After what seems like an eternity, a new release of Xfce is finally just around the corner. Xfce 4.10 was released in 2012, and since then, development has happened in small bursts for each project. Once a release date was set, interest spiked, and development was along with it.
ToZ on the Xfce Forums and Skunnyk in his blog (parts 1, 2, and 3) have recorded the continued development. Both are worth a look to see how far Xfce has come in recent months. If you’re looking for screenshots, you’ll find a few at those links and a gallery at the end of this post.
With just one week until the determined release date (February 28), string freeze is behind us, and all that remains is bug fixes. If you’ve got some development skills, why not swing by the Xfce Bugzilla and provide some patches? Your patches have the best chance of being noticed and merged right now, so your hard work won’t go to waste! And development is not the only way to contribute…
Areas for Contribution
Check out the Xfce Contribute page for more details.
- Fixing “easy,“ “critical,“ and any other bugs you never want to see again
- Reviewing bugs and patches: Some bugs date back to 2007, and there is a good possibility they are no longer valid. If you don’t think one applies any longer, comment on it indicating as much.
- Testing: With the sudden influx of fixes and new releases, we need testers more than ever. Try the new releases and let us know if you see anything… odd.
- Translations: Is your native language missing from Xfce? Is the choice of words not quite right? Help us out!
Screenshots
The following screenshots are not an exhaustive list of the new features but rather a select list of highlights in the upcoming release.
