05 March 2009, 17:51

GNOME 2.26.0 Release Candidate available

The GNOME 2.26.0 Release Candidate (2.25.92) is now available for download and testing. The final release of the free open source desktop environment is expected to arrive on the 18th of March. The release candidate includes stabilisation work, updated translations and bug fixes.

According to the desktop release notes, this release sees a return of the session saving feature. The details given in the documentation include a note that advises, "there might be bugs for this, so make sure to test this thoroughly." Previously session saving in GNOME didn't work as well as intended. It had been completely rewritten resulting in problems when trying to save a session. The 2.24 release of even saw a temporary workaround to try to fix the problem.

The GNOME control center has been updated with better support for launching arbitrary commands via key-bindings and the power manager now has better ConsoleKit and PolicyKit integration. Totem has added support for MXF videos and the repeat function in the browser plug-in has been fixed.

The release is a feature, user interface and string frozen snapshot of 2.26. The developers are asking that testers of this release candidate focus on showstoppers (bugs that cause serious problems) so that as many of them can be fixed as possible.

The final release of GNOME 2.26 will include numerous changes in several areas. Evolution, the GNOME mail, address book and calendaring application, will receive a revamp to IMAP, additional plug-in loaders and an Exchange 2007/MAPI Connector. Changes will also be taking place on the artwork in GNOME as some themes are being updated, along with icons and emblems.

More details of the changes can be found in the release notes. A list of distributions that use GNOME as their Default Desktop can be found here. The next version, GNOME 2.28, is expected to be released six months after 2.26.

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