GTK+ 2.6.0 released

[Matthias Clasen <mclasen redhat com>]

GTK+ 2.6.0 is now available for download at:

 ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/v2.6/

gtk+-2.6.0.tar.bz2   md5sum: ca717c728264fa0b3302ca00da2bcfe4
gtk+-2.6.0.tar.gz    md5sum: 79727f992114c0d04b542d8027a318f7

along with new versions of the 3 base libraries, GLib, Pango and ATK.

Release notes are available at:

 http://www.gtk.org/gtk-2.6.0-notes.html

What is GTK+
============

GTK+ is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user
interfaces. Offering a complete set of widgets, GTK+ is
suitable for projects ranging from small one-off tools to
complete application suites.

GTK+ has been designed from the ground up to support a range
of languages, not only C/C++. Using GTK+ from languages such
as Perl and Python (especially in combination with the Glade
GUI builder) provides an effective method of rapid application
development.

GTK+ is free software and part of the GNU Project. However,
the licensing terms for GTK+, the GNU LGPL, allow it to be
used by all developers, including those developing proprietary
software, without any license fees or royalties. GTK+ is the
only 100% free-of-cost open source industrial-strength GUI
toolkit available today.

Since its origins as the toolkit for the GNU Image
Manipulation Program (GIMP), GTK+ has been used in a wide
range of software.  Notably, GTK+ is the foundation of the
GNOME desktop; GTK+ 2.6 will be incorporated into version
2.10 of the GNOME desktop.

What's new in GTK+ 2.6
======================

GTK+ 2.6 adds significant new functionality while maintaining
source and binary compatibility with GTK+ 2.4. Highlights of
new features and improvements in GTK+ 2.6 are:

New icon view widget
 
 The GtkIconView widget displays a tree model as a grid of
 labeled icons. Items can be selected by clicking or rubber-banding. 
 GtkIconView uses the same GtkTreeModel data storage interface 
 as GtkTreeView.

New about dialog widget

 The GtkAboutDialog widget is a replacement for the GnomeAbout
 dialog in the libgnomeui library. In addition to the features
 found in the GnomeAbout dialog, it supports displaying of
 license information and http: and mailto: links.

New file chooser button

 The GtkFileChooserButton widget can be embedded in a dialog to 
 allow the user to select a file or folder. It replaces the 
 GnomeFileEntry widget in the libgnomeui library

New menu tool button

 The GtkMenuToolButton widget is a toolbar button which
 displays a dropdown menu, like 'Back' and 'Forward' buttons
 commonly found in web browsers.

New cell renderers

 The GtkCellRendererCombo cell renderer displays a string in a
 cell, and allows to edit it using a combo box. The
 GtkCellRendererProgress cell renderer displays a numeric value
 in the form of a progress bar.

Changes in the file chooser widget
 
 The new GtkFileChooser widget which was introduced in 2.4 has
 been improved in many ways. It is possible to enter paths in
 the location dialog now, the file list has typeahead search
 and loading large directories has been made faster.

Changes in GtkComboBox

 The combo box can now display trees, insensitive rows and
 separators. In themes where the combobox is displayed as a list, 
 scrolling is now supported, and selection follows the mouse.

Changes in the tree view widget

 GtkTreeView has acquired the necessary features to support the
 improvements in the file chooser and combo box: typeahead,
 hover selection, hover expand, separators and insensitive
 rows.

Changes in GtkEntry, GtkLabel and GtkTextView

 GtkLabel now supports rotated and ellipsized text. GtkEntry and 
 GtkTreeView respect the backspace-deletes-character Pango attribute.
 Selectable labels are in the focus chain and the selection can be 
 copied using drag and drop.

Changes in Clipboard/Selection/Drag and drop handling
  
 GTK+ provides notification about selection ownership changes
 and supports clipboard persistency. There is a convenience API
 for handling text, image and file targets.

Icon Themes

 GTK+ follows the icon theme specification for directory
 locations. Window icons and images can be themed. There are
 various new stock icons, e.g. media player icons.

Performance improvements

 The chunk size for incremental transfers of big selections 
 has been increased, reducing the number of necessary
 roundtrips. GTK+ uses sync counters to speed up window
 resizing. The efficiency of GtkListStore and GtkUIManager 
 has been improved by changing the used algorithms and data
 structures. Icon themes are cached in an mmap()able cache file
 to reduce memory consumption and disk seek overhead. The cost
 of intra-library function calls has been reduced by avoiding
 PLT redirections.

Win32-specific changes
 
 The ms-windows (Wimp) theme engine and the IME input method
 module have been integrated into the GTK+ sources.

Other changes

 - gdk-pixbuf loaders can be disabled at runtime
 - gdk-pixbuf supports simple rotation
 - GTK+ provides an API to create HIG-conform 
   message dialogs
 - GTK+ provides an API for stock-like buttons
  - gtk_init() has been reimplemented on top of 
    the new GLib GOption API
  - Applications can provide an alternative button
    order, and there is a setting to activate it
  - Modules to be loaded can be specified by a 
    setting
  - The pixbuf theme engine has been integrated into
    the GTK+ sources
  - The scroll wheel can be used to switch notebook
    tabs and to scroll menus 
  - Ellipsization is supported in treeview cells,
    progress bars and status bars
  - The ABI has been cleaned up and the list of exported
    symbols is enforced 


Where to get more information about GTK+ 2.6
============================================

Information about GTK+ including links to documentation can be
found at:
 
 http://www.gtk.org/

An installation guide for GTK+ 2.6 is found at:

 http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.6/gtk/gtk-building.html

Common questions:
 
 http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.6/gtk/gtk-question-index.html
   (the above URL contains links to 1.2->2.x porting information)
 http://www.gtk.org/faq/


The GTK+ 2.6 Team:

 Jonathan Blandford, Hans Breuer, Matthias Clasen, Tim Janik,
 Tor Lillqvist, Federico Mena Quintero, S�Sandmann, Manish
 Singh, and Owen Taylor

Special thanks to:
 
 Anders Carlsson [GtkIconView, icon theme caching, 
                  clipboard persistency]
 James M. Cape [GtkFileChooserButton]
 Paolo Borelli [GtkMenuToolButton] 
 Raymond Penners, Dom Lachowicz [ms-windows theme engine]
 Takuro Ashie, Kazuki IWAMOTO [IME input method]
 Tommi Komulainen, Christian Persch [GtkCellRendererProgress] 
 Arjan van de Ven [PLT reduction]

Thanks to all the contributors to GTK+ 2.6 including:

Abel Daniel, Adam Hooper, Alexander Larsson, Alexander Winston,
Alex Graveley, Alex Roitman, Arjohn Kampman, Axel Simon, Baris
Cicek Yevgen Muntyan, Bastien Nocera, Behdad Esfahbod, Beno�Carpentier, Bernd Demian, Bill Haneman, Billy Biggs, Brian
Cameron, Calum Benson, Carlos Garnacho Parro, Chris Evans,
Christian Biere, Christian Neumair, Christian Persch,
Christophe Fergeau, Christopher Blizzard, Colin Walters,
Crispin Flowerday, Dafydd Harries, Damien Carbery, Damon
Chaplin, Dan Williams, Dan Winship, Darren Creutz, Dave Cook,
Dave Neary, David A. Knight, David Bordoley, David Hawthorne,
David Lodge, David Malcolm, Davyd Madeley, Dennis Cranston, Dmd
Ljungmark, Dmitry M. Shatrov, Doug Quale, Elijah Newren, Elke
Meier, Emmanuel Pacaud, Ernst Persson, Erwann Chenede, Felipe
Heidrich, Fernando San Martin Woerner, Frances Keenan, Frederic
Crozat, Gabriel de Perthuis, Gavin Romig-Koch, Guilherme
Salgado, Gustavo Carneiro, Hans Petter Jonsson, Havoc
Pennington, He Qiangqiang, Ilya Konstantinov, J. Ali Harlow,
James Henstridge, Jan-Marek Glogowski, Jay Camp, Jean Br�rt,
Jean-Fran�s Wauthy, Jeff Franks, Jens Bech Madsen, Jody
Goldberg, Joel Fredrikson, John Austin, John Cupitt, John
Ehresman, John Finlay, John Spray, Jon-Kare Hellan, Jorn Baayen,
Ken Harris, Kent Sandvik, Kjartan Maraas, Kouichirou Hiratsuka, 
Kristian H�rg, Kristian Rietveld, Laurent Sansonetti, Lorenzo 
Gil Sanchez, Magnus Bergman, Manuel Baena Garc� Marcel Telka,
Marco Pesenti Gritti, Mariano Su�z-Alvarez, Markku Vire, Mark
McLoughlin, Markus Lausser, Martijn Vernooij, Martin Jeppensen,
Martyn Russell, Masao Mutoh, Matthew Garrett, Matthew
H. Plough, Matt Walton, Michael Hallendal, Michael Natterer,
Michael Vogt, Michal Pasternak, Mich� Garoche, Milosz
Derezynski, Morten Welinder, Murray Cumming, Nickolay
V. Shmyrev, Nicolas Deves, Noah Levitt, Olexiy Avramchenko,
Olivier Andrieu, Olivier Sessink, Padraig O'Briain, Paolo
Maggi, Pasupathi Duraisamy, Paul Pongonyshev, Pawel Salek,
Peter Zelesny, Philip Kendall, Philip Langdale, Reinout van
Schouwen, Richard Hoelscher, Rich Wareham, Robert �ren, Ross
Burton, R. McFarland, Salvador Fandi�Sampo Nurmentaus, 
Sam Stephenson, Samuel Thibault, Scott Bronson, Scott James 
Remnant, Scott Tsai, Sebastien Bacher, Seth Nickell, Shaun McCance, 
S�Sandmann, Steffen R�r, Steve Chaplin, Sven Neumann,
Theppitak Karoonboonyanan, Thomas Fitzsimmons, Thomas Leonard,
Tim Evans, Tim-Philipp M� Tim Van Wassenhove, Tomislav
Jonjic, Torsten Schoenfeld, Tristan Van Berkom, Vasco Alexandre
da Silva Costa, Vincent Noel, Vincent Untz, Warren Togami,
William Jon McCann, Zack Cerza


16 December 2004