GNOME 2.0 Desktop Release Candidate 2: "Glad Midsommar"

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

GNOME 2.0 Desktop Release Candidate 2: "Glad Midsommar"
=======================================================

The GNOME 2.0 Desktop Release Candidate 2, "Glad Midsommar", is now
available:

  http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/pre-gnome2/releases/gnome-2.0-desktop-rc2/

The GNOME 2.0 Desktop is a greatly improved user environment for existing
GNOME applications. Enhancements include anti-aliased text and first class
internationalisation support, new accessibility features for disabled users,
and many improvements throughout GNOME's highly regarded user interface.


Not The GNOME 2.0 Desktop Final Release
---------------------------------------

A number of release critical issues were resolved after Release Candidate 1,
so to ensure adequate testing and review before GNOME 2.0 Desktop Final,
we've made a second release candidate for wider testing. RC2 should reflect
the contents of the final release.


Testing the GNOME 2.0 Desktop
-----------------------------

Binary packages and build scripts have been contributed to make installation
and testing of the GNOME 2.0 Desktop simpler.

  Debian:

    The following sources.list line will allow you to install the latest
    experimental packages. Please see the debian-gtk-gnome list for more
    information about these releases.

	  deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian ../project/experimental main

  GARNOME: http://www.gnome.org/~jdub/garnome/

    GARNOME downloads and builds from released tarballs. It includes a
    number of ported applications and utilities, and is designed to be a
    distribution of GNOME rather than an updater.

  jhbuild: http://cvs.gnome.org/lxr/source/jhbuild/README

    jhbuild builds directly from CVS, and includes required developer tools.
    It handles dependencies and errors gracefully, to minimise build time
    and frustration.

  Mandrake Cooker: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/cookerdevel.php3

    Frederic Crozat from Mandrake has been keeping Cooker up to date with
    all of the recent G2D releases. The packages are based on released
    tarballs.

  vicious-build-scripts: http://cvs.gnome.org/lxr/source/vicious-build-scripts/README
  
	v-b-s builds directly from CVS, and includes required developer tools
	such as autoconf, gettext, etc.

  Ximian Red Carpet Snapshots: (See the GMOME2 Snapshots Channel in Red Carpet.)

    Binary packages for Red Hat 7.2 and 7.3 are available from Ximian's Red
    Carpet. These are built nightly from CVS snapshots.


Build Requirements
------------------

  - The tarballs included in the release. :-)

  - Some very basic packages not distributed with this release, such as
	image libraries, popt and freetype. These should all be included with or
	available for your distribution.

  - Python 2 with expat xml modules for libglade (some modules still require
	the libglade-convert script, however we do plan to ship glade2 files).

  - Docbook DTD 4.1.2, Docbook XSL stylesheets and a valid system catalogue
	file for scrollkeeper (which in turn is required by many desktop
	components for documentation).

  - You need recent GNOME 1.4 developer platform packages if you plan to
	install the GNOME 2.0 platform libraries alongside 1.4.

A dependency graph for the developer platform and desktop release is
available on the dot.plan website:

  http://developer.gnome.org/dotplan/notes/


Testers
-------

If you have incredible talents at breaking GNOME, perhaps even to rival
Telsa's infamous path of destruction (and excellent bug reporting of said
path), this release is made for you!

When reporting bugs, use http://bugzilla.gnome.org/ or bug-buddy. Make sure
you choose the correct version number, as reports against particular
versions are easier to triage reports against unspecified releases.

Before submitting a bug report, try running the software from your terminal
to see if it provides extra information, and please make sure that you build
everything with full debugging support.


Bug Squad
---------

Whether you're testing GNOME 2.0 or not, you can still help out with the bug
busting efforts by triaging and tracking bugs in bugzilla. Join the bugsquad
mailing list, and hang out on #bugs (on irc.gnome.org) to get involved -
Thursday is always bug-busting day!

  http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-bugsquad/

For help with bugzilla accounts, email bugmaster gnome org 


Distributors
------------

This release is not intended for inclusion in distributions. However, binary
packages for bleeding edge testers on your platform are very welcome. Please
email the release team <gnome2-release-team gnome org> if you have built
packages for your platform.


Hackers
-------

When reporting bugs is simply not enough, and you'd prefer to make your own
(or, indeed, fix the ones you find), this release is also made for you!
Have a look through bugzilla or the TODO file included with many modules,
and make sure to send your patches to the maintainers via the appropriate
mailing list, or bugzilla.


Happy testing!

- The GNOME 2.0 Release Team

-- 
   "Can we have a special TELSABUG category, and everything gets dropped    
                     to fix them first?" - Telsa Gwynne