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Chapter 8. Desktop

New packages: pidgin and pidgin-sipe

This update adds:
  • The pidgin instant messaging client, which supports off-the-record (OTR) messaging and the Microsoft Lync instant messaging application.
  • The pidgin-sipe plug-in, which contains a back-end code that implements support for Lync.
The users need both the application and the plug-in to use Microsoft Lync. (BZ#1066457, BZ#1297461)

Scroll wheel increment configurable in GNOME terminal

With this update, the _gnome-terminal packages have been upgraded so that the scroll wheel setting is now configurable in the GNOME terminal. The scrolling preferences include a checkbutton and a spinbutton, which allow to choose between dynamic or fixed scrolling increment. The default option is dynamic scrolling increment, which is based on the number of visible rows. (BZ#1103380)

Vinagre user experience improvements

The Vinagre remote desktop viewer introduces the following user experience enhancements:
  • A minimize button is available in the fullscreen toolbar, which makes access to custom options easier.
  • It is now possible to scale Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) sessions. You can set the session size in the Connect dialog.
  • You can now use the secrets service to safely store and retrieve remote credentials. (BZ#1291275)

Custom titles for the terminal tabs or windows

This update allows users to set custom titles for terminal windows or tabs in gnome-terminal. The titles can be changed directly in the gnome-terminal user interface. (BZ#1296110)

Separate menu items for opening tabs and windows restored

This update restores separate menu items for opening tabs and windows in gnome-terminal. It is now easier to open a mix of tabs and windows without being familiar with keyboard shortcuts. (BZ#1300826)

Native Gnome/GTK+ look for Qt applications

Previously, the default Qt style did not provide consistency for Qt applications, causing them not to fit into Gnome desktop. A new adwaita-qt style has been provided for those applications and the visual differences between the Qt and GTK+ applications are now minimal. (BZ#1306307)

rhythmbox rebased to version 3.3.1

Rhythmbox is the GNOME default music player. It is easy to use and includes features such as playlists, podcast playback, and audio streaming. The rhythmbox packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.3.1. The most notable changes include:
  • Better support for Android devices
  • New task progress display below the track list
  • Support for the composer, disc, and track total tags
  • New style for playback controls and the source list
  • A number of bug fixes for various warnings and unexpected termination errors (BZ#1298233)

libreoffice rebased to version 5.0.6.2

The libreoffice packages have been upgraded to upstream version 5.0.6.2, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version, notably:
  • The status bar and various sidebar decks have been improved.
  • Various toolbars and context menus have been cleaned up or rearranged for better usability.
  • The color selector has been reworked.
  • New templates have been created.
  • Templates now appear directly in the Start Center and can be picked from there.
  • libreoffice now displays an information bar to indicate visibly when a document is being opened in read-only mode.
  • The possibility to embed libreoffice in certain web browsers by using the deprecated NPAPI has been removed.
  • It is possible to connect to SharePoint 2010 and 2013 and OneDrive directly from libreoffice.
  • Support for converting formulas into direct values, Master Document templates, reading Adobe Swatch Exchange color palettes in the .ase format, importing Adobe PageMaker documents, and for exporting digitally signed PDF files.
  • It is now possible to specify references to entire columns or rows using the A:A or 1:1 notation.
  • Interoperability with Microsoft Office document formats has been improved.
For a complete list of bug fixes and enhancements provided by this upgrade, see https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/4.4 and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/5.0. (BZ#1290148)

GNOME boxes support for Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10, and Windows 8.1

GNOME boxes now supports creating virtual machines with Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10, and Windows 8.1. (BZ#1257865, BZ#1257867, BZ#1267869)

The vmware graphics driver now supports 3D acceleration in VMware Workstation 12

Previously, the vmware graphics driver in Red Hat Enterprise Linux did not support 3D acceleration in VMware Workstation 12 virtual machines (VM). As a consequence, the GNOME desktop was rendered on the host's CPU instead of the GPU. The driver has been updated to support the VMware Workstation 12 virtual graphics adapter. As a result, the GNOME desktop is now rendered using 3D acceleration. (BZ#1263120)

libdvdnav rebased to version 5.0.3

The libdvdnav library allows you to navigate DVD menus on any operating system. The libdvdnav packages have been upgraded to version 5.0.3. The most notable changes include:
  • Fixed a bug on menu-less DVDs
  • Fixed playback issues on multi-angle DVDs
  • Fixed unexpected termination when playing a DVD from different region than currently set in the DVD drive
  • Fixed memory bugs when reading certain DVDs (BZ#1068814)

GIMP rebased to version 2.8.16

The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) has been upgraded to version 2.8.16, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include the following:
Core:
  • More robust loading of XCF files
  • Improved performance and behavior when writing XCF files
GUI:
  • The widget direction automatically matches the direction of language set for GUI
  • Larger scroll area for tags
  • Fixed switching of dock tabs by drag and drop (DND) hovering
  • DND works between images in one dockable
  • No unexpected termination problem in the save dialog
Plug-ins:
  • Improved security of the script-fu server
  • Fixed reading and writing of files in the BMP format
  • Fixed exporting of fonts in the PDF plug-in
  • Support of layer groups in OpenRaster files
  • Fixed loading of PSD files with layer groups (BZ#1298226)

gimp-help rebased to version 2.8.2

The gimp-help package has been upgraded to upstream version 2.8.2, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notably, it also implements a complete translation to Brazilian Portuguese. (BZ#1370595)

Qt5 added to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

A new version of the Qt library (Qt5) has been added to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. This version of Qt brings number of features for developers as well as support for mobile devices, which was missing in the previous version. (BZ#1272603)

Improved UI message when setting a new language in system-config-language

Previously, if you selected a new language to install in the Language graphical tool (the system-config-language package), and the selected language group was not available, the error message that was displayed was not clear enough. For example, if you selected Italian (Switzerland), the message displayed was: 
Due to comps cleanup italian-support group got removed and no longer exists. Therefore only setting the default system language
With this update, the message is updated and will look similar to the following example: 
Due to comps cleanup, italian-support group no longer exists and its language packages will not be installed. Therefore only setting Italian as the default system language.
The new message means that the new language has been enabled without having to install any new packages. After the next reboot, the system will boot in the selected language. (BZ#1328068)

New packages: pavucontrol

This update adds the pavucontrol packages, which contain PulseAudio Volume Control, a GTK-based volume control application for the PulseAudio sound server. This application enables to send the output of different audio streams to different output devices, such as headsets or speakers. Individual routing is impossible with the default audio control panel, which sends all audio streams to the same output device. (BZ#1210846)

libdvdread rebased to version 5.0.3

The libdvdread packages have been rebased to version 5.0.3. The most notable changes include:
  • Fixes for numerous crashes, assertions and corruptions
  • Fixed compilation in C++ applications
  • Removed the unused feature to remap .MAP files
  • Removed the dvdnavmini library
  • Added the DVDOpenStream API
Because of API change, .so version also changed. Third-party software dependent on libdvdread needs to be recompiled against this new version. (BZ#1326238)

New weather service for gnome-weather

Previously, the gnome-weather application used the METAR services provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). However, NOAA stopped to provide the METAR service. This update introduces a new METAR service provided by the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) and gnome-weather now works as expected. (BZ#1371550)

libosinfo rebased to version 0.3.0

The libosinfo packages have been updated to version 0.3.0. Notable changes over the previous version include improving operating system data for several recent versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu, and fixing several memory leaks. (BZ#1282919)