3.30 Release Notes Items

Changes in GNOME 3.30, to be potentially mentioned in the release notes.

Please note that this page does not need to be pretty or well-written. It's just a list that will be used to make the actual release notes.

See also the advice about the schedule and translation.

Also see feature plans for 3.30.

How-to

List any changes that:

• Affect users, administrators or developers.
• Are something people have been hoping for or discussing widely.
• Feature, usability, performance, internationalization or accessibility improvements.

Even small changes are interesting, and can sometimes be combined into wider themes.

Provide this information:

• What the module (application) is.
• What the change is.
• How it will look and work from a user perspective.
• Why it is better than what we had before.

Be as descriptive as you like. It is better too long than too short. Links and screenshots are very welcome!

What's new for users

Boxes

• RDP Support

  • This enables GNOME Boxes to remote-control Windows systems. gnome-boxes!37

• Better VM creation assistant gnome-boxes!46

• Import OVA files into Boxes gnome-boxes!39

Games

• Virtual Boy games are now listed in the games collection
• Platforms newly playable in the stable Flatpak:
  • Game Gear
  • Master System
  • Nintendo DS
  • Virtual Boy
• Improved cover loading time leading to better collection loading time
• Allow the user to set the keyboard to gamepad mapping
• Add a description page to games, giving you more information on your games like the developer, the release date, or a description
• Allow to list games by platforms or developers
• Navigation in Games' UI with gamepads
• Use small thumbnails to represent games if the window is narrow
• Move the application menu to the collection view ahead of 3.32
• Add a shortcuts window
• Various small UI refinements and bug fixes

Notes

• Removed application menu, following the GNOME 3 Human Interface Guildelines, and added a new primary (hamburger) menu to the main view

• Improved note view format, following GNOME Design team directions - #39 and #52 bug reports

• Added a "Text Size" option in primary (hamburger) menu to let users scale (zoom) note view - #30 bug report

Settings

• Thunderbolt support
• Dynamic panels (hardware-related panels, e.g. Wi-Fi, are hidden on the absence of that hardware)
• Airplane Mode improvements

GTK+

• Emoji completion. When enabled, you can now type :xyz<TAB> in an entry to get a popup with emoji suggestions that match the string xyz in their name

• Font variations. When enabled, the font chooser offers to tweak the axes of variable fonts to create a customized font variant

• Font featues. When enabled, the font chooser offers to tweak OpenType features such as small caps, old-style numerals, or ligatures

Web

• Clean reader mode

Software

• Carousel of featured apps on the landing page (related UI issue)

• Automatic updating of Flatpaks (on by default)
  • Means that you don't have to manually update your apps - it's all done for you

  • Design page

  • There's a preferences dialog to turn it on and off (issue with screenshot)

Files

• New more streamlined location bar and search entry
  • Uses less space
  • Options for the current location are more obvious
  • View options are more obvious

• Added implicit TLS mode support for FTP backend (gvfs#4, gvfs!3)

• Added support for TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt volumes in GNOME (https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2018-June/msg00016.html)

Shell

• Ability to stop screen sharing and remote desktop sessions via the system menu (on Wayland)
  • Shows a indicator when screen is shared
  • A system menu section with a way to turn of active sessions

Initial Setup

• New avatar chooser gnome-initial-setup!7

Disks

• VeraCrypt (aka TrueCrypt) encrypted storage drives/container files can be accessed if the distro supports it

Seahorse

• Basic support for ECDSA and ED25519 SSH keys

Photos

• Anything?

What's new in accessibility

What's new for administrators

What's new for developers

Builder

• ?

Application integration

Announcements:

• App menus no longer recommended - won't be shown in the top bar from 3.32
• App icon style and format changes - planned for 3.32
• The HIG has been (or will have been!) updated with new guidance for these topics

GTK+

• GTK+ 3.24
  • backported event controllers from GTK+ 4
  • new Emoji completion needs to be opted in with a property
  • new font chooser features need to be opted in with a property

WebKitGTK+

• New introspectable GObject API for JavaScriptCore

GJS

• Debugging support has been added to GJS. Activate it by running the GJS console interpreter with the -d or --debugger flag _before_ the name of the JS program on the command line. gjs/issues#110

• SpiderMonkey 60 => performance improvements gjs/issues#161

Handy links