2.6.0 release candidates?

Post by Thomas Adam
Hello all,
I'd like to propose that we start building 2.6.0 release candidate tarballs.
As far as I know, the only major part left of FVWM was a fvwm-menu-desktop
replacement which Dan Espen (and tentatively myself) worked on over
Christmas.
Can someone please give me an update as to the status of this -- i.e.,
anyone actually using it in earnest? I'm still unsure as to how complete it
is on systems I don't have.
Looking at docs/todo-2.6, under "A. Release stopping bugs", I have no
intention of looking at any of those for 2.6.0. F.3 is the one which
interests me more.
We really need to start being more pragmatic about making 2.6.0 a reality;
my git tree [1] has a bunch of patches which I've written, but can't merge
into FVWM because we're in a feature freeze, so the sooner this goes out
the door, the better. Obviously though we cannot be too complacement, but I
really don't think there's anything seriously stopping us releasing FVWM CVS
at this point as potential 2.6.0 release candidates. Someone just has to
have the balls to do it.
That'd be me. :)
If there's nothing major blocking fvwm-menu-desktop, I would like to suggest
I go ahead and do this.

For fvwm-menu-desktop is see 2 issues:

1. The Fvwm built in menu should invoke fvwm-menu-desktop.
I don't know if we can make this conditional on being on Linux,
but I don't think it would be a major problem if it was there all the
time. This should be addressed before 2.6.

2. We don't have a working option that would use the application
specific mini-icons for each menu item. I don't see this as important,
just nice to have. This should not interfere with releasing 2.6.

Other than that, I see no reason not to release 2.6.

Thomas Adam

2011-04-10 16:21:47 UTC

1. The Fvwm built in menu should invoke fvwm-menu-desktop.
I don't know if we can make this conditional on being on Linux,
but I don't think it would be a major problem if it was there all the
time. This should be addressed before 2.6.

Agreed -- it should only mean a change to SetRCDefaults() -- can you do
this, please? Would you mind?

Post by d***@verizon.net
2. We don't have a working option that would use the application
specific mini-icons for each menu item. I don't see this as important,
just nice to have. This should not interfere with releasing 2.6.
Other than that, I see no reason not to release 2.6.

Brilliant. I too can live with that. :)

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

d***@verizon.net

2011-04-10 18:20:24 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
Agreed -- it should only mean a change to SetRCDefaults() -- can you do
this, please? Would you mind?

I love when things go smoothly.

This is not one of those times.

I haven't updated in a while so I updated, made changes and
restarted.

Now my fonts have stopped working:

I have this:

MenuStyle "*" Font "xft:Sans:bold:antialias=False:pixelsize=15", Animation, Hilight3DThin

And I get this messages:

[fvwm][FlocaleLoadFont]: WARNING -- can't load font 'xft:Sans:bold:antialias=False:pixelsize=15', trying default:
-*-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed-*-13-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Can't tell if it's a problem on my end or not.

Also fvwm-menu-desktop stopped working.
Of course, I'll debug that but it might take a little while.

Thomas Adam

2011-04-10 18:36:38 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
Agreed -- it should only mean a change to SetRCDefaults() -- can you do
this, please? Would you mind?

I love when things go smoothly.
This is not one of those times.
I haven't updated in a while so I updated, made changes and
restarted.
MenuStyle "*" Font "xft:Sans:bold:antialias=False:pixelsize=15", Animation, Hilight3DThin
-*-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed-*-13-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-16-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Can't tell if it's a problem on my end or not.

I see why. I'm on it.

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

Thomas Adam

2011-04-10 18:49:15 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
Agreed -- it should only mean a change to SetRCDefaults() -- can you do
this, please? Would you mind?

It was my own f*** up. Can you "cvs up" and see if that solves it for you?

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

d***@verizon.net

2011-04-11 17:12:25 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
Agreed -- it should only mean a change to SetRCDefaults() -- can you do
this, please? Would you mind?

It was my own f*** up. Can you "cvs up" and see if that solves it for you?

Yes, fixed now.

I still get this warning:

[fvwm][FlocaleGetFontSet]: (9x15bold) Missing font charsets:
ISO8859-2, ISO8859-3, ISO8859-4, ISO8859-5, KOI8-R, ISO8859-7, ISO8859-9, ISO8859-13, ISO8859-14, ISO8859-15, JISX0208.1983-0, KSC5601.1987-0, GB2312.1980-0, JISX0201.1976-0, ISO10646-1

from

MenuStyle StartMenu Greyed navy, font 9x15bold, TrianglesRelief

I don't think it's new, but while we are on the subject...

Thomas Adam

2011-04-11 17:19:22 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
Agreed -- it should only mean a change to SetRCDefaults() -- can you do
this, please? Would you mind?

It was my own f*** up. Can you "cvs up" and see if that solves it for you?

Yes, fixed now.
ISO8859-2, ISO8859-3, ISO8859-4, ISO8859-5, KOI8-R, ISO8859-7, ISO8859-9, ISO8859-13, ISO8859-14, ISO8859-15, JISX0208.1983-0, KSC5601.1987-0, GB2312.1980-0, JISX0201.1976-0, ISO10646-1
from
MenuStyle StartMenu Greyed navy, font 9x15bold, TrianglesRelief
I don't think it's new, but while we are on the subject...

It's because the font doesn't have the right charset encodings for the
specified locale -- the equivalent to 9x15 is somewhere in the helvetica
range (IIRC). It's not a problem per se for you, it's just what FVWM does
to (unhelpfully) inform you of this. If you want, I can take a look at
"PrintInfo locale 2", assuming you put the output here.

So, other than that, how do we stand now?

I'm still thinking about putting at RCs first, and then something completely
official thereafter assuming we have enough adoptors of these RCs, although
given the lifetime of 2.5.X anyway, with the releases that's already had, we
might be OK.

There's still more important things surrounding this, such as release
announcements. This is surprisingly a big thing, given that it's been,
what, tfive years since the last proper stable release? This is a huge thing,
given the features in 2.4.X and 2.5.X -- I'm not happy about writing such a
thing either, to be honest. :)

Any takers?

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

d***@verizon.net

2011-04-11 17:33:26 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
Agreed -- it should only mean a change to SetRCDefaults() -- can you do
this, please? Would you mind?

It was my own f*** up. Can you "cvs up" and see if that solves it for you?

It's because the font doesn't have the right charset encodings for the
specified locale -- the equivalent to 9x15 is somewhere in the helvetica
range (IIRC). It's not a problem per se for you, it's just what FVWM does
to (unhelpfully) inform you of this. If you want, I can take a look at
"PrintInfo locale 2", assuming you put the output here.
So, other than that, how do we stand now?
I'm still thinking about putting at RCs first, and then something completely
official thereafter assuming we have enough adoptors of these RCs, although
given the lifetime of 2.5.X anyway, with the releases that's already had, we
might be OK.
There's still more important things surrounding this, such as release
announcements. This is surprisingly a big thing, given that it's been,
what, tfive years since the last proper stable release? This is a huge thing,
given the features in 2.4.X and 2.5.X -- I'm not happy about writing such a
thing either, to be honest. :)
Any takers?

Printinfo output below.

I think a lot of people have given up ever expecting
an official stable release. I think we just need to
summarize all the news since 2.4.

I might take a stab but I'm not sure I'll have time.
If I start I'll notify the list.

Thomas Adam

2011-04-11 17:40:25 UTC

Post by d***@verizon.net
Printinfo output below.

I'll take a look in a bit.

Post by d***@verizon.net
I think a lot of people have given up ever expecting
an official stable release. I think we just need to
summarize all the news since 2.4.
I might take a stab but I'm not sure I'll have time.
If I start I'll notify the list.

I have time right now, so I'll start, and post a proposal here when I'm
done. I wasn't really too worried about feature summaries as I was talking
about things like 2.5.X's history, and the significiant things that have
gone on with it, etc. Or whether anyone cares enough to do that. I do to
an extent, because I know enough of the history to make a good go at it, but
there's been so many contributors hence, I wouldn't want to do anyone a
disservice.

Anyhow, watch this space...

Thanks, Dan.

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

Thomas Adam

2011-04-11 20:40:52 UTC

Post by d***@verizon.net
Printinfo output below.

I'll take a look in a bit.

So I'm thinking something like this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FVWM 2.6.0 released!
====================

It's been almost five years since the last stable release of FVWM (2006) and
almost ten years since the development version of FVWM (2.5.X) which became this
latest stable release was started! A lot of hard work from many talented
individuals has made this release possible.

Highlights
==========

In no particular order:

* EWMH support, including support for managing different window types
("docks" for example).
* Colorset commands replace FvwmTheme (which is now deprecated)
* WindowStyle command applies a style to a specific window only.
* XFT fonts are supported, per locale.
* Focus-specific policies supported as styles (FP*, !FP*)
* FocusStyle command allows styling of focus policies specifically.
* Dynamic actions can be sent to most modules whilst they're running to
customise their behaviour (SendToModule).
* Gettext support introduced for output strings (most commonly seen on
menu items.)
* Mouse gestures (libstroke) bindings are available.
* New module FvwmProxy to manage moving windows around.
* New module FvwmWindowList to make the list of running windows more
customisable over the builtin "WindowList" command.
* Variable placeholders ($w, $d, $c) deprecated in favour of newer formats.
Also, the number of variable placeholders has been expanded.
- $[func.context], $[w.desk], $[w.layer], etc.
* Nesting of placeholders is also allowed.
* FvwmEvent: The PassId option is deprecated as actions always run within a
window context.
* Many new conditional commands with different options.
* New style command "Unmanaged" to make certain windows completely divorced
from FVWM's control.
* New command FakeKeyPress.
* Window-specific key/mouse bindings. (Bindings no longer have to be global.)
* Many new style options:
- FixedSize
- FixedPosition
- MoveByProgramMethod
- UseTitleDecorRotation
- IconBackgroundColorset
- IconTitleColorset
- HilightIconTitleColorset
- IconTitleRelief
- IconBackgroundRelief
- IconBackgroundPadding
- Closable
- Iconifiable
- Maximizable
- AllowMaximizeFixedSize
- PositionPlacement
- InitialMapComand

Plus many others...
* Window states are now available to identify windows to perform "groups" of
commands on.
* fvwm-menu-desktop uses the XDG menu specification.
* PNG/SVG support for icons.
* Menu-context bindings.
* The name style names match against can be augmented by the X-resource "fvwmstyle".
* New fvwm-convert-2.6 script to convert older fvwm 2.4.x config files.
* Bugfixes!

There are of course significant bug fixes gone into this release; far too
many to list here, and many of them so specific to the development version
alone that listing them is out of context when comparing them to the last
stable release. Overall, a number of bug fixes for memory management, and
ease of managing windows has happened.

Upgrading from FVWM 2.4.X -> 2.6.0
==================================

It is worth spending some time looking at the dependencies at FVWM's
disposal. None of them are required per se for FVWM to work:

* Xinerama
* Readline
* Fribidi
* XFT
* Iconv
* PNG
* SVG
* XPM
* XRender
* Stroke
* Xsm
* Xcursor
* SM (Session Manager)

Note that not all of these are external libraries per se -- some of them are
merely facets of an XServer's configuration, but a lot of it will depend on
the platform FVWM is running on.

Preferred way of upgrading your configuration file
==================================================

In the old stable (2.4.X), the path to the default user config file is now:

$ ~/.fvwm/config

by default, although the older paths of:

$ ~/.fvwm/.fvwm2rc
$ ~/.fvwm2rc

are still supported; just deprecated in favour of ~/.fvwm/config. Note that
the "INITIALIZATION" section in "man fvwm" lists the other locations FVWM
might also look in to find a valid config file. Since there's been some
syntax changes, a handy script can be used -- "fvwm-config-2.6" to convert a
2.4.X style config file.

Please see the man page for "fvwm-convert-2.6".

History
=======

It's taken almost ten years for FVWM 2.6.0 to arrive. In that time, FVWM
has had contributions from numerous people -- many of them can be found
here:

http://fvwm.org/authors/

Whilst it is unfair to single any one particular person out, it is without
question that I (Thomas Adam) would like to pay particular homage to the
following people (again in no particular order):

* Dominik Vogt -- for being one of the most useful sources of information on
FVWM to date, and making it such a great program.
* Viktor Griph -- for implementing some cool features
* Dan Espen -- just for being completely reliable with any request I've
thrown at him, and for helping to cobble this release together.

But that list is far from the full picture. There are numerous people on
IRC in #fvwm (freenode) who have given up their time in terms of user
support, and that's just as important as development. So I would like to
also thank the following people (in no particular order):

* pebcak
* somiaj
* theBlackDragon
* starshine
* haddock
* Janon
* surrounder
* taviso
* swimmer

This list is not exhaustive either, but they have in particular been the
life-blood of the channel on ensuring it runs smoothly and help provide the
best support possible.

Thank you all!

Contact
=======

The official fvwm homepage:

http://www.fvwm.org/

Questions about the release can be asked on our mailing list:

fvwm _at_ fvwm.org

Bugs can be reported to the fvwm-workers mailing list.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone feels like somethings should be added/removed/augmented, let me
know.

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

Thomas Adam

2011-04-11 21:00:39 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
If anyone feels like somethings should be added/removed/augmented, let me
know.

I'd like to add another section: "Dedications"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dedications
===========

During the course of FVWM's development, the community lost one of its
members, Alex Wallis. Alex founded the IRC channel, brought together a
community on IRC for FVWM, which still continues to this day. He also was a
large contributor to the fvwm-themes project.

Sadly, Alex is no longer with is, and he would have been proud to see the
FVWM he knew, as being released as stable, so this release is dedicated to
him. May he still rest in peace.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm also tempted at this point to thank all my teddy bears, but that's
probably a bit excessive. :P

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

Thomas Adam

2011-04-11 21:35:41 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
If anyone feels like somethings should be added/removed/augmented, let me
know.

More updates -- but the whole document this time -- mostly from authors I've
forgotten about, so please, keep your updates coming. I appreciate it:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FVWM 2.6.0 released!
====================

It's been almost five years since the last stable release of FVWM (2006) and
almost ten years since the development version of FVWM (2.5.X) which became this
latest stable release was started! A lot of hard work from many talented
individuals has made this release possible.

Highlights
==========

In no particular order:

* EWMH support, including support for managing different window types
("docks" for example).
* Colorset commands replace FvwmTheme (which is now deprecated)
* WindowStyle command applies a style to a specific window only.
* XFT fonts are supported, per locale.
* Focus-specific policies supported as styles (FP*, !FP*)
* FocusStyle command allows styling of focus policies specifically.
* Dynamic actions can be sent to most modules whilst they're running to
customise their behaviour (SendToModule).
* Gettext support introduced for output strings (most commonly seen on
menu items.)
* Mouse gestures (libstroke) bindings are available.
* New module FvwmProxy to manage moving windows around.
* New module FvwmWindowList to make the list of running windows more
customisable over the builtin "WindowList" command.
* Variable placeholders ($w, $d, $c) deprecated in favour of newer formats.
Also, the number of variable placeholders has been expanded.
- $[func.context], $[w.desk], $[w.layer], etc.
* Nesting of placeholders is also allowed.
* FvwmEvent: The PassId option is deprecated as actions always run within a
window context.
* Many new conditional commands with different options.
* New style command "Unmanaged" to make certain windows completely divorced
from FVWM's control.
* New command FakeKeyPress.
* Window-specific key/mouse bindings. (Bindings no longer have to be global.)
* Many new style options:
- FixedSize
- FixedPosition
- MoveByProgramMethod
- UseTitleDecorRotation
- IconBackgroundColorset
- IconTitleColorset
- HilightIconTitleColorset
- IconTitleRelief
- IconBackgroundRelief
- IconBackgroundPadding
- Closable
- Iconifiable
- Maximizable
- AllowMaximizeFixedSize
- PositionPlacement
- InitialMapComand

Plus many others...
* Window states are now available to identify windows to perform "groups" of
commands on.
* fvwm-menu-desktop uses the XDG menu specification.
* PNG/SVG support for icons.
* Menu-context bindings.
* The name style names match against can be augmented by the X-resource "fvwmstyle".
* New fvwm-convert-2.6 script to convert older fvwm 2.4.x config files.
* Bugfixes!

There are of course significant bug fixes gone into this release; far too
many to list here, and many of them so specific to the development version
alone that listing them is out of context when comparing them to the last
stable release. Overall, a number of bug fixes for memory management, and
ease of managing windows has happened.

Upgrading from FVWM 2.4.X -> 2.6.0
==================================

It is worth spending some time looking at the dependencies at FVWM's
disposal. None of them are required per se for FVWM to work:

* Xinerama
* Readline
* Fribidi
* XFT
* Iconv
* PNG
* SVG
* XPM
* XRender
* Stroke
* Xsm
* Xcursor
* SM (Session Manager)

Note that not all of these are external libraries per se -- some of them are
merely facets of an XServer's configuration, but a lot of it will depend on
the platform FVWM is running on.

Preferred way of upgrading your configuration file
==================================================

In the old stable (2.4.X), the path to the default user config file is now:

$ ~/.fvwm/config

by default, although the older paths of:

$ ~/.fvwm/.fvwm2rc
$ ~/.fvwm2rc

are still supported; just deprecated in favour of ~/.fvwm/config. Note that
the "INITIALIZATION" section in "man fvwm" lists the other locations FVWM
might also look in to find a valid config file. Since there's been some
syntax changes, a handy script can be used -- "fvwm-config-2.6" to convert a
2.4.X style config file.

Please see the man page for "fvwm-convert-2.6".

History
=======

It's taken almost ten years for FVWM 2.6.0 to arrive. In that time, FVWM
has had contributions from numerous people -- many of them can be found
here:

http://fvwm.org/authors/

Whilst it is unfair to single any one particular person out, it is without
question that I (Thomas Adam) would like to pay particular homage to the
following people (again in no particular order):

* Dominik Vogt -- for being one of the most useful sources of information on
FVWM to date, and making it such a great program.
* Viktor Griph -- for implementing some cool features
* Dan Espen -- just for being completely reliable with any request I've
thrown at him, and for helping to cobble this release together.
* Olivier Chapuis -- for writing far too many features than can be listed
here, but responsible for things like: new conditional commands,
original EWMH support, XFT support, gettext support, numerous bug fixes,
etc., fvwm-themes.
* Mikhael Goikhman -- for perllib, Session management support, various perl
helper scripts FVWM uses (fvwm-config, fvwm-menu-desktop, etc.), as well
as along with Olivier Chapius, starting fvwm-themes.

But that list is far from the full picture. There are numerous people on
IRC in #fvwm (freenode) who have given up their time in terms of user
support, and that's just as important as development. So I would like to
also thank the following people (in no particular order):

* pebcak
* somiaj
* theBlackDragon
* starshine
* haddock
* Janon
* surrounder
* taviso
* swimmer

This list is not exhaustive either, but they have in particular been the
life-blood of the channel on ensuring it runs smoothly and help provide the
best support possible.

Thank you all!

Dedications
===========

During the course of FVWM's development, the community lost one of its
members, Alex Wallis. Alex founded the IRC channel, brought together a
community on IRC for FVWM, which still continues to this day. He also was a
large contributor to the fvwm-themes project.

Sadly, Alex is no longer with is, and he would have been proud to see the
FVWM he knew, as being released as stable, so this release is dedicated to
him. May he still rest in peace.

Contact
=======

The official fvwm homepage:

http://www.fvwm.org/

Questions about the release can be asked on our mailing list:

fvwm _at_ fvwm.org

Bugs can be reported to the fvwm-workers mailing list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

Thomas Adam

2011-04-11 23:34:48 UTC

Post by Thomas Adam
If anyone feels like somethings should be added/removed/augmented, let me
know.

More updates -- but the whole document this time -- mostly from authors I've

Another update:

* Added Scott Smedley.
* Other slight touch-ups.

I don't plan on doing anything else on this until tomorrow now.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FVWM 2.6.0 released!
====================

It's been almost five years since the last stable release of FVWM (2006) and
almost ten years since the development version of FVWM (2.5.X) which became this
latest stable release was started! A lot of hard work from many talented
individuals has made this release possible.

Highlights
==========

In no particular order (and neither an exhaustive list):

* EWMH support, including support for managing different window types
("docks" for example).
* Colorset commands replace FvwmTheme (which is now deprecated)
* WindowStyle command applies a style to a specific window only.
* XFT fonts are supported, per locale.
* Focus-specific policies supported as styles (FP*, !FP*)
* FocusStyle command allows styling of focus policies specifically.
* Dynamic actions can be sent to most modules whilst they're running to
customise their behaviour (SendToModule).
* Gettext support introduced for output strings (most commonly seen on
menu items.)
* Mouse gestures (libstroke) bindings are available.
* New module FvwmProxy to manage moving windows around.
* New module FvwmWindowList to make the list of running windows more
customisable over the builtin "WindowList" command.
* Variable placeholders ($w, $d, $c) deprecated in favour of newer formats.
Also, the number of variable placeholders has been expanded.
- $[func.context], $[w.desk], $[w.layer], etc.
* Nesting of placeholders is also allowed.
* FvwmEvent: The PassId option is deprecated as actions always run within a
window context.
* Many new conditional commands with different options.
* New style command "Unmanaged" to make certain windows completely divorced
from FVWM's control.
* New command FakeKeyPress.
* Window-specific key/mouse bindings. (Bindings no longer have to be global.)
* Many new style options:
- FixedSize
- FixedPosition
- MoveByProgramMethod
- UseTitleDecorRotation
- IconBackgroundColorset
- IconTitleColorset
- HilightIconTitleColorset
- IconTitleRelief
- IconBackgroundRelief
- IconBackgroundPadding
- Closable
- Iconifiable
- Maximizable
- AllowMaximizeFixedSize
- PositionPlacement
- InitialMapComand

Plus many others...
* Window states are now available to identify windows to perform "groups" of
commands on.
* fvwm-menu-desktop uses the XDG menu specification.
* PNG/SVG support for icons.
* Menu-context bindings.
* The name style names match against can be augmented by the X-resource "fvwmstyle".
* New fvwm-convert-2.6 script to convert older fvwm 2.4.x config files.
* Bugfixes!

There are of course significant bug fixes gone into this release; far too
many to list here, and many of them so specific to the development version
alone that listing them is out of context when comparing them to the last
stable release. Overall, a number of bug fixes for memory management, and
ease of managing windows has happened.

Upgrading from FVWM 2.4.X -> 2.6.0
==================================

It is worth spending some time looking at the dependencies at FVWM's
disposal. None of them are required per se for FVWM to work:

* Xinerama
* Readline
* Fribidi
* XFT
* Iconv
* PNG
* SVG
* XPM
* XRender
* Stroke
* Xsm
* Xcursor
* SM (Session Manager)

Note that not all of these are external libraries -- some of them are
merely facets of an XServer's configuration, but a lot of it will depend on
the platform FVWM is running on.

Preferred way of upgrading your configuration file
==================================================

In the old stable (2.4.X), the path to the default user config file is now:

$ ~/.fvwm/config

by default, although the older paths of:

$ ~/.fvwm/.fvwm2rc
$ ~/.fvwm2rc

are still supported; just deprecated in favour of ~/.fvwm/config. Note that
the "INITIALIZATION" section in "man fvwm" lists the other locations FVWM
might also look in to find a valid config file. Since there's been some
syntax changes, a handy script can be used -- "fvwm-config-2.6" to convert a
2.4.X style config file.

Please see the man page for "fvwm-convert-2.6".

History
=======

It's taken almost ten years for FVWM 2.6.0 to arrive. In that time, FVWM
has had contributions from numerous people -- many of them can be found
here:

http://fvwm.org/authors/

Whilst it is unfair to single any one particular person out, it is without
question that I (Thomas Adam) would like to pay particular homage to the
following people (again in no particular order; and *far* from exhaustive):

* Dominik Vogt -- for being one of the most useful sources of information on
FVWM to date, and making it such a great program.
* Viktor Griph -- for implementing some cool features
* Dan Espen -- just for being completely reliable with any request I've
thrown at him, and for helping to cobble this release together.
* Olivier Chapuis -- for writing far too many features than can be listed
here, but responsible for things like: new conditional commands,
original EWMH support, XFT support, gettext support, numerous bug fixes,
etc., fvwm-themes.
* Mikhael Goikhman -- for perllib, Session management support, various perl
helper scripts FVWM uses (fvwm-config, fvwm-menu-desktop, etc.), as well
as along with Olivier Chapius, starting fvwm-themes.
* Scott Smedley -- Converting documentation to use Docbook, window-specific
binding support, FvwmTabs, perllib fixes, FvwmButtons enhancements.

But that list is far from the full picture. There are numerous people on
IRC in #fvwm (freenode) who have given up their time in terms of user
support, and that's just as important as development. So I would like to
also thank the following people (in no particular order):

* pebcak
* somiaj
* theBlackDragon
* starshine
* haddock
* Janon
* surrounder
* taviso
* swimmer

This list is not exhaustive either, but they have in particular been the
life-blood of the channel on ensuring it runs smoothly and help provide the
best support possible.

Thank you all!

Dedications
===========

During the course of FVWM's development, the community lost one of its
members, Alex Wallis ("awol", on IRC). Alex founded the IRC channel,
brought together a community on IRC for FVWM, which still continues to this
day. He also was a large contributor to the fvwm-themes project.

Sadly, Alex is no longer with is, and he would have been proud to see the
FVWM he knew, as being released as stable, so this release is dedicated to
him. May he still rest in peace.

Contact
=======

The official fvwm homepage:

http://www.fvwm.org/

Questions about the release can be asked on our mailing list:

fvwm _at_ fvwm.org

Bugs can be reported to the fvwm-workers mailing list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

Hans Voss

2011-04-12 07:29:57 UTC