GNOME 2.7.4 Development Release

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

GNOME 2.7.4 Development Release
===============================

Here's the latest set of tarballs for the GNOME 2.7 development branch. We
have now entered our API/ABI, Feature and Module freezes, with our modules
decision to be finalised next week. The biggest change in this release is
the new MIME system, masterfully wrangled by Jonathan Blandford, Dave Camp
and Ray Strode. Please read the extra notes regarding this change below...

  platform: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/platform/2.7/2.7.4/NEWS
    tar.gz:   44M total
    tar.bz2:  31M total

  desktop: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/desktop/2.7/2.7.4/NEWS
    tar.gz:   142M total
    tar.bz2:  102M total

  bindings: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/bindings/2.7/2.7.4/NEWS
    tar.gz:   13M total
    tar.bz2:  8.1M total


Notes about the new MIME system
-------------------------------

With GNOME 2.7.4, we have rewritten the old MIME system and replaced it with
the current shared specification found on freedesktop.org.  We expect things
to be somewhat buggy with the initial release, but are working quickly to
improve matters.  There are a couple comments to go along with this release:

 * In order the to see any applications available, they must be registered
   with the MIME system. This can be done by getting the latest verion of
   desktop-file-utils and running:

     update-desktop-database $PREFIX/applications

   jhbuild in CVS has been modified to build this, and we expect
   applications to do this on install automatically in the future.
   Additionally, not every application used the new system as released.
   This will also be fixed over the next week.

 * The new user interface is modeled after the proposal at:

     http://www.gnome.org/~jrb/files/mime/

   Work on it isn't complete yet, but it's progressing well. Also, the old
   File Types capplet has been removed in favor of a nautilus-only
   interface.

 * Monitoring of MIME changes doesn't fully work yet. Changes won't be
   noticed until you hit reload in nautilus.


WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
--------------------------

This release is a snapshot of development code. Although it is buildable and
usable, it is primarily intended for testing and hacking purposes. Like the
Linux kernel, GNOME uses odd minor version numbers to indicate development
status. Please check the 2.7 start page for more information:

  http://www.gnome.org/start/2.7/


Happy testing!

- The GNOME Release Team

-- 
OSCON 2004: Portland OR, USA           http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/
 
   "I think we agnostics need a term for a holy war too. I feel all left
                            out." - George Lebl