and responsiveness on loaded systems is changed. Optimizations are especially noticeable in games and resource-intensive graphics applications.

Optimized rendering of applications running in full screen mode, which, for example, allowed to reduce energy consumption when playing video to the full screen and optimize FPS in games.

The Clutter library and its associated Cogl, Clutter-GTK, and Clutter-GStreamer components have been removed from the GNOME SDK. To ensure compatibility with existing extensions, internal copies of Cogl and Clutter are left in GNOME Shell. Developers are advised to switch their programs to GTK4, libadwaita and GStreamer^[4].

2018: Transition to Collaborative Development

In May 2018, the GNOME Foundation announced the complete transfer of the GNOME project to joint development. As a result, the graphical working environment for Linux began to develop a wide community of developers, and not one organization.

GNOME has been moved to the GitLab collaborative development platform, which, according to the developers, should improve the efficiency of the development process, attract new participants and expand cooperation with other projects.

The GNOME project has been completely transferred to joint development

Speaking about the reasons for their decision, the GNOME Foundation noted that the previously used development infrastructure based on the cgit and bug tracking system Bugzilla was very outdated, did not meet modern requirements, had problems with applicability, was considered archaic by new developers and did not provide the capabilities necessary for code validation and continuous integration.

True, many developers are already accustomed GitHub to and prefer this platform. It is similar to GitLab in terms of functionality and is used to develop some related projects, such as Wayland, Debian and FreeDesktop.org. The environment for development based on GitLab is based on its own servers GNOME (gitlab.gnome.org), which allowed us to maintain independence from third-party suppliers and ensure complete control over infrastructure and data.

The move by GitLab showed the desire to protect the individual developer, his creative process and, most importantly, leaves intellectual rights in the hands of its creator, "said Carlos Soriano, head of the board of directors of the GNOME Foundation, commenting on the migration of the GNOME project to the joint development platform.

As the BetaNews portal notes, the innovation will not affect GNOME end users - at least in a direct way at first. Ultimately, users should stay in the black.^[5]

2011: GNOME 3.0

In April 2011, GNOME 3.0, a new graphical shell for Linux, was released. This version of GNOME is the most significant update since 2002, when^[6] release was published^[6].

This event was preceded by about nine years of work by developers and at least two release postponements - first from March 2010 to September of the same year, and then to March 2011. As a result, the official presentation of the new GNOME 3.0 took place in early April 2011. The GNOME team reported that more than 3,500 people, including 106 IT companies, participated in the development of the release.

The innovations introduced in version 3.0 significantly changed its appearance compared to previous implementations of GNOME. Among the most significant changes in the working environment, the developers call the GNOME Shell with the new Mutter window manager and a special GNOME Panel, reminiscent of a Dock panel in Mac OS X.

In addition, the release revised the methodology for working with desktops, application notifications, redesigned the design and increased the stability of the main applications included in the GNOME delivery and added visual effects. In general, the list of only the most significant changes in the new version exceeds 20 items.

Among the most important technological innovations can be noted the transition of developers to the use of the new GTK + 3 interface library in GNOME 3.0.

Some features of the GNOME 3 interface (in the GNOME Shell). In English

GNOME 3.0 turned out to be a rather resource-demanding environment. For its full operation, including the launch of a new user shell GNOME Shell, the user will need a computer with a modern video card and graphics drivers that support OpenGL. The developers report that when running on outdated hardware, the new GNOME will run in "compatibility mode," which ensures the operation of the previous shell.

Linux users can test the suitability of their technique for GNOME 3.0 using Live distributions OpenSUSE and. Fedora Linux Ubuntu users can download GNOME 3.0 from the PPA repository.

It is important to note that the world's most popular Linux distribution - Ubuntu - will soon exclude GNOME from its basic delivery. Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu's main sponsor and developer Canonical, mentioned this.

Judging by its entry on the developer forum, GNOME will not be included in the distribution of the Oneiric Ocelot version (11.10), which will be released in October 2011. Earlier it became known that in April 2011 the Natty Narwhal version (11.04) will be the default working environment in Ubuntu will be Canonical's own development - the Unity graphical interface.

Meanwhile, even despite the refusal of Ubuntu developers from GNOME, system users will have the opportunity to install it themselves.

Notes