GNOME 2.0 Desktop Beta 4: "Thank You"

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

GNOME 2.0 Desktop Beta 4: "Thank You"
=====================================

The GNOME 2.0 Desktop Beta 4 release, "Thank You", is ready for your
bug-busting and testing pleasure! It is available for immediate download here:

  http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/pre-gnome2/releases/gnome-2.0-desktop-beta4/

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.


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

-- 
   "When there's public debate and mass hysteria, that's when the patches   
                         roll in." - Michael Meeks