GNOME Summary - 2001-07-22 - 2001-07-28

Table of Contents

  1. GNOME 2.0 API Freeze
  2. Martin Baulig steps downs
  3. Comments sought on the RFP system
  4. Minutes of the GF Board Meeting (July 24, 2001) by Dan Mueth
  5. Evolution Beta period
  6. GNOME Programming in Linux using GTK+ by Subhasish Ghosh
  7. Joining the Round Table: How to get started developing for the Linux desktop
  8. gIDE 0.3.5 available
  9. DevHelp 0.1.1 released
  10. Procman 0.8 released
  11. Hacker Activity
  12. New and Updated Software

1. GNOME 2.0 API Freeze

The API freeze for GNOME 2.0 started to take place over the last few days. While not completely set in stone the idea is that with the API's frozen application developers will be able start porting to the new development platform. Everyone expects masses of bugs to turn up but it's an important step in the release cycle.

http://lists.gnome.org/archives/gnome-2-0-list/2001-July/msg00181.html

2. Martin Baulig steps downs

Martin has stepped down as GNOME 2.0 Release Co-ordinator. His college studies finally had to take precedence so he had to make this choice. He's left the new platform in a much better state than he it was and everyone appreciates his work - lets hope his studies go well!

http://lists.gnome.org/archives/gnome-hackers-readonly/2001-July/msg00192.html

3. Comments sought on the RFP system

As GNOME has become more complex and the number of participants has grown making considered technical decisions has become more difficult. Consequently this year has seen a number of arguments blow up amongst the hackers concerning important design decisions. Conferences such as GUADEC and the Foundation have helped but a more targeted system for making specific decisions is being sought. The main options are an enhancement procedure similar to Python or a technical review board. Some hackers feel the RFP system would be too bureaucratic so Havoc wrote up the proposed policy and is asking for comments.

http://lists.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2001-July/msg00013.html

4. Minutes of the GF Board Meeting (July 24, 2001) by Dan Mueth

Not a lot of movement on the Foundation issues has taken place recently, probably due to focus on the GNOME 2.0 release. The employment of a full time Foundation employee looks to be coming close which will no doubt push things forward.

http://lists.gnome.org/archives/foundation-announce/2001-July/msg00002.html

5. Evolution Beta period

Evolution the groupware application being built by Ximian entered it's beta period. Encompassing email, calendering, to-do lists and news feeds it is one of the most advanced applications using GNOME technology. The major development phase is over with stabilisation and bug-fixing the order of the day so everyone is encouraged to download and pound on it!

http://www.ximian.com/apps/evolution.php3

6. GNOME Programming in Linux using GTK+ by Subhasish Ghosh

This article covers the core GNOME technologies for application programmers, particularly focusing on GTK+. It's a good introduction to GTK+ if you want to be a GNOME programmer and the final links section provides for further study.

http://linux.com/develop/newsitem.phtml?aid=124822&sid=1&page=3

7. Joining the Round Table: How to get started developing for the Linux desktop

Starting out as a hacker can seem like a mountainous task. Tina Gasperson seeks to dispell the fears and provide some pointers in this concise article: good stuff for those thinking about strapping on their coding water-wings. I personally think that every single person can make a significant contribution whether that be coding, documents, testing or whatever - every little bit helps. For budding GNOME coders don't forget the Gnome-love project which is specifically designed to help people down the right path.

http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/11/185221

http://lists.gnome.org/archives/gnome-love/index.html

8. gIDE 0.3.5 available

An often repeated complaint is that GNOME has no specific IDE: the reply has always been that there are a plethora of solutions, and anyway anyone who can't master the Zen of emacs is a wimp! Perhaps some developers tendinitis will shortly be soothed as gIDE continues it's path towards completion. Dave Camps announced a development release following completely redesigning it to a Bonobo basis. For some interesting screenshots follow the link and change the number from gide2 through to gide6

http://lists.gnome.org/archives/gnome-devtools/2001-July/msg00017.html

http://primates.ximian.com/~dave/gide6.png

9. DevHelp 0.1.1 released

Devhelp is a small helper application for programmers who need to reference documentation. While early in development it has a number of features that look really useful so check it out!

http://people.codefactory.se/~micke/devhelp/

10. Procman 0.8 released

Kevin Vandersloot announced a new version of this process viewer and system monitor. Some discussion has ensued about making this the default in future releases of GNOME.

http://lists.gnome.org/archives/gnome-announce-list/2001-July/msg00036.html

http://lists.gnome.org/archives/gnome-packaging-list/2001-July/msg00041.html

11. Hacker Activity

Thanks for Paul Warren for these lists.

Most active modules:
200 SashMo
173 SashWDE
144 evolution
120 gnome-control-center
73 galeon
59 ximian-setup-tools
55 gimp
41 gtkhtml
39 control-center-plus
38 gail
34 mc
30 nautilus
30 gnumeric
27 pan
25 web-devel-2
24 libgda
22 bonobo-extra
20 libbonobo
20 eel
19 libxslt
[101 active modules omitted] 		Most active hackers:
72 chema
68 dkc
67 tyeler
58 martin
56 hovinen
53 jcorwin
50 ajshankar
49 leonardl
45 chatham
37 pablo
33 mpeseng
32 minmax
31 michael
31 unammx
29 proskin
28 rodrigo
27 darin
27 hestgray
27 fejji
25 chyla
[122 active hackers omitted]

12. New and Updated Software

For more information on these packages visit the GNOME Software map: http://www.gnome.org/applist/listrecent.php3

Until next time,

Steve

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